This week in Iowa organizing…

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Five.

That's the number of House Republicans who voted against the bill to ban gender-affirming care for Iowa youth. It's the same number of House Democrats who voted against the bill to curb eminent domain abuse in the Judiciary committee a few weeks back.

And it's also the number of Iowa's most powerful corporations, all of whom have remained silent in the face of Gov. Reynolds' attack on the LGBTQIA community.

In my opinion, there should have been more than 5 Republicans who believe "everybody should get the opportunity to be happy". And there should've been more Democrats voting for the planet, land, and against greenwashing schemes. Big corporations caring only about their bottom line... well, what's new.

So it was refreshing to be in the CCI Action office over the weekend for our first Candidate and Campaign Worker Training. We talked about building power to build community and using elections to advance and win on the issues that make our communities inclusive and thriving for all.

It was quite the contrast to Kim Reynolds who is using her power to bully, exclude, and limit civic participation by those she is supposed to serve. Reynolds and her destructive agenda, though the consequences are very real, will not last. Fear, division and hatred aren't sustainable. Gov. Reynolds must not have gotten that memo.

That's why we're more committed than ever to the long haul work of building lasting governing power - for our people, the planet, and places we love. We're not backing down.

Onward,

Matthew Covington (he/him)
Strategic Operations Director

At the statehouse 

Power grabs, property taxes, what about pipelines?  

Just under three weeks remain before the 2nd legislative funnel deadline - when bills not related to spending/the budget must pass a full chamber (House or Senate) and corresponding committee to stay alive for debate.

Gov. Reynolds has already pushed through much of her agenda this session, but the House is still considering her massive government reorganization proposal. That, in addition to property taxes, is expected to take up a lot of bandwidth in the coming weeks.

Republican leadership may continue to push other rather extreme proposals before the legislative deadline, such as knee-capping the state auditor's office (the only statewide-elected Democrat).

And yet, HF 565 has not been placed on the House debate calendar. To curb eminent domain abuse by the proposed CO2 pipelines, this bill must pass the full House and a Senate committee by March 31. The clock's ticking, and that's why we're ramping up the pressure on House leadership over the next several days - read on to take action and keep the momentum going!

Take action 

March 14 & 21 - No eminent domain for private gain Tuesdays!  

It doesn't quite roll of the tongue beautifully, but that's what Tuesday evenings are going to be about for us the next two weeks!

House File 565 (formerly HF 368) passed out of the House Judiciary committee last Thursday on a 12-7 vote, with two legislators abstaining. This means it survived the first legislative funnel deadline but it still needs to get to the House floor for debate, and we need your help!

Join us (online or at the CCI office) on an upcoming Tuesday from 5:30-7pm to call other members across the state urging them to contact their Representative! Sign up for a brief phone shift here:

HF 565 doesn't completely ban the use of eminent domain for these greenwashing projects, but it places numerous restrictions and obstacles for the projects to move forward. That's why we need it brought up for debate on the House floor well before the next legislative deadline on March 31!

Haven't emailed your Representative yet? Take a minute to do so here.

March 25 - Dubuque housing justice visioning session  

Members in the Dubuque area are fighting for housing justice, but what does that mean?

We're creating a vision for true housing justice and we want you to help us craft it! Who is included in this vision? What's most important to you? What are the barriers?

Join us March 25 from 2-3:30pm at the Carnegie-Stout Library in Dubuque to help build a vision together for a future where every person in the area is guaranteed good, quality, and affordable housing.

Let us know if you can attend by RSVPing here.

What's your story? 

We spent much of February taking a moment to express gratitude and love to all of you for taking action for our people and planet and making CCI a tough and tenacious people's organization. Once more, many many thanks!

But now we want to hear from you!

What brought you to Iowa CCI? What issues do you care most about? Is there a particular meeting, event, or action that you remember to this day?

Reply to this email and let us know! We'd love to hear from you on what CCI means to you, why you keep fighting to put people and planet before profits and politics, and what you hold dear.

Issue updates

MidAmerican Energy - come clean and go green 

CCI members have been on the forefront of the movement demanding MidAmerican Energy retire their coal plants to make clean air, clean water, and habitable planet a right to all people for generations to come.

The movement got another win recently, MidAmerican Energy was ordered to make their internal studies available to the public, and they prove what we’ve been saying all along - replacing coal with solar is the cheapest path to a carbon-free energy system.

Now is the time to keep this momentum going. Thanks to all of you who spoke at city council meetings to pass bold climate resolutions, protested at MidAmerican's’ offices, and more. We have been bringing the demand for a habitable planet directly to those who hold power in stopping fossil-fuel burning, and we're not backing down.

What We're Reading

These are a few links that are informing our work - we've shared them so that you can read, too!

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