Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird

(music)

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is pursuing legal action on a number of fronts from protecting consumers to challenging Biden administration policies. We'll talk with Bird about her work on this edition of Iowa Press.

(music)

Funding for Iowa Press was provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation.

(music)

The Associated General Contractors of Iowa, the public's partner in building Iowa's highway, bridge and municipal utility infrastructure.

Elite Casino Resorts is rooted in Iowa. Elite's 1,600 employees are our company's greatest asset. A family run business, Elite supports volunteerism, encourages promotions from within and shares profits with our employees.

(music)

Across Iowa, hundreds of neighborhood banks strive to serve their communities, provide jobs and help local businesses. Iowa banks are proud to back the life you build. Learn more at iowabankers.com.

(music)

For decades, Iowa Press has brought you political leaders and newsmakers from across Iowa and beyond. Celebrating more than 50 years on statewide Iowa PBS, this is the Friday, August 30th edition of Iowa Press. Here is Kay Henderson.

(music)

Henderson: Our guest today is a former aide to Congressman Steve King and Governor Terry Branstad. She is a former county attorney. And since January of 2023 she has been Iowa's Attorney General. Brenna Bird, welcome back to Iowa Press.

Bird: Thank you. Good to be here.

Henderson: Also joining our conversation are Katarina Sostaric of Iowa Public Radio and Erin Murphy of the Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

Murphy: Attorney General Bird, this week you as a member of the state objection panel cast a vote that said the three Libertarian Party candidates for Congress did not sufficiently qualify and should not be on the ballot in November's elections. The libertarian candidates and party leaders have said that they're claiming political motivation here, that they were kicked off the ballot by republicans so they didn't have to face them in the November election. What do you say to that accusation?

Bird: Well, it's never easy as a member of the objections panel to have to tell someone that they didn't qualify for the ballot. But the law applies equally to everybody, every candidate, regardless of their party and the issue there was they hadn't followed Chapter 43 of the Iowa Code that says how the process works and what needs to be done. And it's not up to me to pick and choose which parts of the Code we're going to apply. It applies to everybody in the same way.

Murphy: And the argument that was made there was it came down to a matter of a couple of hours in some cases where those delegates were elected and they started party business just before the stroke of midnight, which then they would have been within the law. So basically, they were arguing that the panel should have showed a little grace to the Libertarian Party, especially as a third party that has not been operating for decades. What do you say to that?

Bird: Well, a couple of things. One is the law applies to all parties, all people and so it's not with regard to party whatsoever. But here they had held both causes and county conventions at the same time, which is not allowed. And one of the reasons that the Iowa legislature has Chapter 43, which describes how people can get on the ballot, is because you have to have that transparency, we need to make sure that people who are nominated at a special nominating convention, which is how they do it, are the folks who are representing the party. And that's what Chapter 43 does, that's why it's there. There are other ways, they also have ballot access, they can also get signatures to get on the ballot by the signature deadline. There's a couple of routes for them. But here too, just to be clear, everybody gets their day in court, so they can appeal the decision to the district court if they want to, but my position is I'm not going to pick and choose which parts of the Iowa Code are going to apply. I'm going to uphold the law.

Sostaric: So, your office provides legal advice to state licensing boards, like the Iowa Board of Medicine, that is now tasked with enforcing Iowa's law banning most abortions around six weeks. What is your message to doctors who are worried that they'll face discipline for providing abortions in cases where there is a severe health problem facing the mother?

Bird: Well, Iowa's law has an exception for that and the way that the heartbeat law works, which I defended before the Iowa Supreme Court and was upheld before our Supreme Court, is it is a standard of care licensing issues. So, the Board of Medicine provides those rules and provides guidance for how that works. But there is an exception for that.

Sostaric: We've seen other states that have similar exceptions to abortion laws where there's some women who say they've been told they have to wait until they get sicker and sicker before a doctor will provide an abortion to take care of whatever medical condition they're facing. Do women in Iowa need to worry about that?

Bird: No, the Board of Medicine is the one that is providing the standard of care and that is a board that consists of doctors who work with patients, people from different medical specialties. So, I think it's a good model and I think it's working well.

