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Well, Governor, thank you so much for making time to chat with us. We really appreciate it. Happy to do it. Thank you. Well, I want to start with government efficiency, uh, in your condition of the speech, you announced you're launching Iowa's own Doge. You, uh, said that Emily Schmidt will lead that. Who else will be serving on that commission? So we're still building that out and it'll be just *** lot of um. Uh, entrepreneurs and business leaders as well as local government officials from across the state, so, uh, it'll be *** good representation of our state and we like to keep it somewhat small and then they'll have the opportunity to pull in other people as they see fit. That's kind of *** template that we've used with other task force that I put together, but she is, uh, excited and and ready to go and already has *** lot of great ideas, so we're still kind of finalizing what that looks like and we'll give them kind of some broad parameters of what you know we. The expectation of the task force, but I really want them to, you know, take *** look at what they're doing in business, take *** look at how we're doing things in government, and how do we really, uh, make government more efficient, more effective, take advantage of technology and AI, and really what does it look like moving forward? So we're excited about it, you know, the other piece of this, uh, the federal dose, uh, Senator Ernst is *** representative in the, in the US Senate, and then we have Congressman Feinstra and Marionette Miller Meeks that are on the House side. So just that connection. Uh, between what they're doing at the federal level as it needs to be really they need to be connected then the state and then we'll kind of do that last leg down to local government. So hopefully we'll come up with some good ideas. So will there be *** channel between the federal doge and the Iowa? Oh, absolutely, and that was the recommendation even when we met with the president that that we really need to see what we're doing at the state level to look at block grants to, you know, make sure we've got uh transparency and accountability but some flexibility in how we implement this. Funding, uh, that comes, comes to the state from like the Department of Education maybe we can do *** block grant for that instead of 12 different streams coming down and so there's *** lot of things that we can look at, uh, working with, uh, the federal doge as well as the state. You also mentioned in your condition of the state address about Doge that there can't be uh meaningful property tax reform without making sure that Iowa lean at the local level. So I'm interested to know, you know, how will the findings of. be implemented, will, uh, city and county budgets, um, will cities and counties be making changes, um, based on what those fines will they be required to? Well, I hope, uh, based on what we've done at the state level and $217 million savings in 18 months, uh, it is *** strategy that we're utilizing not only to keep our, uh, tax cuts permanent but to look for ways to even reduce the taxes even further. So I hope you know our local governments can be. Active and take *** look at what we've done at the state what they're talking about at the federal level and then you know look internally at what they can do to help streamline and make uh local government even more effective so you know I think if we can do it collaboratively of course we'll, you know, that's always better and we can get the results that we're looking for and I'll like I said I'll have some local government officials uh on the task force so that we can understand kind of their area and what they're doing and and figure out ways where we're doing. The same thing or does it make sense the process that that's in place right now or is there *** better way to do what we're doing and accomplish even *** better thing? So it, you know, *** lot of times when I stand up *** task force, I try to like 100 days, you know, meet, be focused, get it done. These people are busy, you know, they're business leaders, they're entrepreneurs, they have *** busy life, get in, really take *** look at it, make *** recommendation. This one will probably go just *** little bit longer, so I think we're probably looking at 6 months, hopefully report out, uh, by December some of the. Suggestions uh that they have so I'm really looking forward to it. It's been, uh, it's worked really well for me in the past in the past, excuse me, the, uh, childcare task force that I stood up, we've rec we've actually implemented almost all of their recommendations, if not all of them, and with our economic recovery, uh, advisory task force that we stood up after COVID, same thing, almost all of their recommendations we've been able to kind of in one way or another implement so it was *** good road map for us to move forward. I want to turn now to maternal health. You had *** lot of different proposals on health care and *** lot, you know, specifically about maternal health. Um, according to the American College of OBGYNs, um, they say Iowa has the fewest, uh, OBGYNs per capita of any state. How will your maternal health proposals, uh, help to change that? Yeah, so I'm really excited about that and it's really important, uh, that we have that in every single corner of our state, uh, Iowans have access to high quality health care and. Um, so