Lang
5/15/26
A flag bill targeting Johnson County has been signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Senate File 2430 reads as follows: “The custodian and the board of public officers of a public building in the state shall have the flags of the United States of America and the state of Iowa flown at half-staff when so directed by a proclamation issued by the governor.” The new law allows anyone to file a complaint with the state attorney general if the flags are not lowered when ordered by the governor. The new law says the AG then “may initiate an action in the name of the state, including but not limited to an action for injunctive relief, to obtain compliance.” No fines or criminal charges are detailed in the language of the bill.
The law is in response to Johnson County Board of Supervisors chairman Jon Green defying Reynolds last year when she ordered flags at half-staff for several days in memory of slain conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Green wrote at the time, “I condemn Kirk’s killing, regardless of who pulled the trigger or why. But I will not grant Johnson County honors to a man who made it his life’s mission to denigrate so many of the constituents I have sworn an oath to protect, and who did so much to harm not only the marginalized, but also to degrade the fabric of the body politic.”
Kirk was shot and killed last September at Utah Valley State University, and was known for his anti-LGBTQ and Christian Nationalist views.