Sostaric: There are some out of state doctors who are now sending abortion pills into Iowa. Do you intend to pursue any prosecutions of those out of state doctors?

Bird: To be clear, the heartbeat law is about a standard of care for medical care and it is about licensing. There aren't any prosecutions related to the heartbeat law.

Sostaric: But there's shield laws in other states and I know some anti-abortion groups in Iowa want there to be some sort of crackdown, if possible, on those out of state doctors that are sending abortion pills into Iowa. Do you think your office will get involved in that at all?

Bird: Well, just to be clear, it's a licensing issue, not a criminal prosecution issue. So that is very different than the discussion that is happening in other states with regard to shield laws.

Murphy: Back in May at the end of a roughly yearlong study and analysis by your office, you decided that the Attorney General's Office will reimburse Plan B contraception for sexual assault victims. You also said at that point that so that process would begin to reimburse some back claims that had built up over the course of that study. I think it was roughly 360 claims at that point, around $15,000. Has that task been completed?

Bird: Yes. All of those claims that are completed have been reimbursed and that was part of a larger audit, a bottom-up top-down audit, one that I talked about on the campaign trail because I knew as Guthrie County Attorney that we could do a better job of victim services. And we've had some great outcomes there. We're still going to work to make it better. But one of the things that we know is it is important to have sexual assault nurses who are trained all around the state so that someone who has been assaulted can have access to high quality care. So, we recommended doubling the pay for sexual assault nurses. The first time in 20 years it has been increased. And then providing mileage, so if there is a nurse in another county that can go to the hospital to meet a victim, that they get reimbursed for that mileage. And there's more we've done too. We are working on the protective order notification system that was canceled for reasons unknown to us by our predecessor. That was canceled and victims didn't find out when protective orders had expired. And so, we are working on rebuilding that system. I know how important that is because I remember as Guthrie County Attorney when I talked to a sexual assault victim who had run into the person who had abused her in the grocery store and she was surprised to learn that it expired. If they don't renew it before it expires, they don't have good options. So, we want to do a good job of serving victims. A lot of the things that we noted that needed to be fixed have been fixed. Others we're still working on. And as we continue to hear about more problems, we're going to keep on working on them and doing everything we can to help victims of crime. And I have to say too, so thankful for the $5.5 million that Governor Reynolds provided to fill the hole created by the federal Department of Justice. If that hadn't been provided, we would have lost victim services all over Iowa, it was almost a 50% cut, and it would even have affected our statewide hotline that victims can call or text anytime. So very thankful for that. We're trying to move in the right direction and do the best we can.

Henderson: Iowa's immigration enforcement law that the Governor signed this spring has not gone into effect because of a court challenge. What plans are you making at your office to enforce that law if and when it makes its way through the court system? Will you hire more staff? Are you going to use current prosecutors? What sort of processes are you planning?

Bird: Well, a couple of things. One is we are defending that law. It is in the 8th Circuit right now. So that briefing is happening and there will be an argument likely this fall. The basic argument there is that Iowa should be free to enforce the federal law. We're consistent with federal law. And Iowa is only having to do this because the federal government isn't enforcing the law, isn't securing the border. So, our legislature passed this law to deal with it. As far as when the law goes into effect, our function is mostly a training function. The most common crime in that law is an aggravated misdemeanor and our office typically helps counties with murder cases, cases involving rapists, child molesters, other types of cases. We don't typically take on aggravated misdemeanors. But we will certainly be there to help with training and to help to work through the process.

Henderson: And your training will be of county attorneys or their representatives who will be arguing in court that a state judge, a state of Iowa judge, issue a deportation order, correct?

Bird: No, and let me be clear, we train both prosecutors and law enforcement. We work together as a team. But the training would be any issues that were coming up that they wanted us to help them clarify. But here the judge, no state judge is issuing a deportation order. The system is broken. The federal government is not doing their job of securing the border, of enforcing our immigration laws and Iowa has had to step up. It's a state crime to be here illegally if you have been ordered deported before.

Henderson: So, what will happen to a person convicted of this crime?

