Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Keim Reynolds. Governor Reynolds, thank you so much for being
a part of our show today.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh hi, Amory, I'm happy to be with you. It's
a beautiful day.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Kind of laying in wait to see what's going to
hit tomorrow, but got a nice one out there today.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Absolutely. This is why you live in places like the
Midwest because of these first few days of spring, kind
of reminding you about how amazing weather it can be here.
You've had quite a busy spring here with the legislature involved.
You're also going to places. I saw your social media
post this past week being at the girls state basketball tournament.
What is a normal day this time of the year
(00:33):
look like, or a normal week maybe for you kind
of balancing your responsibilities and also trying to be out
in front of the people of the state.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah. Well, I tell you, we love it when the
legislature comes back, and we're always excited to see them
in about three weeks in a night. I mean this
in a teasing way. We're ready to send them home.
But we've made it through first funnel. You know. We're
working on our program and all the bills that we've
put in place, whether it's rural health killer, the partnership
between preschools and our daycares and our and our schools
(01:01):
to help provide a continuing with care for our working parents.
Our unemployment tax reform, it's another billion dollar tax cut
over five years for businesses, getting cell phones out of
the classroom, math and civics, and energy. So we've got
a full plate that we're trying to get across the
finish line and make sure that we're making their funnel proof,
and we're making the case and visiting with legislators and
(01:24):
stakeholders and really laying out the why we think these
are bills that are important to continue the momentum that
we're seeing in Iowa. And then you know, I'm a
former six on six basketball player, so it is rare
for me to miss the girls' basketball tournaments. We were
there at granddaughter to plays. It was fun to have
her join me a couple of nights. And then just
you know, abi's just different business organizations that we're meeting
(01:47):
with as well as we have a lot of people
that are at the Capitol during the legislative session, and
so a lot of meetings held with just businesses and
individuals and associations across the spectrum, specially while we're in
the legislative session. So h never never a dull moment.
Lots going on, and a lot of things in the
(02:07):
evening as well. So but it's fun. I got to
go out. And you know, then this is a new administration,
and with the Trump administration, I was we witnessed this
in his first administration. They really defer to the states
a lot. They include the states and policies that they're
working on. And so we're seeing that same interaction not
only with President Trump, but with his cabinet as well.
(02:30):
And so there's a lot of opportunities, I believe for
states to really think about ways that we deliver services
to our citizens and more efficient effectives and hopefully TA
SAT and taxpayer dollars and providing better outcomes. So lots
and lots and lots of things going on.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, I couldn't imagine doing your job. Governor cam Renold's
joining us on the phone line here. The Iowa you know,
legislature is you know, it's different than what we have
in Nebraska with the unicameral. You have a house and
have you have a Senate. So there are different ways
that things are approached. But one thing that we were
paying very close attention to as it moved through both
chambers before it got to your desk was the adjustment
(03:09):
to the iyow Civil Rights Act removing gender identity. And
you obviously saw all this, I saw and we played
it on the air, the video that you posted explaining
what this is and why you felt like it was necessary.
Can you kind of go through what you were hearing
about this and you saw the protests in the Capitol
building and why you still felt like this was something
that needed to happen here.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Well, because on behalf of Iowa's we literally passed Commons
common sense legislation that protected biological men from participating in
girl sports. So it protected girl sports, and it also
protected private spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms. And because
of the gender identity was in our Civil Rights Code,
we had a month ago had a lawsuit filed against
(03:53):
our bathroom bill, and they point pointed to the Civil
Rights Code as a reason to overturn that common sense
legislation that iowes in about eighty to eighty five percent
of of Americans believe is the right thing to do.
It's common sense, it's it's a fairness issue and we
should be doing everything that we can to protect girls
(04:15):
and women's They have the same dreams and aspirations as
as boys and men do, and we want to make
sure that, you know, they have that ability to recognize
and realize those dreams. And so what that does is
it was blurring the lines between men and women. And
the common sense legislation that we had passed, you know,
it's you know, we should treat every island with respect
(04:36):
and dignity. And they still you know, you can't discriminate
against sex, and so there are still protections in place.
But we believed that in order to uphold the common
sense legislation that we passed, it was imperative that we
took the steps that we did with removing that from
the Civil Rights Bill and then and then in addition
(04:57):
to that, you know, it matches the set for law,
so and what most other states do as well, so
we also change it, and it matches the federal civil
right civil rights legislation as well.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
We're with Governor Kim Reynolds from the state of Iowa
joining us on the phone line here that in and
of itself has become such a hot button talking point
just gender identity itself, and also kind of the element
of the schools, the drag show thing that you talked
about in the library, and that also drew a lot
of protesting at the Iowa State Capital as well. It
(05:31):
seemed to me like I couldn't understand why this would
be happening at schools and libraries to begin with. But
at the same time, when you see all of the
people protesting at the state Capitol, you realize that people
really feel passionate on the other end of this as well.
