First responder counseling bill hits home for Oxford senator

DES MOINES — The first bill that freshman Sen. Kevin Kinney had to manage on the Iowa Senate floor hit close to home on Monday.

The Oxford Democrat, a retired lieutenant who lead the investigations division of the Johnson County Sheriff's Department, ran a bill — which passed 49-0 — that would make some counseling sessions between 'first responders' and a counselor in their department confidential.

Kinney met with a peer support group counselor after being a lead investigator who found the body of Jetseta Gage in a garment bag and arresting Roger Bentley in connection with the 10-year-old Cedar Rapids girl's death.

'I was on the crime scene for approximately 20 hours before I was able to go home to rest. I fell asleep for about 45 minutes and I later woke up in a sweat. I was having a nightmare. I saw my daughter, who was 12 at that time, in the garment bag' used in the murder, Kinney told his Senate colleagues.

'I then got up and worked for approximately two more days without any sleep' Kinney said, before his supervisor stepped in and told him to talk with a peer counselor. He said the 'critical incident debrief' he and other officers had with a peer counselor 'is what helped me get through this horrific incident.'

Provisions of the bill would privilege communications between counselors and law enforcement officers and first responders, among others, meaning counselors could not be compelled to testify about the interviews during a trial or court proceeding. Similar confidentiality is provided between lawyers and their clients, clergy and church members, husbands and wives, and doctors and their patients.

Kinney said the Gage case was particularly disturbing because he could see the crime scene from his house.

'It just consumes you. You wonder if you could have done something to save her. There are just a million things that go through your mind. If I would have been a half-hour earlier, if we would have been able to find her,' he said. 'You're sitting there working on these crime scenes and some of the things that you have to see, some of the things that people do to other people are horrific.'

Roger Bentley, who kidnapped and killed Jetseta Gage in 2005, is serving a life prison sentence. His brother, James Bentley, is serving a 100-year federal prison sentence for taking pornographic pictures of Jetseta Gage and a 1-year-old girl in 2003, and a separate 25-year sentence in Benton County for abusing Jetseta Gage.

In a separate 42-7 vote Monday, senators approved legislation to allow Iowa's entry into a multistate compact that would make it easier for doctors licensed in other states to become licensed in Iowa. Backers said joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact would increase the portability of physician licensing, but would not affect Iowa's ability to regulate medicinal practices in the state while establishing reciprocity agreements that would benefit regional health care systems and assist in the recruitment of doctors.

'It allows residents of other states to secure an expedited Iowa medical license,' said Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City, who was floor manager for the bill, which drew 'no' votes from seven Republicans. 'It's voluntary, it's another pathway for licensure and it does not change the medical practice act.'

Rep. Linda Miller, R-Bettendorf, chairwoman of the House Human Resources Committee, said she was not opposed to interstate compacts but isn't sure she will take up the bill this year. Miller said she wants to make sure the compact wouldn't just create another level of cost and bureaucracy. She also wants to make sure Iowa retains some leverage in the licensing process and has recourse if there are problems.

'I'm suspicious of creating another level of bureaucracy under the guise of protecting the public,' she said Monday.

Also Monday, senators voted 49-0 to switch the funding source for a state trust fund that has generated more than $21 million to help military veterans since 2008. Under the bill, the Iowa Lottery will earmark $2.5 million of the state gambling enterprise's profits to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund rather than channel proceeds from two instant-scratch games and two pull-tab games each year.

On a separate 49-0 vote, the Senate approved a measure that would allow a county treasurer to require a resident seeking to renew a vehicle registration to pay delinquent fines owed to the county or cities within the county before a renewal is issued. Along with making full payment, an applicant could be assessed a $5 processing fee and any applicable renewable fee