More criminals would be subject to DNA profiling under Senate bill

More people who are convicted or plead guilty to crimes would be require to provide DNA samples for profiling under a bill approved by the Iowa Senate on Monday.

Senate File 2304, which passed on a 33-16 vote, would require DNA samples from people convicted of most aggravated misdemeanors that could be kept in a state database similar to fingerprints. Offenses not included under the measure – which would be implemented on July 1, 2013 -- were driving while barred, third-degree theft and operating a vehicle without the owner's consent.

“This bill is about public safety and it's about justice,” said Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center, who served as the floor manager for a bill pushed by the Iowa Attorney General's Office and the state Department of Public Safety. “I think this is a useful tool for law enforcement,” he added, but noted that DNA evidence has been used to exonerate people wrongfully or mistakenly charged or convicted of criminal acts.

Currently, Iowa law requires DNA samples for felony convictions but Sodders noted that a number of crimes classified as aggravated misdemeanors in Iowa are considered felonies in other states.

According to a fiscal note prepared by the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency, about 10,100 samples would be taken in the program's first year – mostly at county jails – and about 6,600 samples in the second year. The cost would be about $476,000 in fiscal 2014 and $369,000 in fiscal 2015, and the top offense covered by the new DNA sample requirement would be second-offense drunken driving – a factoid that caused concern for Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa.

“I'm going to be voting no on this bill only because I do believe that when someone is a violent offender, we absolutely need to have DNA information,” Chelgren said, “but I'm not convinced that someone who is -- as I would say -- dangerously stupid should be profiled in this manner.”

Three Democrats and 12 other GOP senators agreed with Chelgren in opposing the bill, which now goes to the Iowa House for consideration.

Also Monday, senators voted 49-0 to extend the time survivors of child sexual abuse have to bring a civil cause of action to 10 years after reaching age 18. Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, who was floor manager for Senate File 2295, said the current one year limit for a cause of action is not long enough. Many victims do not come to terms with the abuse for several years, he said.

“It is very difficult for people to bring civil actions for sexual abuse in that time frame because these are problems that manifest themselves over years if not decades. These are emotionally taxing and trying cases to bring,” Hogg said. “You need more time.”

S.F. 2295 also changes Iowa's discovery rule to state that victims who do not find out that they've been a victim of sexual abuse as a child until later in life, that they would have 10 years from the date of discovery to bring a civil action. The bill, which goes to the House, also would extend the criminal statute of limitation from the current 10 years to a new standard of 20 years for prosecutors to bring a crime charge against a perpetrator of sexual abuse involving a minor.

“There is no magic bullet,” Hoggs said, although he believed state laws protecting children from sexual abuse would be significantly improved with this measure and a separate bill previously approved by the Senate that would provide whistle-blower protections against employment-related retaliation for anyone who reports incidents of child sexual abuse or inappropriate activity in the workplace.

“I think this is a good law,” Hogg said. “It's something that people who have been victimized by abuse in all the trying emotional circumstances that that occurs will have the time they need to reflect, to make the decision that they need to bring an action or to report it to authorities so that prosecutors can bring action.”

In separate action Monday, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 13-8 to approve a $182.3 million infrastructure appropriations bill for fiscal 2013 that included provisions to require a state audit of the Iowa Communications Network before it could be sold, require an association to develop a plan to increase public access and public access areas at Lake Delhi, and shift the state's Housing Trust Fund to be funded by real estate transfer taxes. Senate Study Bill 3181 included $33 million for the environment first fund, $5 million for the Community Attractions & Tourism (CAT) program, $64.4 million for tuition replacement and capital projects at regent universities and over $30 million for corrections projects.

Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, the bill's manager, said about one-third of the funding would require “notwithstanding” language because the projects did not fit the required description for “vertical” infrastructure – a level that was slightly higher than what Gov. Terry Branstad recommended.