Governor Kim Reynolds is calling the legislature back to Des Moines for a special session on Friday, to vote on new incentives for a proposed steel mill in southeast Iowa.
Reynolds was among a handful of Iowa elected officials who were in the Oval Office with President Trump Monday to reveal the deal. Reynolds indicated she had engaged in tough negotiations with the company that plans to build the plant.
In a news release Tuesday, Reynolds said the State of Iowa has a memorandum of understanding outlining the terms of a partnership with Mesabi Metallics and the legislature will be asked to make to reasonable and limited updates to an already existing state economic development program. The Major Economic Growth Attraction program currently provides rebates for sales taxes on construction materials, the company gets tax credits for each full-time worker hired once the plant opens and a refundable tax credit worth five percent of a company’s investment in the facility. That would equal 750-MILLION dollars on the proposed 15-BILLION dollar project under current program rules. While she was at the White House, Reynolds said a program called “Source Iowa” will be launched at the end of the week, too.
The Governor’s proclamation calls on the legislature to convene at 8:30 a.m. on Friday.
