New crop of state laws take effect July 1

DES MOINES - Iowans will have more freedom to carry firearms when they operate all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles and more protections from trespassers attempting to invade their privacy under a new crop of state laws that take effect on Friday.

The Iowa Legislature, with majority control split among House Republicans and Senate Democrats, produced one of the lowest yearly outputs with 141 enrolled measures and joint resolutions making their way to Gov. Terry Branstad's desk for his signature during 2016. Only the 2011 session produced fewer signed bills in recent years with 138.

Among the changes taking effect Friday include tougher penalties for littering or illegally dumping waste or garbage, new precautions to protect student athletes from serious injuries during collision sports, and several changes in criminal sentencing designed to reform Iowa's justice system.

The changes under House File 2283 now allow Iowa landowners to carry a loaded firearm while operating a snowmobile or an ATV on their own property. Off-road vehicle operators on someone else's property are required to place unloaded shotguns or rifles into a case while transporting them.

Also, Iowans with a permit to carry a handgun would be allowed to possess a pistol if it was secured in a retention holster similar to those used by law enforcement officers. Another provision of the new law requires snowmobilers and ATV riders to get off their vehicle to shoot.

Another new law is intended to make it easier for authorities to prosecute 'peeping Toms” who knowingly spy on other Iowans or violate their privacy rights. Senate File 2185 makes it an aggravated misdemeanor to invade a person's privacy.

Legislators amended current law to say that criminal trespass is committed if a person 'intentionally views, photographs, or films another person through the window or any other aperture of a dwelling, without legitimate purpose, while present on the real property upon which the dwelling is located.”

Previously, to gain a conviction, it had to be proved that a peeper or trespasser was aroused and that the victim was nude or partially nude. Another provision covers situations where a person is viewed, photographed or filmed in a situation where the victim had a reasonable expectation of privacy and did not consent.

Starting Friday, people dumping items weighing more than 10 pounds or larger than 15 cubic feet could face a fine beginning at $1,000 for the first offense, $2,000 for a second violation and $3,000 for a third or subsequent offense. House File 2385 distinguishes between littering - candy wrappers, beverage cans, food packaging, for example - and larger items such as tires and household appliances and furniture. Littering could result in a simple misdemeanor charge with a fine of $65 to $625.

Another measure approved during the 2016 legislative session and signed by Branstad requires Iowa high schools to have a health care professional with training in sports medicine or emergency care present at 'collision” sporting events to identify concussions and assess injuries to student-athletes.

The new provision applies to home teams hosting extracurricular interscholastic contests for varsity football, wrestling and boys and girls soccer events. The health care professional would be required to notify the visiting team's athletic director within 48 hours after the contest occurs if a member of the visiting team shows signs, symptoms, or behaviors consistent with a concussion or brain injury, according to the bill.

The legislation does allow school districts to seek a waiver from the requirement from the state Department of Education as well as exemptions for extraordinary circumstances. A fiscal note prepared by the Legislative Services Agency estimated the legislation would cost local school districts in Iowa between $148,000 and $526,000 annually for the next two fiscal years.

More stringent oversight of the state's Medicaid program now administered by three private, for-profit managed care organizations take effect Friday with new data reporting and oversight measures designed to better monitor the MCOs handling of services for Iowa's 560,000 Medicaid clients.

Another health care change approved during the 2016 session begins a process for licensed psychologists to undergo additional education and advanced, supervised training to qualify for prescriptive authority.

Also, lawmakers took steps to address some of the criminal-justice system reforms that Branstad and Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady highlighted in January speeches that opened the 2016 session by making changes to mandatory-minimum sentences and giving judges more discretion in granting paroles or releases to offenders convicted of some drug-related crimes not subject to early release.

Provisions of House File 2064 also created a new offense of third-degree robbery as an aggravated misdemeanor for crimes that don't rise to the existing felony categories and extended the statute of limitations for child endangerment resulting in death, serious injury or bodily injury. The new standard would be that a criminal information or indictment must be occur within 10 years of the minor turning age 18 or, if the alleged offender is identified via DNA evidence, the indictment must come within three years from the date of the person being identified.

The new law allows certain individuals convicted of non-violent first-time drug offenses to be eligible for parole after serving 50 percent of their mandatory minimum sentence. It is estimated to cut incarceration costs by $757,000 in 2018.

Branstad also signed a law shielding most juvenile delinquency records from the public, calling Senate File 2288 'an important step forward for fairness and equitable criminal justice” by addressing situations where a minor offense committed as a juvenile could make it difficult to obtain housing, education and employment.

Under the new law, all juvenile delinquency proceedings - except those involving felony charges - are confidential unless a judge issues an order making them public. The law applies to juvenile delinquency proceedings that are pending or arise on or after July 1.

The governor also approved bills allowing a judge to terminate parental rights of convicted rapist as long as there is clear and convincing evidence the pregnancy was the result of a sexual assault, extending the statute of limitation for crimes involving the kidnapping or human trafficking of a minor, and requiring a survey of law enforcement agencies to determine the status of untested sexual abuse evidence collection kits. An office of human trafficking also is established within the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

Other measures taking effect Friday would expunge after two years criminal offenses for alcohol consumption in public, public intoxication or simulated public intoxication if the offender had not committed another crime beyond a traffic violation or simple misdemeanor; require county engineers to report annually on bridge repair work; provide a tax incentive for the Prospect Meadows baseball and softball facility in Marion; shield tenants from eviction for call 911; expand state oversight of private boarding schools; transfer Sac & Fox tribal law enforcement functions to Sac & Fox tribal leaders; bar state entities from investing in companies boycotting Israel; and set treatment provisions for non-compliant person with a serious mental impairment; and establish an Enhance Iowa Board that would replace the Vision Iowa Board to oversee the state's Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) program and other activities but without a funding mechanism to upgrade recreational and cultural offerings as well as beef up a sports tourism program.

Additional laws dealing with legalizing gun suppressors, regulating transportation companies like Uber, establishing renewable chemical tax breaks, authorizing lottery ticket sales via kiosks, protecting high-school athletes from bullying, establishing turtle harvesting regulations, authorizing use of opioid antagonists by emergency personnel, setting five-year renewal requirements for handicap driver windshield placards, and establishing non-profit license plate decals had effective dates other than July 1.

Another new law will exempt hair braiders from Iowa's cosmetology licensing laws and only require them to register with the state.

'This is a major victory for African-style hair braiders in Iowa,” said Meagan Forbes, an attorney with the Institute for Justice who noted that the change will mean that Iowa braiders Aicheria Bell and Achan Agit will voluntarily dismiss their lawsuit challenging Iowa's law requiring that African-style hair braiders get a cosmetology license.