March 5, 2021
~by State Senator Jesse Green
The eighth week of this year’s session is known as “funnel week” in the legislature. This week is the first legislative deadline of the year. All Senate policy bills must have passed through committee in order to be considered for the rest of the year.
This week was somewhat slow for me, but very busy for the legislature as a whole. The committees I serve on were able to get most of our work done last week. To start out this week’s newsletter though, I will highlight one bill that came out of the Agriculture Committee a week ago that I haven’t discussed with you yet. SSB 1195, or otherwise called the Working Animal Bill, would prohibit local ordinances from banning the operation of an animal enterprise, a domesticated animal event, or the use of a working animal. A classic potential local example would be our beloved Dayton Rodeo. This is an established event that has been around for decades. This bill protects the rodeo and other similar events from a radical city council ending this event. Outlawing carriage rides or animal exhibits like fairs are classic examples of how some cities have been oppressive to those in animal agriculture. We must do what we can to protect our culture and way of life by preventing this type of behavior from occurring here in Iowa with this bill. I look forward to seeing this bill hopefully hit the floor of the Senate for debate.
Another bill passed out of committee this week was Senate File 402. Throughout the past several years, social media has become a place for billions of users to voice their own opinions and thoughts and has become the public square of this century. Recently, more and more people have been concerned about these companies censoring conservative voices and points of view. The bill stops tax breaks or other financial incentives from Iowa taxpayers to large social media companies if they censor protected speech of Iowans.
The Senate has also discussed recently a number of bills commonly referred to as “back the blue” bills. Iowans have seen the hard work law enforcement does to protect our communities and the dangerous attacks some of them have endured. SF 497 provides much needed legal protections for law enforcement officers. The bill raises the penalty for those who assault a law enforcement officer, increases penalties or adds levels for certain disorderly conduct, unlawful assembly, and riot crimes, and also defines the act of damaging any publicly owned property, including a monument or statue, to be criminal mischief in the 2nd degree. The bill also ensures the holding period for a person arrested for criminal mischief in the 2nd degree, rioting, unlawful assembly, or disorderly conduct shall be at least 24 hours. This bill does not punish protesters and does not infringe on the First Amendment. It only punishes those who have committed a crime and protects those dedicating their lives to serving their community.
Senate File 476 aligns Iowa with the qualified immunity standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court for law enforcement officials. Qualified immunity is not blanket protection for illegal activity. Rather it ensures our law enforcement professionals are not being harassed or distracted, or second-guessing their action with concerns of being sued. It weighs the actions of an officer against the knowledge and awareness of the law. It also amends the Peace Officer, Public Safety, and Emergency Personnel Bill of Rights to allow an officer who suffered from a person knowingly filing a false complaint to bring a private cause of action and pursue civil remedies. Additionally, it makes an officer’s statement, recordings, or transcripts of any interview or disciplinary proceedings and any complaints against an officer a confidential record, while also giving law enforcement officers the ability to have their name redacted from documents available for public access online.
Over the past year a movement has emerged to defund police across the country. Senate File 479 protects law enforcement agencies from these targeted budget restrictions, or defunding. It denies state funds to an entity that decides to reduce law enforcement budgets without any justification or budgetary reason to do so. State funds would be denied until the funding has been re-established. The bill provides exemptions for certain reductions in police funding like reduced population, merger or consolidation, lower cost of entry-level law enforcement hiring, and one-time capital or equipment purchases in the prior fiscal year. It does not take away local decisions, but the state will not support a city defunding their police.
When Senate Republicans laid out our legislative vision for this session it included three main themes: giving all Iowa parents the choice to send their children to school in-person full time, supporting law enforcement, and working to improve the tax code and improve career opportunities in Iowa. Through the first legislative deadline, those promises are on track. Senate File 160, signed into law on January 29, kept the promise to parents and gave them the option to have their children in school full time. Senate File 479 and Senate File 497 passed through committee to ensure local law enforcement is not defunded and provide them with the protections they need to do their jobs. More work remains on taxes and as the end of the legislative session nears, the pace of those discussions will quicken. Critics will always chirp at the progress of this chamber, but Iowans know we keep our promises.
Passing constitutional carry for Iowans
This week, SSB 1232 passed out of the Judiciary Committee. This bill makes a number of changes to Iowa’s gun laws, the most important being allowing Iowans to carry firearms without a government permission slip.
This bill says a person no longer needs a permit to lawfully carry or transport a dangerous weapon, either open or concealed, including a loaded firearm. It also allows a buyer of a pistol or a revolver have either a permit to acquire or a permit to carry, or a satisfactory national instant criminal background check, and creates the crime of carrying firearms on school grounds, making it a class “D” felony. A number of exceptions are created with it, including people specifically authorized by the school, peace officers, or any person carrying in a vehicle where the weapon is unloaded in a fastened case or is inaccessible to the persons in the vehicle. Additionally, the bill allows EMS personnel to acquire a professional permit to carry if they are attached to a law enforcement tactical team, requiring law enforcement-level training and certification, and requires the Department of Public Safety to adopt rules expanding available training opportunities and licensing.
During the committee process, the question was brought up – what problem does this legislation solve? The Constitution protects individual rights from undue infringement by the government. This bill limits the infringement on that constitutional right of Iowans. Senate Republicans have always taken constitutional rights seriously, whether it is protecting freedom of speech on campuses and in classrooms or ensuring future infringements on the right to own a firearm are reviewed with the strictest form of judicial review. We are again taking up legislation to protect rights granted by the constitution and take down the barriers and obstacles often standing in the way.
