The 2026 Iowa Legislative Session begins next week, and District 11 State Rep. Craig Williams (R-Manning) anticipates there will be significant work on last session’s unfinished business. Williams was first elected in 2021 to Senate District 6 but chose not to seek re-election following redistricting in 2023. He successfully ran for the House District 11 seat in 2024, taking office in January 2025. Williams serves as vice chair for the Local Government Committee and is also on the environmental protection, judiciary, and transportation committees. Williams says they did not have a clean close to the 2025 session, as a last-minute bill passed by the legislature to restrict the use of eminent domain for Summit Carbon Solutions’ pipeline was vetoed by the governor. He expects that it will be an issue they tackle head-on early in the session.
Another issue identified as a priority by GOP leadership in 2025 was property tax reform, but legislators failed to reach consensus before the end of the session. Williams says there has been plenty of work on that issue in the off-season, and it will likely be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation to come out of this session.
Republican leadership has yet to release what their version of reform looks like, but Iowa Democrats introduced their proposals for property tax reform yesterday (Monday), which include a freeze on property taxes for Iowans over 65 years old, a four-percent cap on annual property tax increases, and tripling the Homestead Tax Credit. Williams says those provisions sound good on paper, but the reality is less appealing.
Williams adds he hopes the legislature will tackle those two issues early in the session so they can focus on the actual work of governing the state. He says one area that he is particularly interested in for the coming session is a hard look at Iowa’s criminal justice system.
Williams’s seat on the Judiciary Committee will give him significant influence over what is included in any crime-and-punishment legislation. The first day of the 2026 Iowa Legislative Session is Monday, Jan. 12. Gov. Kim Reynolds’s 2026 Condition of the State Address is slated for Jan. 13.