first of all, the residency program, I am really excited about that. We're graduating more physicians, doctors, and we're sending them out of state because we don't have enough residency slots. So by working with Broadlands and the University of Iowa, we'll be able to draw down over $150 million 115 new residency spots each year, uh, $460 over the four year period. That is *** game changer for rural Iowa. In addition to that, I've asked Ellie, uh, I've asked. Kelly to um apply for *** waiver to um give us some flexibility in in some of the rates to really address some of the basic needs especially in rural Iowa. So if you look at our centers of excellence we have one in Cairo, we have one in Atlantic and Grinnell, they're really *** great example of kind of *** hub and spoke model and by we can't vary the rates based on the needs without getting *** waiver from CMS so we're, uh, she's gonna go ahead. And apply for that so we can move forward but in the interim because that's gonna take *** while, uh, we've looked at unbundling our rates we're one of the few that say you're *** mom that's expecting and you have *** high risk pregnancy and you're seeing the doctor once *** month or you're *** mom that's just has *** normal pregnancy and you go every 3 months, that physician gets paid the same regardless of how many visits to to see him and so that doesn't help. Doctor and it doesn't help the the uh the the woman either and so we're unbundling the rates so we can understand where and what the need is and then in addition to that we're increasing our rates, our reimbursement for OBGYNs and anybody primary care physicians that are delivering babies and then increasing uh midwives as well as doula doulas. So all of that I think will help start to stabilize that workforce, bring new doctors in, make sure we're identifying. Different needs in different areas of the state uh and hopefully start to rebuild that uh that workforce with increasing, uh, those reimbursement rates are there, uh, quality measures that the state will put in place to make sure that hospitals aren't just getting that money and not improving outcomes? That's *** really good question. So they really, it really is tied to maternal health to make sure that we're, uh, they have to meet certain metrics that we're incentivizing the type of care that we need in different areas so that is, that's built into. That as well, uh, one of your proposals also deals with the uh certificate of need process. Um, right now Iowa has zero freestanding, uh, birthing centers, and many of the freestanding birthing centers say they can't afford to go through that, uh, certification process. Are you open to making freestanding birthing centers exempt from that process? You know that's something that'll go we're moving that we're, we're, um, asking to eliminate the health facilities council. We're asking to move that to. HHS, uh, Director Garcia will stand up an advisory board to help with some of those, uh, decisions. We're also bringing on *** health economist that will be *** game changer to really look at some of these specific issues so that we can make informed decisions, uh, moving forward. The other thing I forgot to say *** little bit ago is we're also, uh, we've taken 5 loan forgiveness programs. This is *** really important component too to keep doctors in our state, combined it into one and we've doubled the amount of money that we're putting into that. To help again encourage physicians that want to practice in the state if they practice in rural Iowa for 5 years and they could have access to this loan forgiveness forgiveness program and we're opening it up to uh physicians that have been trained outside of the state. It doesn't just apply to uh doctors and healthcare professionals that have been trained in the state but also out and so that and then uh just uh moving the CON process over to um HHS and then restructuring the way that. We do that with some um experts with our health care economists I think it'll make *** big difference in how we move forward with uh health facilities so and then the legislature last year if you remember it asked Kelly to kind of report back what that looks like and what the metrics will be to make those decisions and I think that's due this December and so she's still working on, you know, putting that together to make the presentation of the legislature when you talk to director Garcia and this new health care economist, would you be open to. um, exempting freestanding well, you know, I have to enter the data. I just, I, that's why he, I'm bringing him on. I wanna see what, what are, what metrics are you looking at? Where, where are we an outlier, where could we, you know, advance and, and make those accessible so I'm not gonna just, uh, I'm not gonna decide that until I can sit down with them and look what look at the data and then make *** decision based on the information that they're helping provide but it's it won't be just me. I mean Kelly is standing up an advisory council, uh, to I think to. Be *** part of that or that's what she's looking at I guess maybe the advisory councils uh another uh area that they're working on health information exchange. So, uh, she's doing that as as well there lots of different pieces. I know lots of different pieces like I'm blending too well, we'll go to another topic then if that's OK. um I want to talk about immigration. Um, we have *** new