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Iowa Senate committee advances a package of bills on distracted driving, privacy, anti‑SLAPP, paternity, firearms cleanup and other measures
Summary
A Senate committee heard sponsors and adopted amendments on multiple bills, moving each to the Senate calendar. Key items included a hands‑free distracted driving bill, a revision to the invasion‑of‑privacy statute, an anti‑SLAPP measure, and several technical or procedural bills that were amended and advanced.
An Iowa Senate committee on an unspecified date in January advanced a slate of bills to the Senate calendar after brief debate, subcommittee reports and several adopted amendments.
Senators moved each bill by voice vote; committee leadership repeatedly used the meeting’s “short form” procedure and, where requested, accepted amendments before sending measures to the Senate calendar for further consideration.
Senator Lofgren, sponsor of Senate File 22, said the measure "will help to rein in many distracted drivers." The bill would require that the use of an electronic device by a driver in a moving vehicle be voice activated or hands‑free and increase fines for violations. The bill’s sponsor described the present fine as $45 and said the bill would raise it to $100, with higher penalties — $500 and $1,000 — if a serious injury or death occurs, and possible license suspension. Senator Peterson, who served on the subcommittee, expressed support but said she was concerned about an exemption for farm equipment and hoped for a floor amendment to address that carve‑out. The committee moved Senate File 22 to the calendar as an individual bill; Senator Lofgren moved the measure in committee.
The committee also advanced Senate File 5, which modifies the state invasion‑of‑privacy criminal statute to add possession of certain photographs or films to the statute’s reach. Sponsors offered and the committee adopted an amendment that inserts the word "knowingly" before the possession element; senators debating the amendment said the change cleared up concerns about criminalizing inadvertent possession but suggested further clarification of the statute’s definitional boundaries might be needed on the floor. Senator Green moved the bill as amended and it was sent to the calendar.
Senate File 47, described by its sponsor as the state’s anti‑SLAPP legislation, would create a special motion for expedited relief in…
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