House votes to ban city limits on rental unit occupancy based on family relationships

DES MOINES — A change in state law to prohibit cities from limiting the number of occupants in rental property based on family relationships was opposed by college community lawmakers Tuesday.

They unsuccessfully argued those ordinances are necessary to protect public safety as well as control parking and avoid sewage problems.

House File 161 was approved 73-26 Tuesday.

The legislation was among several bills House members approved during the first day of sustained debate this year. Bills that survived the first funnel deadline Friday must be approved by either the House or Senate — whichever chamber originated the proposal — and a committee in the other before the second funnel deadline April 3.

Among other bills approved was Senate File 323, to require the Iowa Lottery to make a $2.5 million deposit in the Veterans Trust Fund each year until it is fully funded at $50 million.

Currently, the revenue from one pull-tab and one scratch game operated by the Lottery goes to the trust fund. However, revenue has declined from a $3 million-a-year target to $1.8 million because of lack of interest in the pull-tab games, according to the Lottery.

SF 323 was approved 92-5 and now goes to the governor.

Currently, a number of Iowa cities have ordinances that limit the number of unrelated people who can live in rental units. That's a violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Code, according to HF 161 floor manager Rep. Chip Baltimore, R-Boone.

However, Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, said a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work in her community.

'You don't live in Iowa City and you don't understand our community just as I don't understand yours,' she said.

Iowa City, Mascher said, has adopted ordinances that are 'best for our community in terms of public safety, in terms of what our sewer can actually accommodate and what it (can) handle.'

Baltimore was skeptical that sewage was the problem or that it should trump the Civil Rights Code.

'I've never known the quantity of sewage to come from unrelated people to be more than coming from related people,' he said. 'If that's the issue in Iowa City, then I think we have bigger problems.'

The problems cities are trying to address — loud parties, noise, parking and garbage — are behavior-related and have 'absolutely zero, nothing, to do with whether the occupants are legally related.'

A companion bill, Senate Study Bill 1218, has been approved by the Senate State Government Committee.

The House also approved:

HF 258 99-0 to increase the penalty for a peace officer guilty of sexual misconduct with a juvenile offender while transporting them from a jail to another facility to no more than two years in jail and a fine of up to $6,000.

HF 247 74-25 a Medicaid asset verification plan. Currently, applicants self-identify their assets. Iowa, like 48 other states, is not in compliance with federal law that requires an asset verification program. Democrats argued there is no requirement to privatize the service.

HF 287 99-0 to make it an aggravated misdemeanor to install a counterfeit air bag in a vehicle. The bill is in response to use and sale of Chinese-made counterfeit air bags by Web-based retailers, according to Rep. Ken Rizer, R-Cedar Rapids.

HF 288 80-19 to make it legal to taking catfish with a bow and arrow.

HF 352 57-42 to require zero-base budgeting by state agencies.

SF 150 87-12 to increase the penalty for a sexually violent predator who escapes from custody from a simple misdemeanor to a serious misdemeanor punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of no more than $1,875. The bill goes to the governor.