By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

Four bills introduced in the Iowa legislature this year have been designed to set a new statewide policy for determining how much elected officials in Iowa’s 99 counties are paid, but lawmakers are still working out the details.

Senator Mike Klimesh, a Republican from Spillville, said an alternative that may be debated in the Senate this week is still being drafted. “We’re going to not allow counties to not have a compensation board. The supervisors must have a compensation board in the county,” Klimesh said during a Senate Local Government Committee meeting. “We’re going to make the county compensation board show their work.”

Klimesh indicated it would involve showing base salaries for all county officials who are elected to their positions and how those salaries compare to pay for officials in counties of similar size.

The Iowa House has already approved a bill that would let county supervisors dissolve compensation boards and make the salary decisions themselves. The bill also forbids counties from reducing one elected official’s salary, while all the rest are increased. “They could not be targeted for a reduction in pay for any retaliatory or political reasons,” Representative Amy Nielsen, a Democrat from North Liberty, said during House debate.

Compensation boards currently meet annually to make salary recommendations for each elected official in their county — the supervisors as well as the county attorney, county auditor, county treasurer and county sheriff. The supervisors may reduce the board’s recommendations, but current state law says they have to make the same percentage reduction for all officials.

By Matt Kelley (Radio Iowa)

Today marks the start of Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa, as residents are reminded about some of the hazards that may be coming in the weeks and months ahead. Meteorologist Chad Hahn at the National Weather Service, says tornadoes are one of the worst risks to lives and property, and last year, we had plenty.

“In Iowa, we had 43 tornadoes observed across the state,” Hahn says. “That’s slightly lower than our normal or average historically, which is right around 50 that we typically observe. Of course, we’ve had some years that we’ve had over 100, so there’s wide variability when it comes to the number of tornadoes.” Each day this week, there will be a different weather focus. Today, Hahn says, they’re zeroed in on severe thunderstorms.

Hahn says, “We’re talking about what requires a thunderstorm to be considered severe, which is one-inch or larger hail and/or thunderstorm wind gusts in excess of 58 miles per hour.” Other days this week will center on things like flooding, the difference between a watch and a warning, and how best to stay informed through old-school weather radios or smartphone apps. A statewide tornado drill is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 A-M. Hahn says the weather service is opening a series of storm spotter classes today in Marion County.

“We picked about 20 spots this year, many of them that we haven’t been since before COVID, actually, physically in the location, so we’re excited to get out into the communities that we serve,” Hahn says. “I’m happy to say we’re going to be getting into a lot of the far reaches of our areas of responsibility, including Emmet County, way up in the northwest, all the way down to Taylor County in our southwest.” Learn more at www.weather.gov/dmx.

By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks says congress cannot let TikTok stockpile sensitive information and spy on Americans.

Miller-Meeks and other members of the House Commerce Committee quizzed TikTok’s CEO for more than five hours yesterday. “Certainly, as you can see, in a bipartisan way we have concerns,” Miller-Meeks told TikTok’s CEO, “and those concerns are valid.”

The app, which has 150 American users, is owned by a Chinese company and the Biden Administration is demanding that the Chinese sell their stake in the company — or the app will be banned in the U.S. Miller noted the hearing began hours after China announced its opposition to the sale of TikTok.

“Why would China or the Chinese Communist Party be opposed to a forced sale of TikTok?” Miller-Meeks asked. “…That leads people to believe that there’s something more nefarious and that there is, in fact, data that is captured, is stored and poses a risk not only to children in the United States, but also poses a risk to national security.”

Miller-Meeks, a Republican who represents Iowa’s first congressional district, said she believes TikTok is gathering personal data from Americans and sharing it with our adversaries. Republican Ashley Hinson, Iowa’s second district congresswoman, said TikTok needs to be banned.

“I believe the time to act was yesterday here,” Hinson said during a House Appropriations Committee hearing with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin.

Hinson said the U.S. Treasury Department has been negotiating with TikTok’s owners for three years — since the Trump Administration — and cutting ties with China and it’s time to ban what Hinson calls a “Trojan horse app.”