Capitol Notebook: Iowa lawmakers pass bill expanding police, fire disability benefits

DES MOINES — Iowa police and firefighters would see benefits expanded to include disabilities caused by long-term physical stress and mental health conditions under a bill headed to Gov. Kim Reynolds.

House File 2680 unanimously passed the Iowa Senate on Thursday, and now heads to Reynolds for consideration.

The bill updates disability compensation rules and changes the state’s pension program for professional police and firefighters, which covers police departments in 49 of Iowa’s larger cities and fire departments in 38 of those.

A past Iowa Supreme Court ruling found that state law currently only allows police and firefighters to receive disability benefits if their disability can be traced to a specific incident.

Disabilities that appear after decades on the job, caused by work duties like carrying heavy equipment, are not covered. The bill specifies that any disability caused by employment is covered.

The bill also would add disability coverage for mental health conditions caused by traumatic incidents on the job, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Unlike the physical disabilities, the condition would need to be traceable to a specific traumatic incident or incidents to be covered.

The bill comes after legislation expanding the disability coverage for firefighters who develop cancer on the job failed to advance in the Senate.

The Senate did not take up the bill, which unanimously passed the House in February, before a legislative funnel deadline.

The proposal would have eliminated from state law the specification of individual cancers covered by the retirement programs and instead covers all cancers. Sen. Jason Schultz, the chair of the Senate State Government Committee, said he did not have enough time to research the cost impacts of the bill before the deadline.

Schultz said he does not expect to take up the bill this year but may look into it in future years.

Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, said the latest bill was broader and another way to get something done this session to improve public service benefits.

Iowa Senate passes sheriff retirement changes

The Iowa Senate unanimously passed a bill Thursday that would make changes to the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System for sheriffs and deputies, including increasing the applicable percentage for retirement benefit payments.

It also would provide that a person charged with the murder or felony assault of a law enforcement or corrections officer is not eligible for bail. And it would create a tax credit of up to $2,000 for public safety officers moving into Iowa.

House File 2661 increases the maximum IPERS retirement benefit from 72 to 80 percent of a retiree’s three-year salary average. It also establishes an annual 1.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment to the monthly allowance for sheriff and deputy sheriff members of IPERS for retirements on or after July 1.

Representatives for the Iowa State Association of Counties and Iowa State Sheriffs' & Deputies' Association say the legislation will help recruitment and retention efforts, and bring IPERS into better alignment with other pensions systems in Iowa for law enforcement.

The pension increase will be split evenly between the county and retirees.

The Senate made minor changes to the bill and sent it back to the Iowa House for final passage, where it previously cleared the chamber a vote of 93-0.

Bill adds penalties for cities, counties that bar firearms

Iowa counties and cities that enact policies regulating the possession of firearms could be subject to new penalties under a bill passed by the Iowa Senate on Thursday.

House File 2556 creates penalties for political subdivisions in Iowa that enact firearms ordinances, rules and policies that are more restrictive than state law. The bill would allow a judge to impose damages of up to $2,500 per day for local governments that “knowingly participated” in the violation after being notified of the violation.

The legislation comes after a southern Iowa county agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a case after a judge found it had illegally barred firearms from its courthouse.

The Iowa Supreme Court issued an order in 2017 prohibiting all weapons from courtrooms, court-controlled spaces and public areas of courthouses and other justice centers occupied by the court system, but gives counties authority to set their own rules if their courts are in a building that houses other government functions.

At the same time, the Legislature passed a law preempting local firearms regulations, with an exception for bans in buildings with armed security and weapons screening.

The Iowa Senate passed the bill, 40-5, with several Democrats opposed. It now heads to Gov. Reynolds to be signed into law.

AG Bird joins electric vehicles lawsuit

Iowa is among 13 Republican-led states joining a lawsuit challenging a federal rule that, the states argue, overstates the fuel efficiency of electric vehicles, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office announced.

The Biden administration last month announced new emission standards for passenger cars designed to reduce planet-warming emissions, the Associated Press reported.

The lawsuit claims the federal Department of Energy in the new rules overstated electric vehicles’ fuel efficiency, lacked the legal authority to impose the rules, failed to perform a required environmental impact statement, and that the new rules are “arbitrary” and “capricious.”

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Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, in a news release, argued the new federal rules favor electric vehicles and will cause harm to Iowa farmers and producers of corn-based ethanol.

“Biden has made it clear that he will take every avenue possible to wage war on gas-powered vehicles. And Iowa ethanol is getting caught in the crossfire,” Bird said in the news release. “I’m leading the charge in court to combat Biden’s extremist anti-energy agenda and protect Iowa ethanol and farmers.”