administration coming in you and 25 other Republican governors signed on to *** letter, um, pledging your support for President-elect Trump's mass deportation plan, uh. You also said that you would offer uh Iowa National Guard and state law enforcement if needed to help with that plan. You know how would those deployments of, uh, you know, state law enforcement and National Guard? Well, you know, I'm gonna, President Trump is going to take the lead on that, so he's gonna talk about what his plan looks like and then, you know, we've got states that are ready to help him implement it based on what his recommendations are. So he's the one that has to take the lead on that and then I can see how we can help facilitate that. Uh, with law enforcement and with the National Guard, if necessary, it might not even be necessary, but the thing is, you know, right now we have ICE that the Biden administration has not allowed them to do their job whatsoever, so I might not even need the National Guard or uh my law enforcement if the administration which President Trump will do will actually allow ICE. To do their job and work with the administration to especially their focus on on people that have broke the law that you know have you know there's horrible examples out there and we can list multiple uh lives that have been lost unnecessarily children that have been trafficked uh the list is long and so if you're an individual that's here illegally and you've broken. Well they broke and they all broke the law crossing the border, but you know, to the extent that it's been aggressive we can help, uh, we'll work with them to, uh, help them, uh, remove them from, from the country. Has President-elect Trump talked to you about what he may need or how that plan would what it would look like in Iowa? No, and he's not, I mean, you know, no, he's not, I've not talked to him personally, but. Uh, they'll, they're working on that right now. You've heard, uh, uh, Vice President elect Vance talk about ***, *** process, but they've not laid that out and so I'm not gonna speculate on what that looks like, but, but you know we are *** country of laws and the statistics are horrific and it's this the inhumane what these children have. Gone through the families that have been broken up, the cartel on the border, so we've got to get on top of this we're *** country of laws we have to protect our citizens and that's where he's gonna start and, and, uh, I have worked and talked to, uh, soon to be Director Holman, and he, he is in it for the right reason. He's worked for administrations, uh, both Republican and Democrat. He understands what it takes. To secure the border, he understands what that means to Americans and their safety, especially when we're not only looking at trafficking, but the drug, uh, drugs exploding in every single state across this country. And so I have *** lot of respect for him and uh he, he's knowledgeable, he knows what he's doing and I think President Trump picked the right person to lead that. Going back to state level, uh, things from your, your speech, um, and just what some of the Iowa House and Senate Republican leaders have talked about, you know, property taxes seem to be *** top priority this session. um, what do you want to see as lawmakers start to develop property tax proposals this session? So we had to let them take the lead on it this year because they talked *** lot about it and said that was one of their top priorities. So I've kind of let them. um, kind of take the lead, but you know I, I heard it out on the campaign trail. Iowans are sick and tired of watching their property taxes, uh, go up and up and up, watching local government capture, uh, the increase in the evaluation levy stay the same, but they're able to capture the growth and therefore taxes are going up. So *** lot of times we pass different laws to try to keep them down and with the current process there's ways to still circumvent that and and. Taxes, property taxes continue to go up so uh I've sat down with, uh, Senator Dawson, and he, I, I like the direction he's going in direction he's going in it's in the early stages, so we'll continue to meet with him and work with him in the house as well. I've also sit down with Representative Kaufman, and he's ready to come to the table and figure out what we can do, uh, to start to, you know, bring those property taxes down and, and still meet the services that Iowans. Expect so again when there's duplication of services that drives the cost up property taxes stay high so that's another, it can be another part of of do looking at ways that we can help bring property down property taxes down by streamlining uh uh services. So look forward to working with the legislature and see what we can get accomplished this year and if we can't, you know, if it because it's it's hard, you know, if it was easy it would have been done and we've been talking about this for *** long time. I'm kind of trying different things to help, you know, restrain some of the growth, but if not, then we're gonna work over the entire interim with legislators and figure out what we need to do to and and local government officials and figure out what we need to do to get this to really address this. I know child care has been *** big priority and so has early childhood learning for you. Um, preschool providers, uh, had been calling for more funding for full day preschool. Your