DES MOINES – State lawmakers Thursday gave the red light to new regulations and limits on electronic monitoring devices cities use to curtail speeding and enforce other traffic laws.
Supporters of a bill that won House approval in setting uniform fines at $50 statewide for red-light violations and imposing signage requirements saw the brakes slammed on House File 549 Thursday when the measure was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee – which did not meet, meaning the bill fell victim to the Legislature’s self-imposed “funnel” deadline requiring policy proposals to clear one chamber and a committee of the other chamber to remain eligible for consideration this session.
The second funnel, which officially arrives Friday when neither the House or Senate are in session, also claimed a proposed marriage amendment to the state constitution, proposed changes to Iowa’s collective bargaining law for public employees, a requirement that voters present photo identification at election polls, education changes regarding home rule for schools and student dress code requirements, and proposed modifications to graduated driver’s license provisions for teenagers.
“We kept alive everything we think was good and we got rid of everything we think is bad,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs.
Democrats who control the Senate discarded a number of House-passed initiatives while majority GOP representatives ignored Senate-favored job-creation proposals as leaders of the split-control Legislature began to winnow their focus to budget measures, tax relief initiatives and a limited number of shared priorities in the session’s final month or so. Daily expense money for the 150-member General Assembly runs out April 29 – the session’s 110th day. Traditionally adjournment is closely tied to that benchmark although leaders concede it will take some heavy lifting to move their 2011 business to fruition.
Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, who led an unsuccessful effort to ban traffic-monitoring cameras outright, expressed disappointment that the effort to better regulate the activity died abruptly Thursday.
“I thought the House used common sense and came to a compromise. I think Iowans are saying that at a minimum there needs to be some kind of regulations on these cities on how much they can charge, and there were some signage regulations in there. I think it’s unfortunate,” he said. “With these traffic enforcement cameras, I believe you’re guilty until proven innocent. That’s my biggest hangup with them. I’ve always said they’re more about revenue than they are about public safety.”
Under the House-passed measure, the maximum fine for a red light violation would be $50, roughly half of what most cities charge. The fine for speeders wouldn’t change. Cities couldn’t charge court costs for either type of violation under the measure and tickets issued by using cameras don’t count against a driving record.
Sen. Tom Rielly, D-Oskaloosa, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said he was open to some of the proposed changes and was caught by surprise when Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, decided the issue belonged in the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I think there was some good stuff that didn’t make it” through the funnel, including the teen driver’s license changes the Senate that stalled in the House.
Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, said a discharge petition he had circulated among senators to force House Joint Resolution 6 – the proposed marriage amendment — out of committee failed to garner the 26 votes needed to move the issue to the Senate debate calendar. The effort stalled at 24 GOP signatures and resolution seeking a public vote on specifying that marriage between one man and one woman would be the only legal union valid or recognized in this state failed for another session.
Likewise, a number of gun-related initiatives did not have the needed support to remain alive for the 2011 session, including a measure that would have allowed Iowans to could use reasonable force in protecting themselves, their families and their property and a separate proposal whereby professional security guards could perform their duties on school grounds while carrying a sidearm.
A measure to toughen restrictions on late-term abortion saw House debate Thursday but a number of other social issues that surfaced during the session’s early months failed to advance very far. For instance, a House bill stating that Iowa’s health insurance exchange could not include any insurance policy that provides coverage for abortion was dropped from the eligible list Thursday.
“I was kind of surprised. There was a lot more talk before session,” said Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City, leader of the Senate Human Resources Committee, which for a time expected to be a hotbed of social issues. “It was ever quieter than I thought. Some of that could be due to new members and learning their new roles.
“I think one of the struggles in the House was because they couldn’t come to an agreement on what they wanted to move forward on some of those issues,” Ragan said. “I think the people are still talking the fiscal issues. People are really concerned about education, some on taxes. The social issues were not highlighted at the forums I attended. People talk about their own pocketbooks.”
However, Ragan said she would not be surprised to see some the funneled ideas resurface as amendments to budget measures when lawmakers start assembling their fiscal 2012 spending plan.
“It ain’t over yet. You never know,” she said.
One example in that category was Gov. Terry Branstad’s plan to shift Iowa’s voluntary preschool program for 4-year-olds to a means-tested scholarship approach did not survive the funnel, but is certain to be revisited in the budget process. Likewise, a policy measure seeking to shift water quality programs from the state Department of Natural Resources to the state Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship became an appropriations issue that is exempt from Friday’s funnel, said Sen. Dennis Black, D-Grinnell.
Legislation allowing parole for “lifers” who committed non-murder Class A crimes as a juvenile is alive in separate House and Senate versions, but Sen. Eugene Fraise, D-Fort Madison, said he doubted an agreement could be reached on setting the numbers of minimum years that would have to be served before an offender would be eligible for release.