What can you tell me about what you were hearing
from both sides about that bill itself, even though again
(05:52):
common sense seemed to permeate to one side intent of
the other.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, well, you know, they have the right to protest,
and that's their right to do it usefully and to
make their voices hurt. That's what the first First Amendment
allows them to do. And so we just you know,
there's a place and there's a time for that, and
we believe that they're biologically there is there's only two
sexist the men and the women, and we have to
stop blurring the lines between those. And I think the
(06:19):
common sense legislation that we're passing at the at the
Iowa State Legislature and signing into law is the right
thing to do. And so again we're going to treat
everybody with respect. But people, I mean, the majority of
the people don't believe that children should be exposed to
a drag in the school or in the library. They
(06:40):
don't believe in that, and so they believe that the
common sense legislation that we are passing is the right
thing to do. And so we're going to continue to
do what we believe is right. They have every right
to object to that, and we're going to focus on
doing the right thing. And that's what I think that
we've done.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Just to follow up on that quickly, there was some
conversation about maybe the vagueness of some of the language there,
and people weren't really sure what, you know, dressing in drag,
what would be included or.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Not, And I don't, you know, I mean, I'm not
sure where that's at and the legislative process, and so
I'm not going to weigh in on a specific bill
until it's passed both chambers and it's sent to my desk,
so that that'll be worked at through the legislative process.
That's why we have it. But unless it's my bill,
I try very hard not to weigh in as it
works its way through the chambers. And then so when
(07:29):
it does pass both chambers in a similar language and
the scent to me, then we sat down, my team
goes through it, I have an opportunity to let other
people weigh in, and then we make a decision to
move forward. So so I you know, we need to
let it work through the process and give people the
opportunity to weigh in, and that's what that's what's taking place.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Governor cameral is joining us. Yeah, and it's good to
understand that process as well, that there is kind of
that buffer between them finishing up and that you and
your team kind of independently going through what it is.
I know you've been a champion. You said, we've been
doing dose stuff before DOE was even a thing, and
that has led to some great surplus for Iowa tax
(08:08):
payers in the state. But I know that one thing
that they're talking about we're talking about in Nebraska too,
but Iowa as well as property taxes, and I know
there's a big effort led by Republicans in the state
to try to kind of address that issue. What can
you tell me about how you see it and what
you would like to see that for the Iowa tax
(08:28):
payers on property taxes specifically.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, well, it's like, let me tell you, it's the
number one issue that we hear about, both I hear
about and the legislators here about is the property taxes
and how they continue to increase. And we've tried to
tweak and cap and hold, you know, put some restraints
on local government, and because we know they still have
the ability to capture increased valuation, even when we cap,
(08:54):
there's still the ability to continue for Iowans to continue
to see their property taxes go up. So this has
some thing that the legislature during the last campaign cycle
said that they were going to kind of take the
lead on. So we're letting them take the lead on,
you know, working with them, watching it, you know, kind
of seeing where it's at the in the legislative session.
(09:15):
I think a couple of bills dropped last week or
the first of this week, and one is you know,
very comprehensive there. They're both kind of take a different
approach and so, uh, we'll continue to monitor them. But
bottom line, something has to be done with our property taxes,
and so if we'll see where they end up this year,
and if we're not able to get something significant done,
(09:39):
and then we'll we'll take a look at it over
the intrum and come back next year. The problem with
the property taxes right now is whenever there's just so
it's such a convoluted formula. There's so many different you know,
education is a part of it. There's so many different
levees and aspects to it that every time you try
to tweak it just a little bit, or you try
(09:59):
to catch but to do or try to do various things,
there's always unintended consequences. There's a way around it. People
think they hear we're reducing their property taxes, and then
they actually go up because they're able to capture the
increased evaluation. And so we really, I mean, we almost
just need to start from scratch and figure out how
we fund this going forward. Another component of it is
(10:22):
those and I talked about that and that's why I
stood up Iowa doche is because we also can't continue
to support the level of government that we are today.
