Geri D. Huser (born July 14, 1963) is an American lawyer and Democratic party politician. She served in the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, formed ...

from 1996 to 2011. Since 2015 she has been Chairwoman of the

Iowa Utilities Board The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) is a three-member public utilities commission, with beginnings in 1878. It is a quasi-judicial tribunal, which regulates services and rates of electric, natural gas, water and telecommunication providers, as well as a ...

Early life and education

Geri Huser, née Skinner, was born to Ed and Lois Skinner. Her father is an attorney and land developer. She has a sister, Julie Skinner-Stewart. She graduated from Southeast Polk High School and later received a B.A. in social work from Briar Cliff College. She also got a J.D. degree from

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

Career

From 1990 to 1994, she served as a member of the Altoona City Council. She also served on the Metropolitan Planning Organization beginning in 1990. From 1996 to 2011, Huser represented the 42nd District in the

and served on several committees: the Judiciary committee; the Local Government committee; the Ways and Means committee; and the Transportation committee, which she chaired. In 2006, Huser was re-elected with 8,493 votes, running unopposed. She lost re-election in 2011 to tea party Republican Kim Pearson by 126 votes. As of 2011, she served as a Planning Specialist with Polk County Social Services and has been director of Iowa Finance Authority's Title Guaranty Division. After serving in the House, Huser became a partner at Skinner Law Firm in Altoona. In 2015, she became Chairwoman of the

. In June 2016 she voted not to allow the controversial construction of the

Bakken pipeline The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) or Bakken pipeline is a underground Pipeline transport, pipeline in the United States that has the ability to transport up to 750,000 barrels of Sweet crude oil, light sweet crude oil per day. It begins in the ...

to continue, but lost due to votes by the other two members, Nick Wagner and

Libby Jacobs Libby Swanson Jacobs (born October 1, 1956) is a former Iowa State Representative from the 60th District. Education Jacobs received her BA in political science from the University of Nebraska and her MPA from Drake University. Career Prior to ...

, who voted in favor. In 2017, it became known that she had continued to work in her legal practice on the side, in 500 court filings. Huser was named to Governor

Terry Branstad Terry Edward Branstad (born November 17, 1946) is a retired American politician who served as the 39th and 42nd governor of Iowa (1983–1999; 2011–2017) and the United States ambassador to China (2017–2020). A member of the Repu ...

's Transportation 2020 Citizen Advisory Commission. Her IUB board leadership ended in 2023, however her board term was scheduled to continue for four years; it is unclear, why Kim Reynolds replaced her. As she was appointed by former governor Terry Branstad, who has been working for the Summit Agricultural Group, which is seeking a permit for carbon capture pipeline to North Dakota she had a perceived conflict of interest, but she "at least had an open mind about this case", as critics have noted.

Personal life

Huser is married to Dan Huser, and together they have a daughter, Kelli, and a son, Blake.

Organizations

*Altoona City Council (2 years) *Greater Des Moines Housing Trust Fund Board *Metropolitan Planning Organization *Altoona Family Home *East Polk Interagency Association

References

External links

Representative Geri Huser
''official Iowa General Assembly site''
Representative Geri Huser
''official constituency blog'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Huser, Geri Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives Living people Women state legislators in Iowa 1963 births Iowa city council members Politicians from Des Moines, Iowa People from Altoona, Iowa Women city councillors in Iowa 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century members of the Iowa General Assembly