Lawmakers pressured to consider hog confinement rules
The Iowa Legislature will be under heavy pressure to revisit a state law designed to give local officials a nonbinding say over where hog confinements are built, the Mason City Globe-Gazette reported. The Worth County Board of Supervisors was the latest to consider a resolution encouraging the legislature to change the so-called master-matrix, which critics say is a too-easy scoring system projects must pass before they can be considered. The resolution failed, but Board Chair Merlin Bartz said, “Personally, I’m kind of in the waiting mode to see what’s gonna happen during the legislative session.” There have been calls for legislative review in Woodbury, Johnson, Cerro Gordo and Floyd counties.