There's just whether it's federal, state, or local, there's a
lot of duplication there, and anytime there's duplication, then that's
a cost to the taxpayers. And so we have to
really think about how we are delivering services to Iowa's
(10:45):
and what makes them most sense. I've led at the
state level in eighteen months. We say Iowa taxpayers two
hundred and seventeen million dollars by the realignment bill that
we put in place, and I can tell you without hesitation,
we're more efficient or more effective and we're providing better
services to Iowans. And so my challenge now is to
local government and that'll be a component of the Iowa
(11:06):
Doche task Force that I just stood up to, and
we've got local government participating and at local they're they're
a part of it, to really look how they can
deliver those services in a different manner that will ultimately
help provide some relief and hopefully that would be worked
through property tax relief. So hopefully once we see what
(11:29):
happens with the legislation that's working through the legislature this year,
couple that was what we've asked the Iowa Dose Task
Force to take a look at, take a look at AI,
take a look at you know how services can be
delivered in a different manner. And let's see if we
can't between the two of those things figure out a
way to be way more competitive and to reduce the
(11:49):
property tax boiding on Iowans in our state.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Everything you just said, Governor is music to the years
of Isolands who are listening to this show right now,
say hey, we are talking about this legitimately and how
this could affect us in a very good way.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, yeah, it's waypath. Do you know when we started
the alignment bill, we had not the realignment bill, we
had not reviewed state government for over four years. And
how crazy is that? I mean, there's not a business
that would be in business today if they didn't review
their operations. They're doing it on a daily basis, to
be quite honest. And you know when you don't do that,
(12:26):
you continue to just go. So we were too big,
too fractured, and too inefficient. And you know, I have
twenty one agencies in my cabinet and I cut it
from thirty seven down to sixteen. We just you know,
we've reduced got all of the professional license functions in
you know, one agency, and just continue to look at
(12:48):
how we operate government and again two hundred and seventeen
and eighteen months we projected that for four years. So
I think there's a lot of opportunity now to really
as we have kind of we've got, you can, you know,
a better viewpoint of all of the agencies, and that
will allow us to do even more visibility into the
(13:09):
agencies like we didn't have before, and that will allow
us to continue to bring efficiencies to the taxpeers of Iowa.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Now, Iowa is a star of conservatism as far as
this nation is concerned, and it's led by Governor Kim Reynolds.
Governor Reynolds, an honor to speak with you once again.
Can't wait to chat with you in the future about
the things that are happening in Iowa.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Thank you, good talk to you. Take care.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, great stuff there from the Governor of the State
of Iowa, Kim Reynolds.
Keim Reynolds. Governor Reynolds, thank you so much for being
a part of our show today.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh hi, Amory, I'm happy to be with you. It's
a beautiful day.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Kind of laying in wait to see what's going to
hit tomorrow, but got a nice one out there today.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Absolutely. This is why you live in places like the
Midwest because of these first few days of spring, kind
of reminding you about how amazing weather it can be here.
You've had quite a busy spring here with the legislature involved.
You're also going to places. I saw your social media
post this past week being at the girls state basketball tournament.
What is a normal day this time of the year
(00:33):
look like, or a normal week maybe for you kind
of balancing your responsibilities and also trying to be out
in front of the people of the state.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah. Well, I tell you, we love it when the
legislature comes back, and we're always excited to see them
in about three weeks in a night. I mean this
in a teasing way. We're ready to send them home.
But we've made it through first funnel. You know. We're
working on our program and all the bills that we've
put in place, whether it's rural health killer, the partnership
between preschools and our daycares and our and our schools
(01:01):
to help provide a continuing with care for our working parents.
Our unemployment tax reform, it's another billion dollar tax cut
over five years for businesses, getting cell phones out of
the classroom, math and civics, and energy. So we've got
a full plate that we're trying to get across the
finish line and make sure that we're making their funnel proof,
and we're making the case and visiting with legislators and
(01:24):
stakeholders and really laying out the why we think these
are bills that are important to continue the momentum that
we're seeing in Iowa. And then you know, I'm a
former six on six basketball player, so it is rare
for me to miss the girls' basketball tournaments. We were
there at granddaughter to plays. It was fun to have
her join me a couple of nights. And then just
you know, abi's just different business organizations that we're meeting
(01:47):
with as well as we have a lot of people
that are at the Capitol during the legislative session, and
so a lot of meetings held with just businesses and
individuals and associations across the spectrum, specially while we're in
the legislative session. So h never never a dull moment.
Lots going on, and a lot of things in the
(02:07):
evening as well. So but it's fun. I got to
go out. And you know, then this is a new administration,
and with the Trump administration, I was we witnessed this
in his first administration. They really defer to the states
a lot. They include the states and policies that they're
working on. And so we're seeing that same interaction not
only with President Trump, but with his cabinet as well.
