Many Iowa bills facing end of legislative line Friday

Time slipped away Wednesday for a host of legislative ideas slated to meet their demise when the 2013 session's first “funnel” deadline arrives at week's end.

Bills dealing with Internet poker, traffic enforcement cameras, distracted driving, secret vehicle compartments, tanning booth prohibitions for minors, various restrictions on abortion procedures and gun ownership, reinstating the death penalty, and proposed changes to Iowa's constitution were being herded to the sidelines in a Statehouse where control is divided between Republicans in the House and Democrats in the Senate.

A self-imposed legislative requirement that any non-money bill must pass at least one standing committee in the House or Senate by Friday to remain eligible for consideration this year is becoming a hurdle too high to clear for a number of measures that lack bipartisan consensus in the split-control Capitol.

“We're not interested in academic exercises. We intend to pass legislation that we think moves Iowa forward in a host of areas that state government is responsible for. Those will be the bills that stay alive at the end of this week,” said Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, chairman of the Senate State Government Committee.

“Elections have consequences and the voters have spoken,” he added. “They want us to work on the things we agree on and, while those other things may be interesting and provide a lot of drama, at the end of the day if there's not a consensus why go through the effort?”

For a number of perennial bills, hope springs eternal but the required majority of committee votes does not.

In the House Transportation Committee, chairman Rep. Josh Byrnes, R-Osage, pulled the plug Wednesday on House File 334, a bill that would have set parameters for the use of traffic enforcement cameras. He suggested to bill manager Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, that he reach out to officials with the state Department of Transportation and local governments to build consensus on regulating the use of the red light and speed cameras.

“They're not going away, but we need some consistency,” Byrnes said.

Rogers agreed and said he thinks he can find consensus with the stakeholders. However, he's not sure that's the best outcome.

“Maybe we should do nothing and let this play out and see if Iowans rise up and say ‘enough,'” Rogers said.

Similarly, Sen. Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said a bill seeking to prohibit drivers from engaging in a distracting activity like talking on cell phones while operating a motor vehicle won't advance this year.

“We just need to do so much more research and work on the bill that it's just not ready for this funnel,” Bowman said of Senate File 33.

Some issues were given a reprieve under escape clauses that make appropriations, tax policy and leadership bills exempt from Friday's funnel deadline. Raising the state gas tax and imposing a 3/8 of 1 percent sales tax increase earmarked for natural resources were two such funnel survivors.

“It's not going to make the funnel but that doesn't mean it's dead,” Bowman said of the gas tax issue.

Although there has been no movement on raising the state motor fuel tax, Byrnes said a bill likely will be introduced as soon as next week to phase in a 10-cent increase in the gas tax over three years.

He plans to wait until the House has approved a property tax relief plan before introducing the gas tax hike.

“It's tight,” Byrnes said when asked whether there are 51 votes in the House for raising the tax. However, he thinks lawmakers and their constituents will support additional funding for roads and bridges if they are educated on the needs.

Also, Gov. Terry Branstad remains open to an increase if it's part of a larger package that decreases Iowans' overall tax burden.

“I want to make sure we can tell Iowans their taxes are going down,” Branstad said earlier this week.

Building support for a gas tax hike has become harder because gas prices have gone up about 60 cents-a-gallon since the beginning of the legislative session, Branstad said.

“I do think Iowans recognize that the people who use our roads ought to pay the cost of maintaining (them),” the governor said. “We need to have a system that is equitable to all road users. I think it ought to be a pay-as-you-go system. And I'm willing to work with the Legislature.”

A couple gun-related bills came before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, but Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, said he doesn't expect the Senate to take up any weapons legislation this year.

“In the Senate, I've just said we're not doing guns this year – period,” said Hogg, who preferred to focus instead on issues pertaining to mental health as a way to address violent acts.

“There's just nothing positive that comes out of having a gun debate this year,” he said. “There is not a consensus on what we should do about guns, so we shouldn't spend a lot of time on that. It's one of those really red hot issues for a lot of Iowans, both directions and right now the gun issues are more properly resolved at the national level.”

One hot issue that did surface Wednesday was fireworks regulation.

Rep. Robert Bacon, R-Slater, persuaded a House State Government subcommittee to exclude “poppers” and “snappers” from the definition of fireworks similar to the way that sparklers and snakes are legal in Iowa.

Iowa prohibits nearly all fireworks, but Bacon said fuse-less “caps” that snap and pop with a “very tiny amount” of gunpowder – while obnoxious -- are harmless fun. He said the state also could reap tens of thousands of dollars worth to sales tax revenue by making snappers and poppers legal under House File 249.

Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, author of Senate File 93, a bill seeking to make all fireworks legal in Iowa, said he would give the House bill a special look if it gets to the Senate to see if he could morph it into a more-expansive piece of legislation. Oftentimes, measures that fall victim to the funnel are resurrected during floor debates as amendments to eligible bills.