This week, this bill passed through the Senate Judiciary committee and focuses on voting restoration for people with a history of felony charges. This particular bill is pursuant to the passage of an amendment to the Iowa Constitution, HJR 14, automatically restoring voting to individuals with a felony who have discharged their sentence. SF 2129 would define “discharge of sentence” to prevent, and therefore disqualify from automatic voting restoration, anyone who has not done the following:

• Completed any term of confinement, parole, and probation, and completed any special sentence;
• For an offence under chapter 707, received a pardon or restoration of rights from the governor; and
• Completed all victim restitution payments

This bill passed the Iowa Senate in March, 2019 with a vote of 46-0. The bill then moved to the House, and passed the floor in April, 2019 with a vote of 53-43, but with adopted amendments. This bill has now been added to the calendar for the Senate to vote to approve the bill again with the amendments added by the House. If the Senate approves it without any changes, the bill will be sent to the Governor’s Office for approval. If enacted, this bill would expand reporting to the Iowa prescription monitoring program (PMP) to include those controlled substances in schedules III, IV, and V which are dispensed to patients in Iowa. This would include substances in these schedules that do not require a prescription. For a summary of drugs and schedules, visit: https://pharmacy.iowa.gov/licensureregistration/controlled-substance-applications/summary-drugs-and-schedules

Our take: A growing body of evidence shows that not only do PMPs fail to reduce overdose deaths, they may contribute to overdose fatalities and are increasingly recognized as harmful. 

A bill that would allow lodging providers (hotels, motels, etc.) to voluntarily have their employees complete human trafficking prevention training and be certified as having done so by the commissioner of public safety has passed a it’s subcommittee in the House Public Safety committee.This training would focus on the accurate and prompt identification and reporting of, and response to, suspected human trafficking. The commissioner of public safety will be required to create a public website which identifies the certified lodging providers. If this bill is enacted, public employers and public employees will not be allowed to use public funds at lodging sites which are not certified. This bill would begin January 1, 2022.

Our take: This anti-trafficking bill raises many concerns for the health and sex workers. A number of questions have yet to be answered. 

This bill would establish a criminal penalty for a violent repeat offense, and has passed the Senate Judiciary committee, and will move to the Senate floor for a vote. A violent repeat offender is defined in this bill as any person convicted of a felony offense, who has been convicted twice before of any of those same offenses, which include:

• Iowa code chapt. 707 homicide, 708 assault, 709 sexual abuse, or 710 kidnapping; or
• Iowa code section 711.2 robbery in the first degree, 711.3 robbery in the second degree, 713.3 burglary in the first degree, 713. 4 attempted burglary in the first degree, 713.5(1)(a) burglary in the second degree, or 713.6(1)(a) attempted burglary in the second degree

A fiscal note (impact statement) on this bill was released this week, which demonstrates that this bill would have the following impacts if enacted:

• Longer prison sentences for those who qualify as a violent repeat offender
• 23% of the individuals who entered prison in 2019 as new admissions and would qualify as a violent habitual offender under this bill are African-American. The current makeup of African-Americans in Iowa is only 3.6% of the total population.
• This bill is estimated to increase DOC costs by more than $1.6 million per fiscal year.