Proposed ban on citizen police review boards will not advance at Iowa Capitol

DES MOINES — Proposed legislation that would have banned citizen police review boards in Iowa will not become law this year, a key state lawmaker said Thursday at the Iowa Capitol.

The proposed ban on the boards, previously passed by the Iowa Senate with bipartisan support, will not advance any further in the Iowa House, said state Rep. Jon Dunwell, a Republican from Newton.

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Dunwell, who managed the bill in its early legislative steps in the Iowa House, said there are many unanswered questions about the bill and its potential impact, and the proposal needs more work.

Because of that, he said, the bill will not advance any further this year.

“With everything on our agenda, we felt it was a better time to wait, do some more work, make sure we fully understand everything that’s in the bill before we move forward,” Dunwell said.

Under the proposal, all citizen police review boards would have been banned in Iowa. Currently, five cities — Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Coralville, University Heights and Dubuque — have the boards.

The city of Cedar Rapids did not formally register in support of or opposed to the bill, despite requests from advocates for the city to oppose it. The city instead remaining undecided, according to state lobbying records. Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell eventually told The Gazette that she favors keeping Cedar Rapids’ board in place.

“I think it has worked really well in Cedar Rapids,” O’Donnell said. “I do believe it is a best practice.”

The bill, Senate File 2325, also would have made changes to city civil service commissions that oversee the testing, hiring, promotion and discipline for police officers, firefighters and other civil service positions.

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Rep. Sami Scheetz, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, described the bill’s death as a double-edged sword because while he did not want the proposed ban on citizen police review boards, he did like the bill’s provisions on civil service commissions.

“I think it’s very good that places like Cedar Rapids that have had citizen review boards that have built community trust, have built stronger bonds between our community and the police force, I think that’s critically important for cities across the state of Iowa to be able to have the ability to institute those boards,” Scheetz said.

“At the same time, obviously anytime there’s legislation to protect public sector workers, as a union member and as somebody who works for a public sector union, I think that would have been very good for Iowans to have,” Scheetz said, referring to the civil service provisions.

The bill as originally written only contained the civil service provisions. The proposed ban on police review boards was added later, during floor debate in the Senate.

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During that debate, Sen. Scott Webster, a Republican from Bettendorf, criticized past discussions about policing policy by Iowa City’s Community Police Review Board.

Webster also asserted citizen review boards “give no due process to a police officer at all,” even though the Iowa City board, according to that city’s code, “has only limited civil, administrative review powers.”

Dunwell did not rule out further consideration of the bill during next year’s legislative session. The makeup of the Iowa Legislature will change to some degree with this fall’s statewide elections.

“It’s an important topic for all those who have an interest in the conversation,” Dunwell said. “Whether you’re someone who’s concerned about police officers, or fire persons, or someone who’s got some concerns from the community, it’s important for all. So we want to make sure we do it right.”

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