Senate expands seat-belt requirement for back-seat passengers

DES MOINES – Back-seat passengers up to the age of 18 years would be required to use seat belts or other restraints when riding in a motor vehicle in Iowa under a bill that cleared the Iowa Senate today.

Senators voted 39-9 to expand Iowa's seat-belt law to include back-seat passengers under age 18.

“Colleagues, we rarely have an opportunity to save Iowans' lives and this is a great opportunity to do this,” said Sen. Staci Appel, D-Ackworth.

Current law requires the use of seat belts, safety harnesses or child restraint systems for back-seat passengers under age 12. Senate File 2179 would cover the 11-17 age range effective July 1.

“This is good public policy. This is good law,” said Sen. Daryl Beall, D-Fort Dodge, the bill's floor manager. “By passing a youth seat-belt law, we'll give our kids the message that it is important to wear a seat belt and they can save lives.”

Nine GOP senators opposed the measure, but only Sen. Larry Noble, R-Ankeny, spoke against the bill during floor debate.

Noble, a former state trooper, said he supported seat-belt usage, noting “bad things happen when you're not buckled up, but he was concerned a driver could be ticketed even without knowing that a passenger in the rear of a van was not wearing a belt.

“I just have a real concern about who we're penalizing for this event,” he said.

Detractors have criticized the measure as an example of government trying to mandate personal responsibility.

Sen. Bill Heckroth, D-Waverly, said he supported the measure but did not think it went far enough because it did not extend the requirement to all vehicle passengers regardless of age.

Also today, senators voted 47-0 to nullify a rule adopted by the state Board of Educational Examiners that would keep teachers from finding out who lodged a complaint against them until probably cause had been established.

Board officials have indicated to legislators the proposed change was based upon advise from legal counsel to bring the board in line with an Iowa Supreme Court ruling.

Current board rules require that when a complaint is filed, that the teacher who is the target of the complaint be given a copy at the beginning of an investigation. The proposed change the Senate sought to nullify would keep secret the identity of the person making the initial complaint while an initiat probe was undertaken.