Bird: It depends on the individual circumstances. But here you have to have the full cooperation of all of the layers of government when it comes to immigration. And that isn't happening here. But Iowa is stepping up to do their part.

Murphy: There is a deadline coming up as we sit here and record on Friday regarding the sports betting cases as a result of the investigation last year by the state. In your view, did the state overstep its bounds? Did the state violate Iowa college students' privacy rights in that investigation into sports betting on college campuses?

Bird: Well, the case that is pending right now is a civil case and our office is defending the Department of Public Safety. And we have just filed a motion to dismiss in that case and it is going through the legal process before a state judge. It will be up to the judge to decide.

Murphy: So, what are you arguing? Why should that be dismissed?

Bird: Yeah, I'm going to let the court filings speak for themselves in that matter. But it is our job to defend state agencies when they're faced with a lawsuit in court.

Sostaric: Last year the legislature explicitly put into Iowa law that you have the power to prosecute cases that county attorneys refuse to. Have you done that at all in the past year?

Bird: Yeah, the statewide jurisdiction in criminal matters for the Attorney General's Office has been around since the 1860s. As a practical matter, typically it is only the murders, sex abuse cases, other types of cases that we end up helping counties with, either doing that case for the county or working together with the county attorney. So, at this point all of those cases in our office have been referrals from counties. There haven't been any cases that a county has not wanted us to pursue that we've pursued.

Henderson: You assembled an anti-Semitism task force this past summer. This past week you have pursued a New York based financial services firm accusing it of divesting from Israeli companies. The company has denied that they're doing that. Number one, how many Iowans are served by this company? I believe it's MSCI. How many Iowans are served by it? And how do you respond to the company saying they're not doing what you're accusing them of doing?

Bird: Yeah, well this is a huge company. The MS stands for Morgan Stanley. So, it's a large financial institution. Here the concern is that they give scores for investments and they were giving low scores to Israeli companies or companies that do business with Israel, a real concern. So, we have a subpoena to get the documents to get to the bottom of what is going on here because we cannot let anti-Semitism pollute the corporate world. And we have seen, especially after October 7th and those brutal attacks, we have seen that showing itself in our society. It's something that I personally believe very strongly in and I stand with Israel.

Henderson: When you formed the anti-Semitism task force you said one of the things that you expected them to do was to train local officials. And so, what sort of training do you envision? And has it begun?

Bird: Yes, so the task force is involved with law enforcement, prosecutors, also those in education and we have a prosecutor training coming up in October to train prosecutors and law enforcement on hate crimes and anti-Semitism. We're planning a training that would address the issue of anti-Semitism but also free speech within the education or university context. And those ideas came from our task force members as some good things that would be helpful. And we look for additional ways that we can be helpful.

Henderson: Do you think there have been instances in the past where hate crimes have not been prosecuted that should have been?

Bird: I think it's really important to do this, to realize that our law enforcement and prosecutors have to be trained on what is a hate crime, what do you need in order to prove that in court, and if they don't know that they may not recognize it when they see it if they haven't been trained on that. So, our goal with this training is to make sure that people have the tools they need so when they see it, they can gather that evidence, file the appropriate charge and then be able to pursue it and if they need help our office is there as a resource.

Murphy: Will that training benefit hate crimes of other types too or is it specifically tailored towards anti-Semitism?

Bird: Well, the hate crime law is applicable to many types of hate crimes. So, I think it's beneficial for all kinds of things. And there will also be some anti-Semitism training.

Murphy: Okay. I wanted to ask you, state lawmakers have spent a couple of years on this and haven't figured it out, how the state should manage and distribute the federal opioid settlement funds. Some of the proposals that were considered this past session included your office, maybe dividing a split between yours and Health and Human Services. Another proposal put it all with Health and Human Services. I'm just curious, first of all, do you think your office should be involved in that? Would you like the AG's Office to be involved in orchestrating where those funds are distributed?

