Iowa Senate passes mourning dove measure

DES MOINES – Legislation authorizing the state Natural Resources Commission to establish an open season for hunting mourning doves in Iowa took wing in the Iowa Senate Tuesday.

Senators voted 30-18 to make Iowa the 40th U.S. state that allows dove hunting. Nineteen Republicans joined 11 Democrats in supporting Senate File 464 while 15 Democrats and three GOP senators opposed the measure.

“This is something I've been very passionate about over the years and I'm glad that this day has finally come,” said Sen. Dick Dearden, D-Des Moines, who managed the bill during an abbreviated floor debate where no other senator spoke.

Dearden, a hunting enthusiast, said he moved to Iowa when he was 16 years and wondered why the state didn't allow dove hunting while he and friends would shoot rabbits and squirrels. “I never thought 57 years ago that I'd be standing here today and floor managing a bill that would allow that,” he said.

The measure now goes to the Iowa House, where its future is uncertain. Majority GOP House leaders say they have not discussed the dove-hunting issue in their 60-member caucus, but Dearden said “they tell me the votes are there to pass it” in discussing the bill with representatives.

Backers note that Iowa is the only state west of the Mississippi River that doesn't have a dove-hunting season and the state could benefit economically from a new recreational activity.

Critics say while considered a delicacy, mourning doves are too small to be regarded as a viable food source and they argue it would be untoward for state officially to declare open season on a bird that for many is the symbol of peace.

Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, said he hunts pheasants but he voted no Tuesday because “I think there's plenty of other things to hunt right now. In the grand scheme of thing, is this something that we necessarily need to do, I don't think so.”

Sen. Tim Kapucian, R-Keystone, took a similar position in opposing the bill, saying “I just think we've got enough things to shoot. My mom and my wife, they said you'd better not vote for it. They're my constituents.”

Sen. Sandy Greiner, R-Keota, a prior member of the House and Senate who left the Legislature before returning to the Senate in the November 2010 election, said she previously opposed the dove-hunting measure and stated during the campaign she would oppose it again.

“My mail was overwhelmingly opposed to it. I had never voted in favor of it before and I didn't see any sense to start now,” Greiner said. “We've got big stuff that's pending here and I find it kind of disturbing that so much of my time was spent dealing with emails on that when we really have critical issues to deal with.”

Dearden noted that his previous two attempts to gain support to give the state Department of Natural Resources the option to set a dove-hunting season passed the Senate 26-24 but never became law.

A similar measure won approval by the Iowa Legislature in 2001, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Tom Vilsack. Gov. Terry Branstad has indicated he would sign the bill into law if it arrives at this desk.

“I'm happy and excited. It's something I've worked on for 14 years now and I finally got it done,” Dearden said. “I'm ready to move on to something else now, but tonight I'm going down to the Izaak Walton League and we will celebrate.”

Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale was the only other Republican to oppose the bill. Democrats voting no included Danielson and Sens. Daryl Beall of Fort Dodge, Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City, Swati Dandekar of Marion, Bill Dotzler of Waterloo, Robert Dvorsky of Iowa City, Tom Hancock of Epworth, Jack Hatch of Des Moines, Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids, Wally Horn of Cedar Rapids, Pam Jochum of Dubuque, Matt McCoy of Des Moines, Herman Quirmbach of Ames, Brian Schoenjahn of Arlington and Joe Seng of Davenport.

Also Tuesday, senators voted 36-12 to approve a supplemental appropriation to provide more than $2.5 million to the state public defender's office and $16 million for indigent defense – provisions that are part of Senate File 209, a package of supplemental spending and tax policy changes that currently have stalled in a House-Senate conference committee.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said senators decided to break the issue into a separate bill and send it to the House hoping that GOP representatives will agree with the Senate and Branstad that “the state should pay its bills.” Some attorneys who contract with the state to provide legal defense for juveniles and indigent Iowa adults haven't been paid since February because the issue has been tied up in a legislative stalemate.

Legislative Republicans have said they will not sign off on a supplemental spending bill until Democrats agree to establish a tax relief fund designed to bring taxpayers to the table.