Senate passes more limits on teenaged drivers

DES MOINES – Iowa's youngest drivers would be further limited in the number of hours they could operate a motor vehicle and the number of passengers who could ride with them under a bill that won Senate approval Thursday.

In other action, senators agreed to require that an employer make a “reasonable effort” to make a workplace accommodation for a female worker who wishes to express breast milk for an infant or toddler during a break time, a meal time or both.

During a day of wide-ranging debate, the Senate voted 47-1 to approve several new limitations on teenagers' driving privileges by changing the perimeters of the state's graduated driver's license program.

Senate File 2150 requires novice drivers to have at least 12 months of driving experience with a learner's permit before qualifying for a graduated driver's license at age 16. Currently, teens have to have six months experience with a learner's permit they can obtain at age 14 before seeking a graduated license at 16.

The measure also limits to one the number of unrelated passengers who can be transported in a vehicle driven by a teenager with an intermediate license. Another provision would change the hours of operation for a teenager with a graduated driver's license from the current 5 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. unless the driver has a waiver for work or school activities.

“Senate File 2150 is about saving lives,” said Sen. Bill Heckroth, D-Waverly, the bill's floor manager.

“As research indicates, it is critical that we modify our graduated driver's license program to provide our young drivers with more experience while reducing the risk while they're driving,” he said. “These changes are overwhelmingly supported by the parents of these teens as well as by many, many other Iowans.”

Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton, did not see it that way, however, calling the proposed language “lame” in trying unsuccessfully to keep the current hours of operation from 12:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. in place and allowing parents of home-schooled children to teach those students driver's education.

“This isn't about safety because, if it was truly about safety, they would ban driving after 8 p.m.,” Bartz said, pointing to research that indicated for accidents involving teenaged drivers take place during overnight hours.

“It basically is taking away the decision making of a parent and replacing it with a nanny state,” he said.

Also Thursday, senators voted 29-15 to approve a workplace change whereby an employer who have to provide an employee who expresses breast milk reasonable time each day -- paid or unpaid -- to express breast milk for up to two years after the birth of the employee's child.

Under Senate File 2270, also known as the family friendly workplace act, an employer would be required to make "reasonable efforts" to provide a private place other than a toilet stall for the employee to express breast milk. The area should be shielded from view and free from intrusion from other workers.

“None of us eat our lunch in a toilet stall and probably even more appropriate none of us prepare our meals in a toilet stall and yet we're requiring many working mothers to do just that for their infants,” said Sen. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, the bill's floor manager.

Sen. Nancy Boettger, R-Harlan, who noted that she breast fed her four children, expressed concern the bill was seeking an accommodation for a few instances that create a new unfunded mandate for Iowa employers.

Jochum refuted that claim, saying the bill would not impose an undo workplace hardship. She said 24 other state and the District of Columbia follows provide similar accommodations.

And finally, senators voted 48-0 to change the threshold whereby “fender-bender” accidents would be reported on Iowans' driving records, raising the damage amount up to $1,500. The current threshold that triggers a written report is if a crash causes up to $1,000 in property damage.

Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center, said accidents in which someone is injured still would have to be reported under Senate File 2304.