District 11 State Representative Craig Williams (R-Manning) is reflecting on the 2025 Iowa Legislative Session after it adjourned last week, nearly two weeks beyond its initially scheduled end. Williams says it was a historic year solely based on the number of bills introduced in the House.
Williams, who previously served in the Iowa Senate for District 6 before being elected to the Iowa House in 2024, says legislators generally plot out the session in their head before it starts, but it rarely turns out the way they initially thought it would. Fortunately, Williams says a few bills he considered a priority made it to the governor’s desk.
Williams also suggests some areas where he thinks the legislature could have done better, most notably property tax reform.
The Iowa GOP has already identified property tax reform as one of its high priorities for the next legislative session in 2026. One bill that Williams says didn’t receive much attention but will significantly impact many of his constituents is the updates to the state’s Grain Indemnity Fund.
The Grain Indemnity Fund increased the floor, or the level at which assessments are applied to grain sales in the state, from $3 million to $5 million and increased the ceiling, or the level at which those assessments end, from $8 million to $12 million. Overall, Williams gave the 2025 Iowa Legislative Session a “B” grade and is already looking ahead to the challenges of next year’s session.
