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From abortion to guns, here’s a look at hot-button issues likely to resurface this Iowa legislative session
GOP leaders say they won’t act to further restrict abortion until court rules on ‘fetal heartbeat’ law
Jan. 8, 2024 5:30 am, Updated: Jan. 8, 2024 10:24 am
DES MOINES — Iowa Republicans last year used their expanded legislative majorities to push through a trove of priorities over the objections of Democrats, passing reforms ranging from restricting access to abortion to how students are educated and private schools are funded to how state government is run.
But bills that would restrict teen access to social media, limit local governments’ use of traffic enforcement cameras, protect access to abortion under the Iowa Constitution and further loosen Iowa's gun laws, among others, stalled.
Here’s a look at the hot-button issues likely to resurface during this year’s Iowa legislative session, which begins today.
Abortion
Lawmakers last year passed a new law — which remains tied up in court — during a rare special session that would ban most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. As the case continues, abortion in Iowa remains legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Republican leaders said they do not plan to take further action to restrict abortion until the courts rule on the law.
Republicans have also abandoned an effort to pass an amendment to the state’s constitution that would declare Iowa does not recognize a fundamental right to an abortion. Lawmakers have approved the proposed amendment once. To revive it, they would need to pass it again in 2024 and put it to a public vote.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Grimes, said the Iowa Supreme Court’s 2022 decision reversing a fundamental right to an abortion negates the need for a constitutional amendment.
“And so until the ruling comes out on the current (fetal heartbeat abortion) bill, it's really just a wait and see,” Whitver said.
House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, said Democrats will continue to push legislation that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
The effort is unlikely to advance in the GOP-controlled Iowa House and Senate, but is among key pieces of legislation House Democrats introduced last year to draw contrast with the majority party.
“What we're interested in doing is providing reproductive freedom for all women,” Konfrst said. “And so we'll continue to push for that. … Republicans meanwhile, are trying to ban abortion in our constitution. And so it couldn't be clearer who's fighting for women's reproductive freedom and who isn't.”
Guns in vehicles on school grounds
Senate Republicans did not take up a bill advanced last year by House Republicans that would further loosen Iowa's gun laws, including allowing gun owners to have a firearm in a locked vehicle on school and college grounds.
House File 654 also would prohibit insurance companies from refusing to insure Iowa schools that choose to have armed staff on school grounds.
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Democrats and gun-safety advocates said the bill would perpetuate ongoing gun violence in the state and put children at risk by loosening lax Iowa gun laws and allowing firearms to become even more accessible in locations that are targets for mass shootings.
A sixth-grader was killed and five others were wounded by a 17-year-old suspect in a shooting Thursday at Perry High School and Middle School.
Advocates said the measure enhances the ability of lawful gun owners to protect and defend themselves and their families and that they should not be forced to leave a “defensive” firearm at home because they have to drop off or pick up a student at school.
House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, said Senate Republicans expressed concerns over the insurance provisions in the bill.
The Spirit Lake and Cherokee school districts rescinded policies last summer allowing trained staff to carry guns within the schools to avoid being dropped by their insurance carrier after attempts to find other insurers failed. District officials cited the 2022 mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, as one of the reasons for wanting to arm staff.
The districts’ insurance carrier, EMC Insurance Co., said it insures districts that provide qualified law enforcement officers in schools, but that coverage does not extend to armed teachers or school staff.
Windschitl said House Republicans have talked with Senate Republicans about possibly amending the bill to address the insurance concerns. Windschitl said a potential compromise may be to have the state assume liability in the event a teacher or staff member authorized to carry a firearm by an Iowa school district unlawfully shoots someone on school grounds.
Konfrst, the House Democratic leader, said “with an increase in school shootings, with increased concerns about school safety, it is not the right time to allow more guns or more firearms on school campuses.”
Social media restrictions for teens
Lawmakers last session advanced, but failed to approve, limits on social media platforms for teens. Iowa teens would have been prohibited from using the platforms without approval from a parent or guardian under a measure that advance out of a House committee but failed to make it to the House floor.
The bill would prohibit companies from collecting data on children under 18 without “verifiable parental consent.” That includes providing information required to create a profile on sites like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.
Similar age limitations signed into law in Arkansas and Utah have raised questions about the privacy and First Amendment rights of young Americans. Critics worry restricting children’s access to social media restricts their access to supportive communities. Some children, like LGBTQ teens, may find a sense of belonging online, they said. But supporters say they're concerned about social media's effects on kids' mental health.
Rep. John Wills, a Republican from Spirit Lake and the bill’s floor manager, has said lawmakers plan to revisit the issue this session.
Konfrst said House Democrats oppose a statewide ban on social media for children under 18, and it should be something that parents are entrusted to monitor and control.
“Social media can provide great opportunities for organizing, for communicating, for learning — and so let's teach students how to effectively and safely use social media and the internet rather than just taking it away and hoping they won't use it,” she said.
Traffic cameras
Iowa lawmakers likely will again try to regulate Iowa cities’ use of automated traffic enforcement cameras. They’ve been trying for more than a decade to restrict the use of the devices that capture video of vehicles speeding or running red lights.
“I don't know where it will go, but there will be a conversation about that,” Whitver said.
