The Republican from Fort Dodge has fought to get such a bill passed for about five years. This year’s version of the bill will come before a subcommittee in the House of Representatives at noon Tuesday.

During an Eggs and Issues forum Saturday morning, state senators Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, and Jesse Green, R- Boone, stated their support for the bill. Green acknowledged that he has changed his stance on the measure since taking office.

“I think it is necessary,” he told about 30 people at the forum in the Bioscience and Health Sciences Building at Iowa Central Community College.

Meyer has pressed for the distracted driving bill since taking office in 2019. She said she is confident it will finally pass this year in part because Gov. Kim Reynolds made it a priority in her Condition of the State Address.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Iowa Sen. Jesse Green, R-Boone, answers a question Saturday morning during the first Eggs and Issues forum of the 2025 legislative season in the Bioscience and Health Sciences building at Iowa Central Community College.

The bill states that anyone driving a vehicle cannot use their phone or any other electronic device unless it is in hands-free mode.

She introduced the bill after hearing horror stories from constituents who were in crashes or nearly in crashes with drivers who were talking on their phones.

Kraayenbrink said he will vote for the bill in the Senate.

“Having a cell phone isn’t a right, it’s a privilege,” he said.

He added that parents and insurance companies are asking for action on this issue because distractions caused by phones are a leading cause of crashes involving teenage drivers.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Iowa Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, listens to a question Saturday morning during Eggs and Issues in the Bioscience and Health Sciences building at Iowa Central Community College. Iowa Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, listens at right.

Green said he “did a 180” on the issue. He said he was opposed to the bill when he first took office, but that after learning more he now supports it.

Approval by the subcommittee Tuesday would start the bill on a long path toward becoming state law. Approvals by full committees, then by the House and Senate and eventually a signature by Reynolds are needed to make it the law of Iowa.

Also on Saturday, Meyer and Kraayenbrink said they would vote against a bill that would impose a moratorium on more casinos in Iowa.

“I do not think the legislature should be picking winners and losers and that is the definition of picking winners and losers,” she said.

Kraayenbrink said the decision should be left to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Audience members listen Saturday morning during the first Eggs and Issues forum of the 2025 legislative season in the Bioscience and Health Sciences building at Iowa Central Community College.

“Let the board do its job,” he said.

Green said he hopes a long-term solution can be found so that moratorium bills no longer come up in the legislature.

The lawmakers were also united in their opposition to the use of eminent domain by private companies. The Iowa Utilities Commission gave Summit Carbon Solutions the right to use eminent domain to acquire property for its proposed pipeline that would carry carbon dioxide away from ethanol plants so it could be sequestered underground.

Eminent domain allows the company to take property from owners that aren’t willing to sell it. If eminent domain is used, a panel of appraisers would determine the price for the property. The company would then pay the owner that price and take ownership of the land.

“I don’t support eminent domain for private profit,” Meyer said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Iowa Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, listens as Iowa Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, answers a question Saturday morning during the first Eggs and Issues forum of the 2025 legislative season in the Bioscience and Health Sciences building at Iowa Central Community College.

Kraayenbrink added, “I don’t think we should be using eminent domain for private use.”

Green said he has signed onto a lawsuit regarding the use of eminent domain for economic development that he hopes reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.