The Greater Des Moines Partnership hosted its annual State Legislative Leadership Breakfast this morning at the Holiday Inn and Suites in Urbandale. At the event, Partnership leaders previewed the 2026 legislative session and its legislative priorities and hosted a panel of Iowa legislators.  

At the top of the Partnership’s agenda for the 2026 legislative session are workforce readiness, economic growth and housing.  

In a preview call with the Business Record on Tuesday, the Partnership’s 2025 Government Policy Council Chair Daryl Bouwkamp and 2026 Chair David Stark discussed the group’s policy agenda.

The agenda is created following member surveys and months of government policy council meetings attended by dozens of participants from businesses, cities, counties, schools and nonprofits. The Partnership board provides final approval on the agenda. In all, the agenda reflects input from more than 400 investors, affiliate chambers and 7,200 regional chamber members across the Partnership’s 12-county region. 

Top priorities for the last session were economic growth, workforce readiness, housing and quality of life. Bouwkamp said each year’s priorities are often iterative and overlap because the Partnership works for years on each issue. 

“It’s never a complete overhaul of things, and sometimes we have carryover in our priorities, which is to be expected,” he said. 

There were some significant wins for the Partnership’s priorities in the 2025 session, he added, including passage of a state law that moves forward the long-sought federal interstate designation of two Iowa highways. 

“The future 435 interstate designation … that bill that the governor signed designated highways 5 and 65 as federal interstate. It commits federal funds to the area for support and service, but also, really for the future, will bring economic vitality to that whole corridor south and east bordering Des Moines,” Bouwkamp said. 

Other action from the 2025 session aligned with the Partnership’s agenda’s included:

• Unemployment tax reform
• Tax credit modernization
• Health care workforce bill
• Workforce housing credit expansion
• Destination Iowa funding 
• Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production Tax Credit

Changes to unemployment tax is an important development coming out of the last session, Bouwkamp said.

“That lowers the maximum rate, cuts the taxable wage base in half, and basically simplifies that tax structure. And all the while keeping the fund in a very healthy condition, so that one alone also saves Iowa businesses and Iowa employers about a billion dollars over five years. It’s very significant for Iowa’s competitiveness for business as well for employment,” he said.

Workforce efforts

Labor shortages are something many states and industries are working to overcome and Iowa is no exception. As of August, Iowa Workforce Development reported 52,065 job openings, despite the 2,300 nonfarm jobs lost between July 2024 and July 2025. 

Stark said the Partnership plans to work with IWD leaders to develop ways to bolster the state’s workforce. The group plans to work with legislators on expanding apprenticeships and work-based learning, including engaging with middle and high school students to introduce them to Iowa-based careers. 

“If we don’t have an adequate workforce, we don’t have a growing state, we don’t have a growing economy, we don’t have a good quality of life,” Stark said. “It all stems from that, both in increasing talent, finding talent, retaining talent, upskilling talent in things like AI skill sets, and apprenticeships.”

Artificial intelligence education programs and training will also be a focus for the group, Stark said. Businesses small and large are asking about AI training to help them become more efficient and profitable, he added. 

Economic growth priorities

Property tax reform will once again be a top priority of the session. Bouwkamp said important provisions on the property tax legislation made progress during the last session. 

“Although property tax did not pass, there were a few really important provisions, I would say, that are now fairly established, that we advocated for,” he said. “One of them being that the formula needs to accommodate for new growth. Cities are especially concerned about that. That was one provision that I think was really solidified in everyone’s mind. Another one, which would be tying the general fund levy budget guarantees to CPI [Consume Price Index]. I think that has really stuck. And finally, that TIF [tax increment financing] is important and needs to remain. While this is a complex issue, it’s nice that it’s moving at a pace where the stakeholders can talk and bring these unified ideas to the parties.”

Partnership legislative agenda planning meetings included people from both sides of the issue. Stark said they believe they can make some progress during the next session. 

“We’re not running from that issue,” Stark said. “We recognize it’s critically important, as we’ve talked about. With 400-plus investors, we have folks on every side of this issue without a doubt, and what we are for at the Partnership is a practical, pro-growth strategy and we recognize there needs to be change, there needs to be changes over time. None of us are trees. We can move, and we should be able to move and adapt to that to meet those needs.”

Stark said the Partnership’s role in the property tax debate is to be a convener and bring people together to develop solutions to the issue. 

“Let’s work together,” he said. “We recognize there’s issues on the other side we’ve got to accommodate and get to a practical piece that still meets those needs for us be able to grow.”

The first day of the 2026 legislative session is Jan. 12.