Whitver said there seems to be a “broad consensus” among GOP lawmakers of wanting to “regulate them a little bit more, and we probably don't need as many traffic cameras as we have in Iowa, and they continue to expand.”
Cedar Rapids installed its first speed cameras in 2010. As of March 2022, at least 19 Iowa cities and towns operated automatic traffic enforcement systems, including Sioux City, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Muscatine, Council Bluffs, Waterloo, LeClaire, Strawberry Point, Hudson, Chester, Buffalo, Miles, Independence and Oelwein, according to a Legislative Services Agency report. Marion added automated traffic cameras in 2023.
A bill advanced out of a Senate subcommittee late in the 2023 session that would have required cities and counties to gain approval from the Iowa Department of Transportation before placing traffic cameras. The Iowa DOT would be required to determine whether a system is appropriate and necessary and the least restrictive means to address the traffic safety issues at a location.
The bill closely matched one in the House that passed out of committee earlier last year, but failed to make it to the floor.
Lawmakers have floated several methods to regulate traffic enforcement cameras over the past several years, citing concerns about privacy and arguing some cities use them to drive revenue.
Lobbyists representing cities and police organizations, including Cedar Rapids, argue the proposals would limit an important traffic safety tool that has proved effective in reducing traffic crashes.
Democrats opposed the bills, saying they would impose burdensome regulations and take away an important revenue stream used to fund public safety.
The LSA report estimated the Senate bill would lead an annual loss in revenue of nearly $3.3 million for the city of Cedar Rapids. The city of LeClaire would see an estimated $1.1 million annual loss. Davenport would see a $817,000 loss, Council Bluffs $232,000, Muscatine $190,000 and Sioux City $80,000 in lost annual revenue.
Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, who has pushed previous proposals to ban traffic cameras, said he plans to put forward a bill this session, but would not provide details.
Zaun said he’s concerned by the “proliferation” of systems in smaller communities “where there’s not much traffic.”
“I recognize … the benefit of (cameras monitoring) the S-curve (on Interstate 380 in Cedar Rapids) because of the way it’s constructed, but for the most part I certainly think … these have become more about revenue generators rather than public safety,” he said.
Marijuana legalization
While Republican majorities are unlikely this session to mimic moves made in surrounding states easing restrictions on the possession and use of marijuana, supporters in Iowa see growing support.
House Democrats last year introduced legislation that remains eligible for debate this session that would allow Iowans over 21 to purchase marijuana for recreational use from a licensed retail store.
Other provisions include decreasing penalties for marijuana possession and expunging records for non-violent marijuana convictions, and expanding Iowa’s medical cannabis program.
A March 2021 Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll found more than half of Iowans surveyed, 54 percent, support legalizing marijuana for recreational uses, and more than three-quarters support expanding the drug’s use for medical purposes.
House Democrats’ bill would expand the definition of “debilitating medical condition” to include any medical condition that a patient’s health care practitioner determines could be treated by medical cannabis. It would also allow more potent medical marijuana in the state, increasing a cap on THC concentrations.
House Democrats’ proposal would tax marijuana sales at 10 percent, and allow counties that legalize retail marijuana establishments to impose a 1 percent surcharge in addition to local and state sales taxes. Revenue would be split three ways to fund scholarships for Iowa college students, for mental health services and substance abuse programs, and to local law enforcement agencies.
“I go to these communities along the borders and this issue gets a standing ovation from Republicans, Democrats, no-party voters, because they see money going across the river,” Konfrst said. “ … This is common-sense legislation that continues to pass in other states. This is something that has broad bipartisan support. I don't know why Republicans continue to want to, you know, ignore this issue when Iowans are the ones are asking for it.”
The state agency that currently regulates alcohol laws would oversee marijuana sales in Iowa under Democrats’ proposal.
GOP lawmakers who lead the House’s public safety and judiciary committees have said the proposal will not advance in the House, where Republicans hold an agenda-setting majority.
“It’s amazing to me that Democrats, who claim to care for children, would advocate for something that’s clearly harmful to children,” said Rep. Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. “It is a gateway drug that leads to greater addiction. Talk to any law enforcement officer in Colorado.”
Zaun, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he’s “open” to expanding Iowa’s medical cannabis program to allow Iowans to obtain medical marijuana products for a wider range of health problems, but has “no interest in looking at recreational cannabis.”
He argued recreational use of marijuana has negatively impacted workplaces in states that have legalized its use. Marijuana still is classified as a controlled substance at the federal level.
“It also creates an environment that’s more inviting for younger people to use marijuana,” Zaun said. “I’m just not interested in it. Revenue generation is not a reason to pass any legislation. I don’t think you should make decisions based on that alone.”
Zaun, too, said he’s interested in legislation fixing loopholes in state law that allows Iowans — including minors — to legally purchase high-potency marijuana drinks and gummies.
Legislative previews
In the days leading up to today’s start of the 2024 Iowa Legislature session, The Gazette previewed topics of possible discussion by state lawmakers:
Dec. 31: Tax cuts and state budget
Jan. 1: Social issues
Tuesday: Economic development
Wednesday: K-12 education
Thursday: Higher education
Friday: Government transparency
Saturday: Agriculture and environment
Sunday: Health care
Today: Hot-button issues
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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