Bird: Well, it's up to the legislature to decide how they want to spend those settlements funds. And we are glad to be involved if they would like us to be involved. And I think some folks in the legislature may well think that is the case because they have been reaching out to get information from us about how we can be effective. I hope that some of the funding will be used for prevention. It is so important. If we can prevent someone from getting addicted to opioids that can literally be lifesaving. We're seeing young people getting addicted through vaping. So, I think that is another good thing to address there. We also want to make sure that people have good treatment resources because an opioid addiction is tough and I know people who were addicted and sought treatment and were able to fight it back. It's not easy. But we need to have good treatment resources there. And then we need to have accountability so that the drug dealers experience some consequences and we don't have the flow of opioid and also methamphetamine in our communities. So, there are a lot of pieces to that, that need to be done right. And we just notice that the number of opioid deaths went down just a little bit from 2022 to 2023 by I think about 27 people. And I just remind myself, these are not statistics, these are people. Each number that is an opioid death is a real person whose friends and family are affected and it's just a tragedy. And so, we have to do all we can to help people.

Murphy: Well and to that, what is your level of concern that this isn't being resolved at the legislative level because the result of that is some of that money is just sitting waiting to be distributed.

Bird: It is one-time money and so I think our legislature is being careful to think through the best ways to spend it. Once it is gone, it's gone. It's not a constant stream. And I think it's smart when there is money like that and we do have the opioid epidemic that we have for both chambers to get together, think it though, think about what can be effective, what is needed and also to make sure that we're serving all parts of Iowa, not just the urban areas, not just the rural areas. But what can we do to deal with opioid abuse? How can we prevent it? How can we help people who are addicted? And how can we keep opioids out of our communities?

Murphy: Yeah, so you're not concerned that in the meantime there is that need out there right now and this money is just sitting around not being used?

Bird: I think as soon as they start to deploy those dollars in the most effective way, I think that is very positive. But I do think it's smart that they're doing it the right way. And at the end of the day, it's up to them, and I'm here to help.

Murphy: And one more on this topic, the counties are also responsible for some of this as well. Some of the money goes directly to the counties. Is your office involved -- there's been stories about maybe that money wasn't used quite as it was intended to -- is your office involved at all in the oversight of how counties are distributing those funds?

Bird: Just to be clear, counties sign settlement agreements too and so that is a county obligation. And that agreement describes what the money can and can't be spent for.

Sostaric: Attorney General Bird, we got lots of notices from your office about national lawsuits that you join and lead. How many lawsuits have you now joined or led against the Biden administration?

Bird: You know, I don't know the number because it's not about the numbers. I wish the number of times that we had had to sue to Biden administration, I wish it was zero because I wish they were following the law and Constitution and we've had a number of notable lawsuits. EPA would not allow year-round E15, even though the law required it and the Governor had asked for it, so we had to take them to court to get year-round E15. We were successful on that. Student debt cancellation, that's another one. People shouldn't be forced to pay for someone else's student debt. We took them to court multiple times and we've been successful there. We've been successful on Waters of the U.S. where the EPA wanted to tell farmers how to farm. So, we sued the EPA there. When you look at all of the electric vehicle mandates, that's another one that our office has been involved in and that one has not been resolved. But that will hurt many Iowans if they're forced to buy electric vehicles. It might not work for them. But I think they should have options where someone could choose to have a gas or diesel engine, a hybrid or an all-electric if that is what they want. But it should not be a mandate. So, there are a number of lawsuits and I've just listed a couple. I couldn't tell you how many there are.

Sostaric: You went to former President Trump's trial in New York and you said that politics doesn't belong in the courtroom. You ran for your current position saying that you were going to see Joe Biden in court. How is that not politics in the courtroom?

Bird: Yeah. Well, to be clear, I have never sued President Biden or Vice President Harris personally, only in the official capacity over important matters of the Constitution and law, legal matters. I have never prosecuted them. And what I saw in New York, and I went there to support President Trump because as a prosecutor I wanted to see what was going on. I have to say this, I have never seen anything like it, never seen anything like that in a courtroom. I'm so glad that doesn't happen in Iowa. But I think politics has no place in a criminal prosecution. I think that's wrong. As a county attorney I didn't know the politics of defendants I would prosecute, and if I did it wouldn't matter. And what happened in New York is something that hurts our whole justice system and hurts our rule of law.