proposal instead works to. Incentivize partnerships between preschool providers and childcare centers, you know, why did you decide to go down that route instead of funding full day pre? because *** child care, child care, childcare is all we hear about lack of access, the impact that it has on workforce, uh, across the state, and so I had to be really careful about, uh, passing *** law that would impact our childcare, uh, facilities and, and if we remove four year olds from their, um. From our preschool, our child cares, it would, uh, we, we, we'd be taking slots offline. *** lot of them wouldn't be able to sustain their operation because that's how they cash flow. And so really when you take *** look at the statistics and you see that we're 5th in the nation for access to 4 year old preschool, when you take into account that 67% of our students are, um, have some access to preschool, we're double, almost double what they, the national statistic is, it's not so much getting kids access. But it's about the continuum of care. It's about of of of *** family being able to drop that child off, uh, have somebody watch their child, uh, throughout the day, but also having access to high quality preschool, some, some, some, uh, early childhood education, and so, um, I, I thought this was *** great balance uh it it solved the, the real problem that we're addressing by incentivizing, uh, preschool providers and child care providers to. Work together and I thought the example that I gave in the condition of the state, if you get *** chance you should interview that school district it's working and it's *** great example of how we can really address the issue that we're facing you know the other thing that I don't think you know people really know is we already have uh *** program for kids that have that are high risk needs uh that allows for expanded preschool for them so. For kids that have high risk factors, there's already *** program in place that helps us extend that and we've actually put more money into that so we can, uh, even make sure that that the kids that need it are getting it. So I think it's *** good compromise. I think it's *** good solution we've got great examples of how it's already working and I look forward to we got *** lot of interest already we're already having school districts, uh, reach out to us, so we're putting that grant program together and then we'll have the team go out. And work with uh schools and daycare providers and just help them uh kind of facilitate that partnership and uh see if we can't uh really start to um really meet the needs of *** of *** continuum of care and that that's really what the issue is on your proposal about uh electronic device restrictions in schools, um, you laid out in your condition this date speech just what the data shows about, you know, overuse of electronic devices though we do hear from some parents' concerns about. Um, you know, their kids not having *** cell phone in the case that tragedy strikes and they would not be able to communicate with them and what's your message to those parents um who may be concerned about restrictions? So that's part of the proposal that we're putting forward, but really it's, it's the floor to at least not have, uh, cell phone use during instructional time so they would be able to, uh, if the school district decides that that's the path they wanna go to access their phone when they're not in in the classroom. But we've also, um, as part of the proposal so that each school board would have to look at their school safety plan and take into account how they there's exceptions and how they would handle any type of um an emergency so that they're thinking through what that looks like so that's part of the proposal that we're putting forward, but you know it's, it's the the data is there both nationally and here in Iowa school districts that have already implemented this or seeing. Tremendous results from it. I had superintendent say I walked into the lunchroom which where I would never hear anything, and it was so loud and noisy because the kids were actually communicating and talking to each other, uh, and enjoying uh their time and so you know they need to focus on schoolwork when they're in the classroom and just maybe have *** conversation and enjoy each other's company when they're uh at break or in the lunchroom. Uh, this, we, we need to, we need to learn how to communicate and be able to socialize and especially after COVID, *** lot of the kids that really, you know, spent some time without that, I think this exasperated some of the data that we had coming out of COVID and so it's the right thing to do. Uh, we're gonna do everything we can to get this across the finish line and I just, I, I said it in the condition of the state, but, uh, I just, I have *** lot of respect and I certainly. Slad the school districts that have moved forward with this that have worked with the parents and the teachers and the administrators to find *** solution that meets their, uh, community and we've got probably over half. I can get that statistic, but they're gonna do another survey to see how many school districts have moved forward with this but *** good deal of them have and so I wanted to be respectful for that work and that's why I said this would be the floor and then they can decide from there. Well, Governor, thank you so much for making time to chat with us. We appreciate it.