News from the Hill…
I am sponsoring two different bills this year that address problems constituents and other Iowans are having. The first one is the over reach by the DNR and some of its game wardens. House File 2196 permits land owners or tenants of the land, including people with them to drive around on their land after dark and not be cited for hunting with an artificial light, such as their headlights. They cannot confiscate your gun, if you are not doing anything criminal and you cannot be ticketed for walking on the wrong side of a fence with some allowances. Most of these would be classified as common sense, but some officer somewhere has to push the limit on enforcement to the exact letter of the law, or at least in their interpretation. This bill needs to be passed out of the Natural Resources Committee by Friday February 21st to stay eligible for debate.
The second bill, House File 2198 establishes a new classification for race car haulers. Once again over zealous IDOT officers are ticketing race car haulers because they are licensed as recreational vehicles, (RV). Under present law, they exceed the legal length of a RV and trailer. This bill has been assigned to the Ways and Means Committee, because it has an annual registration fee. With the bill being a Ways and Means bill, we have some time to work this bill through the process. I have assigned one of my best members to floor manage this bill.
First floor debate…
The first floor debate for this session was Tuesday, February 11. Two of the more controversial bills were HF 2109 dealing with electronic cigarettes and HF 2175 dealing with Telemedicine Abortion. The debate for both bills had numerous speakers and took some time to work through all of the comments. Presently e-cigarettes are unregulated and while most retailers are not selling them to minors, current law does not prevent this. This bill prohibits the sale, forbids the purchase and they cannot be in the possession of minor’s. Electronic cigarettes are used by adults as an alternative nicotine product. The main function would be for adults who use nicotine could use an e-cigarette instead of smoking tobacco. E-cigarettes do not contain tobacco. They are not harmful to ones health and they do not emit any smoke, only a vapor that is steam. Nicotine, is addictive, but is not harmful to your health. The bill does not subject electronic cigarettes to the state tobacco tax or the Iowa Smoke-Free Air Act, because they clearly are not tobacco product.
The second bill, HF 2175 prohibits a person from dispensing or causing to be dispensed any chemical agent or drug, via telecommunication for the termination of a human pregnancy with the intent that the pregnant woman will use the chemical agent to terminate her pregnancy. This bill only affects abortions that are performed using telecommunication technology to terminate a woman’s pregnancy.
Education Funding…
Under present Iowa Law, the legislature is supposed to establish the statewide growth for local school districts for the fiscal year following the fiscal budget we are working on. Simply, we are supposed to establish the percentage of growth for fiscal year 2016. We have already set the amount for fiscal year 2015 at 4%. The democrats want to set the growth for FY16 at 6%. I have never liked or agreed with the idea of the legislature setting the allowed growth for the fiscal year that far in advance because there are too many unknowns. Once the growth is set and if the state cannot honor its commitment, there are two options, one the property tax payers would have to pick up the shortfall or there would have to be a cut in their funding. Neither is a good option. We passed a bill on Thursday, HF2194 to change the law and not set the allowed growth this far in advance every year. Instead the General Assembly would set a two year amount in odd numbered years.
“My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.” – Abraham Lincoln
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
Until next time,
Tom Sands