Des Moines, Iowa — The Iowa Senate has passed a bill that would prohibit the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation from borrowing money from a state fund to purchase land for water quality projects.
Senator Tim Kapucian, a farmer from Keystone, is among the 31 Republican senators who voted for the bill.
Farmers in the senate said too much Iowa farmland has been taken out of production for conservation projects, making it difficult for beginning farmers to buy land. Democrats like Senator Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids say the bill will undermine efforts to create wetland areas upstream that will reduce downstream flooding.
The bill passed on a mostly party-line vote. One Republican voted against it and one Democrat voted for it.