(02:30):
And so there's a lot of opportunities, I believe for
states to really think about ways that we deliver services
to our citizens and more efficient effectives and hopefully TA
SAT and taxpayer dollars and providing better outcomes. So lots
and lots and lots of things going on.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, I couldn't imagine doing your job. Governor cam Renold's
joining us on the phone line here. The Iowa you know,
legislature is you know, it's different than what we have
in Nebraska with the unicameral. You have a house and
have you have a Senate. So there are different ways
that things are approached. But one thing that we were
paying very close attention to as it moved through both
chambers before it got to your desk was the adjustment
(03:09):
to the iyow Civil Rights Act removing gender identity. And
you obviously saw all this, I saw and we played
it on the air, the video that you posted explaining
what this is and why you felt like it was necessary.
Can you kind of go through what you were hearing
about this and you saw the protests in the Capitol
building and why you still felt like this was something
that needed to happen here.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Well, because on behalf of Iowa's we literally passed Commons
common sense legislation that protected biological men from participating in
girl sports. So it protected girl sports, and it also
protected private spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms. And because
of the gender identity was in our Civil Rights Code,
we had a month ago had a lawsuit filed against
(03:53):
our bathroom bill, and they point pointed to the Civil
Rights Code as a reason to overturn that common sense
legislation that iowes in about eighty to eighty five percent
of of Americans believe is the right thing to do.
It's common sense, it's it's a fairness issue and we
should be doing everything that we can to protect girls
(04:15):
and women's They have the same dreams and aspirations as
as boys and men do, and we want to make
sure that, you know, they have that ability to recognize
and realize those dreams. And so what that does is
it was blurring the lines between men and women. And
the common sense legislation that we had passed, you know,
it's you know, we should treat every island with respect
(04:36):
and dignity. And they still you know, you can't discriminate
against sex, and so there are still protections in place.
But we believed that in order to uphold the common
sense legislation that we passed, it was imperative that we
took the steps that we did with removing that from
the Civil Rights Bill and then and then in addition
(04:57):
to that, you know, it matches the set for law,
so and what most other states do as well, so
we also change it, and it matches the federal civil
right civil rights legislation as well.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
We're with Governor Kim Reynolds from the state of Iowa
joining us on the phone line here that in and
of itself has become such a hot button talking point
just gender identity itself, and also kind of the element
of the schools, the drag show thing that you talked
about in the library, and that also drew a lot
of protesting at the Iowa State Capital as well. It
(05:31):
seemed to me like I couldn't understand why this would
be happening at schools and libraries to begin with. But
at the same time, when you see all of the
people protesting at the state Capitol, you realize that people
really feel passionate on the other end of this as well.
What can you tell me about what you were hearing
from both sides about that bill itself, even though again
(05:52):
common sense seemed to permeate to one side intent of
the other.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, well, you know, they have the right to protest,
and that's their right to do it usefully and to
make their voices hurt. That's what the first First Amendment
allows them to do. And so we just you know,
there's a place and there's a time for that, and
we believe that they're biologically there is there's only two
sexist the men and the women, and we have to
stop blurring the lines between those. And I think the
(06:19):
common sense legislation that we're passing at the at the
Iowa State Legislature and signing into law is the right
thing to do. And so again we're going to treat
everybody with respect. But people, I mean, the majority of
the people don't believe that children should be exposed to
a drag in the school or in the library. They
(06:40):
don't believe in that, and so they believe that the
common sense legislation that we are passing is the right
thing to do. And so we're going to continue to
do what we believe is right. They have every right
to object to that, and we're going to focus on
doing the right thing. And that's what I think that
we've done.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Just to follow up on that quickly, there was some
conversation about maybe the vagueness of some of the language there,
and people weren't really sure what, you know, dressing in drag,
what would be included or.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Not, And I don't, you know, I mean, I'm not
sure where that's at and the legislative process, and so
I'm not going to weigh in on a specific bill
until it's passed both chambers and it's sent to my desk,
so that that'll be worked at through the legislative process.
That's why we have it. But unless it's my bill,
I try very hard not to weigh in as it
works its way through the chambers. And then so when
(07:29):
it does pass both chambers in a similar language and
the scent to me, then we sat down, my team
goes through it, I have an opportunity to let other
people weigh in, and then we make a decision to
move forward. So so I you know, we need to
let it work through the process and give people the
opportunity to weigh in, and that's what that's what's taking place.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Governor cameral is joining us. Yeah, and it's good to
understand that process as well, that there is kind of
that buffer between them finishing up and that you and
your team kind of independently going through what it is.