Henderson: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California voters had a right to establish rules for livestock and the food that is sold in their state. Given that ruling, is that your guidepost in future legal action in regards to other states and interstate commerce?

Bird: Yeah. Well, we have been defending agriculture in our office and that includes defending pork farmers when it comes to how they raise their pigs. And California wants to tell Iowa farmers how they have to raise their pigs. I think that violates the interstate commerce clause. But the U.S. Supreme Court, that is not the decision that they had when that was challenged in California and that was, most of that happened before I took office. We are though continuing the fight to protect Iowa pork producers. We're involved in Massachusetts Question 3, which imposes obligations on Iowa pork producers if they would ship through Massachusetts, which is also a port. So, there are a number of arguments we're making. We're going to be consistent with the decision that the U.S. Supreme Court recently issued. But we've got some great arguments to make on behalf of farmers whether it's the import export clause, the dormant commerce clause or other arguments like the full faith in credit clause.

Henderson: Turning to last year, you were on this program in July and then in October you made the decision to publicly endorse Donald Trump before the Iowa Caucuses, unlike Governor Reynolds and other statewide officials. What caused you to make that decision?

Bird: Well, there are a number of things. One was at that time that was back in October the terror attacks that happened in Israel, I think that never would have happened if President Trump was president and that is something that is destabilizing in the things that are going on around the world. It's important that we have a strong country and a strong president. I also know how much better off we were when President Trump was president. The border was secure. Our economy was better. A number of things that are important to all of us. So, I was glad to support President Trump during the caucuses and to campaign with him.

Sostaric: Donald Trump tried to overturn the election results in 2020. Would you join Trump backed lawsuits this year that questioned the election results in other states?

Bird: Yeah, so I'm not going to answer a hypothetical question, but I will say that election integrity is very important. We need to know that every vote counts, that there isn't cheating and that the process is fair. And we saw that, we've seen a congressional race in Iowa that came down to just six votes. So, it's really important to have election integrity so that when it comes to the end of the day, one party is going to win, one party is going to lose, but people have to know it was a fair election that had integrity.

Sostaric: So, is it fair to say you're not ruling that out joining those types of lawsuits?

Bird: I think it's fair to say I'm not going to speculate about hypothetical facts and hypothetical states and hypothetical lawsuits. But I will be on the lookout for election integrity.

Murphy: Beyond this November's election, do you plan to run for re-election as Attorney General? Or do you have -- you've held fundraisers recently -- what kind of campaigns might those fundraisers be supporting?

Bird: Yeah. Well, I haven't announced anything at this point because I think we should focus on the next election, which is just this fall. But my focus is on doing a good job as Attorney General on criminal prosecution, helping victims, helping Iowans who are being scammed and doing a good job as Attorney General. In fact, I'm really excited about our cold case unit. We now have a statewide cold case unit that can work to solve the over 400 unsolved homicides around Iowa. It's something I campaigned on and I'm very thankful that we're going to have that because nobody should get away with murder and I want families to know we are always going to look for the person who may have murdered their loved one and work to bring them to justice.

Henderson: We have less than half a minute left. Donald Trump has said you're gubernatorial material. Do you expect Kim Reynolds to run for re-election? But if she doesn't is that something you would consider?

Bird: Well, I sure hope Governor Reynolds runs for re-election. She is doing a great job and I'm so thankful to have her as our governor. I think she is the best governor in the entire United States of America.

Henderson: Well, thank you for your time today.

Bird: Thank you.

Henderson: You may watch every episode of Iowa Press at iowapbs.org. For everyone here at Iowa PBS, thanks for watching today.

(music)

(music)

(music)

Funding for Iowa Press was provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation.

(music)

The Associated General Contractors of Iowa, the public's partner in building Iowa's highway, bridge and municipal utility infrastructure.

Elite Casino Resorts a family run business rooted in Iowa. We believe our employees are part of our family and we strive to improve their quality of life and the quality of lives within the communities we serve.

(music)

Across Iowa, hundreds of neighborhood banks strive to serve their communities, provide jobs and help local businesses. Iowa banks are proud to back the life you build. Learn more at iowabankers.com.

(music)