Iowa House approves ‘Right to Assistance’ bill 98-0

DES MOINES - The Iowa House voted 98-0 Wednesday to approve a bill that would supersede local nuisance ordinances that might penalize a resident or property owner for emergency assistance calls.

The House adopted an amendment to House File 493 that floor manager Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Bondurant, said would make clear that cities and counties can continue to enforce nuisance ordinances in all other cases.

'If you haven't cut your grass, if you have a car in your yard, if there is anything the city or county is looking to do, those ordinances would still stay in effect,” he said.

That was a compromise that Rep. Ken Rizer, R-Cedar Rapids, sought to protect his city's comprehensive nuisance abatement effort.

The city argued that the so-called 'Right to Assistance” bill would kill a key provision of Cedar Rapids' SAFE-CR nuisance abatement ordinance. The city assesses points against property owners for some police calls to their properties.

Rizer and other Cedar Rapids legislators voted for the bill.

Nunn said HF 493 was needed because Iowans, especially tenants, should not hesitate to call for emergency assistance 'out of fear they will be evicted or fined when they believe there is a threat.”

Nunn related the story of a woman who was stalked and assaulted with a weapon at her rental property. When she called for emergency assistance, it triggered a nuisance ordinance, he said.

'Subsequently, her landlord received a fine and the mother and her three children were asked to leave the property and subsequently evicted by default,” Nunn said. It also registered a negative strike against her rental history making it more difficult to find another home.

Nunn declined to identify in which Iowa city that occurred.

The 'Right to Assistance” legislation is necessary because of the prevalence of domestic assault, Nunn said.

'Sadly in this country, one in three women will experience domestic assault,” he said, and one in four Iowa tenants will request police support for an incident involving domestic assault.

Rep. Deb Berry, D-Waterloo, who also worked on the bill, said the amendment 'clarifies that cities can still continue to do what they need to do … regarding nuisance properties.”

The bill now goes to the Senate.