DES MOINES — Under proposed state law, the age and weight at which children must be in car safety seats will increase.
Regular campaign donations without the donor’s affirmative consent are illegal, as is hand-held use of a mobile device while driving. Also, pointing a laser at an aircraft is a crime.
These are among the proposals made by state agencies that were submitted ahead of the Iowa Legislature’s 2023 session, which begins on January 9.online legis.iowa.gov Under “Pre-submission Request Form”.
Legislators may introduce bills during this time, but as of Monday afternoon, about 20 bills previously submitted were all proposed by state departments. The legislative branch is responsible for drafting the preliminarily submitted bill into its final form and submitting it to both legislative chambers for consideration.
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car seatUnder proposed law by the State Department of Public Safety, children weighing up to 30 pounds must ride in a rear-facing car seat until age 3 and must ride in a car seat until age 8.
Under current law, the requirements are lower, up to 1 year in rear-facing seats weighing less than 20 pounds, and up to 6 years in child seats.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety said in a memo accompanying the proposed bill that the proposal to raise these limits would increase safety and align Iowa with regulations in neighboring states. Data show that child restraints reduce the risk of injury in a crash by 71-82% and booster seats reduce the risk of injury for children aged 4-8 by 45% compared to seat belts alone.
“Iowa’s child seat laws are among the laxest of any surrounding state, resulting in a significant number of deaths and injuries,” the memo read.
laser and aircraftPointing a laser at an aircraft would be a crime under legislation proposed by the Iowa Department of Defense, which includes the Iowa National Guard.
“Over the past few years, Iowa National Guard, primarily Army (helicopter) aviators, have been increasingly targeted by ‘laser’ incidents from ground personnel,” Iowa National Guard Lieutenant General Ben Correll said in a proposal. I wrote it in the accompanying note. “To date, none of these incidents have resulted in any injuries to crew members or aircraft. However, without further deterrence, laser incidents will continue to increase as risks to aircraft and crew increase.” I am concerned about that.”
The law adds to pointing lasers at aircraft to existing state laws that prohibit pointing lasers at individuals for the purpose of causing injury. The offense is assault and can range from a simple misdemeanor to a Class C felony.
Under laws proposed by state public safety departments, only hands-free use of mobile devices while driving is permitted.
The proposal has been around the legislative block. Previous Congresses have considered banning the use of mobile devices while driving, but have not garnered enough support to pass the law.
Current state law prohibits sending text messages while driving, but other forms of handheld mobile device use, such as using GPS, are prohibited.
“Since it is virtually impossible to identify how a mobile phone is being used, it is difficult to enforce current laws to change driver behavior,” said the proposed law. A memo from the Department of Public Security said: “Furthermore, the level of distraction is due to cell phone use while driving, not due to the task at hand.”
Campaign organizations would be prohibited from collecting automatic donations without the donor’s affirmative consent under a law proposed by the state’s campaign finance watchdog.
Recent election cycles have seen a growing trend toward campaigns that automatically collect repeat donations from donors. Usually, a donor makes her one-time donation and doesn’t realize that she’s signed up for a repeat donation, and the donation is automatically canceled and doesn’t stop until the donor requests it.
Under legislation proposed by Iowa’s Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, campaigns must obtain permission from donors to collect automated repeat donations.
“The board believes that requiring affirmative consent for regular contributions protects donors (contributors) from unscrupulous fundraising tactics,” the state commission said in a statement accompanying the bill. I am writing in my notes. “Often, people who donate to one-time campaigns are not even aware that they have chosen to make recurring donations. Some are done on time and can be difficult to cancel once discovered.”
Upon receipt of a request for public records, the agency will provide the requester with contact information, the approximate date the request will be fulfilled, and a reasonable You must provide a reasonable fee estimate.
The State Comptroller’s Office must annually update its list of government efficiency best practices under legislation proposed by State Comptroller Rob Sand.
Sandoz, who was reelected to a second four-year term in November, has run a program he dubbed PIE. It stands for public innovation and efficiency.
The bill he proposed would have effectively incorporated the PIE program into state law. Each year, the auditor must distribute its list of Best Her Practices to public agencies, solicit feedback from those agencies, and prepare an annual report analyzing the agency’s responses.