I know you've been a champion. You said, we've been
doing dose stuff before DOE was even a thing, and
that has led to some great surplus for Iowa tax
(08:08):
payers in the state. But I know that one thing
that they're talking about we're talking about in Nebraska too,
but Iowa as well as property taxes, and I know
there's a big effort led by Republicans in the state
to try to kind of address that issue. What can
you tell me about how you see it and what
you would like to see that for the Iowa tax
(08:28):
payers on property taxes specifically.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, well, it's like, let me tell you, it's the
number one issue that we hear about, both I hear
about and the legislators here about is the property taxes
and how they continue to increase. And we've tried to
tweak and cap and hold, you know, put some restraints
on local government, and because we know they still have
the ability to capture increased valuation, even when we cap,
(08:54):
there's still the ability to continue for Iowans to continue
to see their property taxes go up. So this has
some thing that the legislature during the last campaign cycle
said that they were going to kind of take the
lead on. So we're letting them take the lead on,
you know, working with them, watching it, you know, kind
of seeing where it's at the in the legislative session.
(09:15):
I think a couple of bills dropped last week or
the first of this week, and one is you know,
very comprehensive there. They're both kind of take a different
approach and so, uh, we'll continue to monitor them. But
bottom line, something has to be done with our property taxes,
and so if we'll see where they end up this year,
and if we're not able to get something significant done,
(09:39):
and then we'll we'll take a look at it over
the intrum and come back next year. The problem with
the property taxes right now is whenever there's just so
it's such a convoluted formula. There's so many different you know,
education is a part of it. There's so many different
levees and aspects to it that every time you try
to tweak it just a little bit, or you try
(09:59):
to catch but to do or try to do various things,
there's always unintended consequences. There's a way around it. People
think they hear we're reducing their property taxes, and then
they actually go up because they're able to capture the
increased evaluation. And so we really, I mean, we almost
just need to start from scratch and figure out how
we fund this going forward. Another component of it is
(10:22):
those and I talked about that and that's why I
stood up Iowa doche is because we also can't continue
to support the level of government that we are today.
There's just whether it's federal, state, or local, there's a
lot of duplication there, and anytime there's duplication, then that's
a cost to the taxpayers. And so we have to
really think about how we are delivering services to Iowa's
(10:45):
and what makes them most sense. I've led at the
state level in eighteen months. We say Iowa taxpayers two
hundred and seventeen million dollars by the realignment bill that
we put in place, and I can tell you without hesitation,
we're more efficient or more effective and we're providing better
services to Iowans. And so my challenge now is to
local government and that'll be a component of the Iowa
(11:06):
Doche task Force that I just stood up to, and
we've got local government participating and at local they're they're
a part of it, to really look how they can
deliver those services in a different manner that will ultimately
help provide some relief and hopefully that would be worked
through property tax relief. So hopefully once we see what
(11:29):
happens with the legislation that's working through the legislature this year,
couple that was what we've asked the Iowa Dose Task
Force to take a look at, take a look at AI,
take a look at you know how services can be
delivered in a different manner. And let's see if we
can't between the two of those things figure out a
way to be way more competitive and to reduce the
(11:49):
property tax boiding on Iowans in our state.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Everything you just said, Governor is music to the years
of Isolands who are listening to this show right now,
say hey, we are talking about this legitimately and how
this could affect us in a very good way.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, yeah, it's waypath. Do you know when we started
the alignment bill, we had not the realignment bill, we
had not reviewed state government for over four years. And
how crazy is that? I mean, there's not a business
that would be in business today if they didn't review
their operations. They're doing it on a daily basis, to
be quite honest. And you know when you don't do that,
(12:26):
you continue to just go. So we were too big,
too fractured, and too inefficient. And you know, I have
twenty one agencies in my cabinet and I cut it
from thirty seven down to sixteen. We just you know,
we've reduced got all of the professional license functions in
you know, one agency, and just continue to look at
(12:48):
how we operate government and again two hundred and seventeen
and eighteen months we projected that for four years. So
I think there's a lot of opportunity now to really
as we have kind of we've got, you can, you know,
a better viewpoint of all of the agencies, and that
will allow us to do even more visibility into the
(13:09):
agencies like we didn't have before, and that will allow
us to continue to bring efficiencies to the taxpeers of Iowa.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Now, Iowa is a star of conservatism as far as
this nation is concerned, and it's led by Governor Kim Reynolds.
Governor Reynolds, an honor to speak with you once again.
Can't wait to chat with you in the future about
the things that are happening in Iowa.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Thank you, good talk to you. Take care.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, great stuff there from the Governor of the State
of Iowa, Kim Reynolds.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!