Iowa : 2025-2026 Regular Session : STUDY_BILL SSB3010
A bill for an act relating to the prohibition of geoengineering activities, providing penalties, and including effective date provisions.
Sponsor: Sen Technology
Bill Details
A bill for an act relating to the prohibition of geoengineering activities, providing penalties, and including effective date provisions.
Bill summary
Prohibitions: The bill creates a new Chapter 708C in the Iowa Code, prohibiting three categories of activity:
- Polluting atmospheric activity (deliberate discharge of irritants, contaminants, or substances into the atmosphere with the intent to manipulate or alter weather)
- Cloud seeding (dispersing chemicals like silver iodide, potassium iodide, or dry ice via aircraft or ground generators)
- Weather engineering (deliberate manipulation or alteration of the environment for changing weather or climate)
The bill also prohibits using unmarked or unidentified aircraft, other vehicles, or facilities for these activities.
Enforcement Mechanism: The Department of Public Safety is authorised to immediately issue cease-and-desist orders to persons suspected of violating the prohibitions. These orders carry the weight of a court order.
Penalties:
- Class D felony for each violation
- Class D felony in Iowa carries imprisonment up to 5 years and fines of $1,025 to $10,245
- Each day of violation constitutes a separate offence, allowing cumulative penalties
Unusual Provisions:
- The "polluting atmospheric activity" definition is exceptionally broad, encompassing electromagnetic fields, electromagnetic pulses, sound waves, light pollution, microwaves, and ionising/non-ionising radiation
- The bill includes an immediate effective date provision, bypassing standard implementation timelines
- Administrative cease and desist orders are given court order weight without judicial review
History
SSB 3010 was introduced on January 13, 2026, the first day of Iowa's second-year legislative session. The bill emerged as a "study bill" proposed by Senator McClintock as chairperson of the Technology Committee, a procedural mechanism in Iowa that allows committee chairs to advance legislation without requiring individual senator sponsorship. Study bills provide a path for exploring policy concepts while maintaining committee control over advancement.
The bill was immediately referred to the Technology Committee and assigned to a three-member subcommittee consisting of Senators McClintock, Alons, and Knox on the same day. Subcommittee assignment represents the first substantive step in Iowa's legislative process, during which members evaluate the bill before recommending whether it should advance to full committee consideration. Iowa operates on a biennial cycle with carryover, though the 2026 session runs through approximately April 21, 2026, giving limited time for new legislation to advance through both chambers.
- Tue 13 Jan 2026 By COMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY
- Tue 13 Jan 2026 Introduced, referred to Technology.
- Tue 13 Jan 2026 Subcommittee: McClintock, Alons, and Knox.
Supplementary documents
No supplementary documents available
Bill text
AN ACT relating to the prohibition of geoengineering activities, providing penalties, and including effective date provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
Section 1. NEW SECTION. 708C.1 Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
# "Cloud seeding" means a type of weather modification that attempts to change the amount or type of condensation or precipitation by dispersing chemicals, including but not limited to silver iodide, potassium iodide, and dry ice, into the air by means of aircraft or ground generators.
# "Department" means the department of public safety.
# "Polluting atmospheric activity" means the deliberate discharge of any solid, liquid, gaseous, or thermal irritant, contaminant, or substance, including smoke, vapor, soot, fume, aerosol plume, acid, alkali, chemical, artificially produced electric field, magnetic field, electromagnetic field, electromagnetic pulse, sound wave, sound pollution, light pollution, microwave, and all artificially produced ionizing or nonionizing radiation or waste conducted in the atmosphere that may have harmful consequences upon health, the environment, or agriculture with the intent to manipulate or alter the weather.
# "Weather engineering" means the deliberate manipulation or alteration of the environment for the purpose of changing the weather or climate by artificial means, typically involving the deliberate release of polluting emissions in the atmosphere via cloud seeding, for small-scale, large-scale, and global-scale alteration of the environment.
Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 708C.2 Prohibited acts.
A person shall not engage in polluting atmospheric activity, cloud seeding, or any other type of weather engineering, or use an unmarked or unidentified aircraft or other vehicle or facility to engage in polluting atmospheric activity, cloud seeding, or any other type of weather engineering, unless otherwise provided by law.
Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. 708C.3 Penalties and enforcement.
# The department shall immediately issue a cease and desist order to a person suspected of violating section 708C.2. A cease and desist order issued under this section shall have the weight of a court order and any violation shall be punished in accordance with subsection
# A person who violates section 708C.2 commits a class "D" felony. A separate offense is committed by the person for each day during which the violation has been conducted, repeated, or continued.
Sec. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.