A proposed five-year moratorium on building new casinos in Iowa is moving fast in the Iowa Legislature, and State Senator Ken Rozenboom says his new committee role has kept him focused on the effort to begin the 2025 session.

Rozenboom is chair of the State Government committee, and a bill that halts new casinos is forming quickly due to a proposal in Cedar Rapids that is scheduled to be considered by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission meeting on February 6th.

“A lot of those casinos are in small town Iowa and they are very big economic engines in those small communities, so I don’t have a dog in this fight–I don’t care about this gaming activity, we don’t have a casino in my Senate district,” he says. “I’m just trying to referee as the state government chair, as that falls on me to decide whether we can vote this bill out of committee or not.”

The measure has already passed the Iowa House, which if signed by Governor Kim Reynolds, would prevent a $275 million proposal in Linn County. Studies by the commission show that at least half of the revenue would be pulled from existing casinos, but millions in new revenue could be generated for the state budget.

The measure was passed in the Senate subcommittee and committee in conjunction with the full House bill. It would impact all potential casinos in the state for five years, not just the Cedar Rapids Project.

Hear more from Rozenboom about the legislative session Monday and Tuesday on Let’s Talk Pella.