Iowa Senate approves bike safety rules

DES MOINES - Bicycle operators would be required to have a light mounted on the rear of their bikes when riding on roadways in Iowa between sunset and sunrise under a bill approved Tuesday by the Iowa Senate.

Proponents called the bill, which passed on 45-5 vote, a common-sense way to improve safety for bicyclists and motorists alike, while opponents considered it something parents and riders should decide rather than government. Five Republican senators voted against the bill.

Iowa law provides that a bicycle shall have a front lighted lamp and either a rear lighted lamp or a rear reflector during nighttime operating hours or when conditions, such as fog, snow sleet or rain, provide insufficient lighting to clearly discern people and vehicles on a highway 500 feet ahead.

The bill would require the rear light and establish a $25 citation for a violation that could be expunged if the violator took corrective action within 72 hours.

'This bill is a simple but effective way to improve the safety of our cyclists as they share the road with our trucks, automobiles and motorcycles,” Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, the bill's manager, said during Tuesday's floor debate.

Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, said bicycle coalitions in Iowa would have preferred that the bill also address passing regulations, but he called the proposed change a step toward modernizing Iowa law.

'I really believe that this is important,” he said.

The bill goes to the Iowa House, where it faces an uncertain future with Friday's 'funnel” deadline for bills to clear one chamber and a committee in the other house to remain eligible for consideration this session.

County payments

The same uncertainty accompanied a bill approved 50-0 Tuesday by the Iowa Senate that would bar a county board from approving the payment of a separation allowance or severance pay to county officials elected to serve as auditor, treasurer, recorder, sheriff, county attorney or a supervisor.

The measure started as a bill that would require county supervisors to approve a separate resolution each year to increase the pay of county elected officials, require all forms of compensation to be voted on annually and ban severance payouts for county elected officials.

At one point, the bill was amended to eliminate county compensation boards, but it was reworked and amended to deal only with the severance pay issues and won unanimously approval - a move opposed by eight GOP senators.

'I think it's a good bill,” said Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, the bill's floor manager.

'I think it's an accountability bill and a transparency bill for county elected officials,” Bisignano added. 'All in all, I think the concept of severance pay for elected officials is unconscionable. We run for office and we know what we're paid and we don't intend to have a severance package when we retire or we are defeated.”

Bisignano said he hoped the bill would put the issue of severance pay for elected county officials 'to bed” and he was optimistic that House would see it as a good bill.