Comments: (515) 243-7220; rod.boshart@sourcemedia.net

Here is a status report on 2011 legislative issues

ALIVE
Revamp economic development effort into public-private partnership
Allow mourning doves to be hunted in Iowa (Signed into law)
Legalize online poker in Iowa
Ease hurdles for building nuclear-powered facility
Create offenses for interfering/tampering with livestock/crop enterprises
Create “stolen valor” crime for fraudulent use of military medals
Restrict late-term abortions
Bar nicotine use on school grounds/events
Lower blood-alcohol to .08 percent for drunken boating
Cut state income tax by 20 percent
Expand enforcement of open meetings/records laws
Allow stabilizing wheels on motorcycles
Ban caffeinated alcohol drinks (Signed into law)
Repeal periodic county referenda on gaming
Revamp state’s child-abuse registry
Scrutinize administrative rules/create red tape commission
Begin revamp of county-based mental health system
Couple Iowa tax code with federal changes
Modify child-abuse registry provisions
Divest public investments tied to Iran
Restrict governor’s transfer authority after Legislature adjourns
Toughen penalties for K2, synthetic marijuana
Allow plasma arc technology alternate energy production facility
Install concussion protections for high-school athletes
Bar prison/jail inmates from possessing cell phones
Broaden liquor sales in convenience stores (signed into law)
Allow local ordinances regarding copper thefts
Merge state library services to save money
Allow parole for “lifers” who committed non-murder Class A crimes as a juvenile
Establish health insurance exchange
Allow credit unions/banks to conduct savings account promotion raffles
Remove electrical wiring inspection requirement for farmers
Create searchable state budget data base
Require state employees convicted of felony to repay money from administrative leave
Allow governor to appoint Iowa Law Enforcement Academy director
Shift water quality programs from DNR to Iowa Agriculture Department
All Ways and Means Committee tax-policy bills
All appropriation bills

DEAD
Amend Constitution to define marriage as only one man/one woman
Revamp collective bargaining law for public employees
Crack down on “backyard boutique” used auto sales
Restrict local governments’ power to use eminent domain to seize land
Allow counties to use lease-purchase agreements to build courthouses
Protect workers against wage theft
Modify teen graduated driver’s license provisions
Require voters to produce photo identification
Give mobile home owners same rights as apartment renters
Create sales-tax exemption for college textbooks
Note “right to work” in state promotional materials
Give mobile home owners same rights as apartment renters
Establish “do not text/email” protections for minors
Cap “pay-day” loan interest rates at 36 percent
Stop authorities from confiscating guns and ammunition during “Katrina-like” natural disaster
Rein in handicapped parking permits
Allow security guards/private investigators to carry “offensive weapons”
Designate 10-year, $600 million flood mitigation effort
Set uniform rules for red-light/speed enforcement cameras
Restrict dissolvable tobacco products
Give home rule authority to school officials
Allow schools to establish student dress codes
Allow boats with bigger motors on Lake Macbride
Expand athletic ineligibility rule from 90 days to 180 days
Change school year from 180 days to 1,080 hours of instruction
Require nonprofit groups file campaign disclosure reports
Prohibit campaign calls during nighttime hours
Give Iowans “right to choose” insurance coverage
Document state residency to receive public assistance
Extend Save Our Small Business loan program
Give fathers more rights in split child custody
Accelerate post-disaster buyout decisions
Expand latitude for creating charter schools
Create one-week wait to collect jobless benefits
Delay increase in IPERS contributions
Enact reasonable/deadly force protections
Bar abortion coverage in insurance policies under state health insurance exchange
Establish state licensing of midwives.
Bypass federal REAL ID Act requirements
Allow naturalistic medicine
Remove certain savannahs and Bengal leopard cats from list of dangerous animals
Prohibit donation to charity as criminal penalty in lieu of court-ordered community service
Extend unemployment benefits
Assure satellite voting stations on private property free from bias