Sierrans:

This listing is bills already passed and signed by the Governor during the
2007 Session. Here I include the Explanation of the bill, although it should
never be considered definitive; you should always refer to the bill text
itself, online or hardcopy, to be totally sure of language signed into law.

The weblinks for each bill should be 'live' and clicking would take you to
the bill text.

Lyle



H.F. 617    A bill for an act creating a generation Iowa commission.
EXPLANATION This bill creates a generation Iowa commission. The bill
establishes a generation Iowa commission within the department of economic
development for purposes of advising and assisting in the retention and
attraction of the young adult population in the state in both urban and
rural areas.  The bill provides that the commission shall consist of 15
voting members appointed by the governor, subject to confirmation by the
senate, and four members of the general assembly serving as nonvoting, ex
officio members. The bill requires the commission to annually file certain
reports with the governor and the general assembly regarding the status of
efforts to attract and retain the young adult population in the state,
career opportunities and educational needs of young adults, and the movement
of the young adult population between rural areas and urban areas and
between Iowa and other states.  The bill requires the commission to advise
and assist the department in activities designed to retain and attract the
young adult population and to develop and make available best practices
guidelines for employers to attract and retain young adult employees.
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?category=Matt&service=
Billbook&frm=3&hbill=HF617%20%20%20%20&cham=House&amend=%20%20%20%20%20%20&a
m2nd=

H.F. 647    A bill for an act relating to the designation of Iowa great
places and financial and technical assistance to projects in Iowa great
places.
EXPLANATION This bill relates to the designation of Iowa great places and
financial and technical assistance to projects in Iowa great places.
Currently, the Iowa great places board may identify up to six additional
Iowa great places after the initial three are identified.  The bill
eliminates the limit and allows the board to identify any number of
additional Iowa great places when such places develop dimensions and meet
readiness criteria for participation under the Iowa great places program.
The bill provides that, notwithstanding any restriction, requirement, or
duty to the contrary, in considering an application for a grant, loan, or
other financial or technical assistance for a project identified in an Iowa
great places agreement, a state agency shall give additional consideration
or additional points in the application of rating or evaluation criteria to
such applications.  The bill provides that the provisions requiring
additional consideration or additional points shall apply to applications
filed within three years of the Iowa great places board's identification of
the project for participation in the program.
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?category=Matt&service=
Billbook&frm=3&hbill=HF647%20%20%20%20&cham=House&amend=%20%20%20%20%20%20&a
m2nd=

H.F. 765    A bill for an act relating to animal feeding operations, by
providing for the enforcement of regulatory provisions.
EXPLANATION This bill relates to animal feeding operations regulated by the
department of natural resources, including primarily confinement feeding
operations under Code chapter 459 and open feedlot operations under Code
chapter 459A. Code section 455B.175 authorizes the department to:  (1) issue
an order (sometimes called a "stop order") against a person to desist in a
practice which violates state law or to take corrective action which is
necessary to ensure that a violation ceases, (2) issue an order necessary to
terminate an emergency without immediate notice and hearing, or (3) request
the attorney general to institute legal proceedings in district court.  The
bill provides that the same provisions that apply to confinement feeding
operations apply to open feedlot operations.  It provides coordinating
amendments in Code chapters 459 and 459A. The bill amends Code section
459.603, which currently provides that a person who violates subchapter III
relating to water quality regulations is to be subject to a civil penalty
under Code section 455B.191 (referring to a court-ordered civil penalty not
to exceed $5,000 for each day of a violation).  Currently, the Code provides
that the department may enforce Code chapter 459 in the same manner as
provided in Code chapter 455B, division I.  Part of that division includes
Code section 455B.109 which authorizes the department to establish and
assess a range of administrative penalties (not to exceed $10,000 for each
day of a violation).  The bill amends Code section 459.603 by referring to
Code section 455B.109.
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?category=Matt&service=
Billbook&frm=3&hbill=HF765%20%20%20%20&cham=House&amend=%20%20%20%20%20%20&a
m2nd=

S.F. 78    A bill for an act relating to various conservation and recreation
activities under the purview of the department of natural resources,
modifying fees, and making penalties applicable.
EXPLANATION This bill contains provisions relating to the regulation of
various conservation and recreation activities under the purview of the
department of natural resources. Code section 455A.17 is amended by removing
the requirement that the biennial Iowa congress on natural resources
enhancement and protection held at the state capitol complex must occur
during the summer months. Code section 462A.2 is amended to define a
"cut-off switch" as an operable factory-installed or dealer-installed
emergency cut-off engine stop switch that is installed on a personal
watercraft, and to define a "cut-off switch lanyard" as the cord used to
attach the person of the operator of a personal watercraft to the cut-off
switch. Code section 462A.5, subsection 1, is amended to provide that the
fee for a vessel registration which is renewed after May 1 of the second
year of the three-year registration period is two-thirds instead of 66
percent of the appropriate registration fee. The fee for a vessel
registration which is renewed after May 1 of the third year of the
registration period is one-third instead of 33 percent of the appropriate
registration fee. Code sections 462A.5, 462A.7, 462A.14A, and 462A.23 are
amended to change language referring to collisions, accidents, and
casualties involving vessels to refer to occurrences involving vessels. Code
section 462A.7 is also amended to provide that the owner of a vessel shall
give assistance, so far as possible, and provide the vessel operator's name,
address, and vessel identification to any person who is injured or whose
property is damaged when the operator's vessel is involved in an occurrence
that results in personal property damage or that results in the injury or
death of a person. Code section 462A.7 is also amended to provide that when
any vessel is involved in such an occurrence, except one which results only
in property damage not exceeding $2,000, a report must be filed with the
natural resource commission by the operator of the vessel involved.
Previously, a report had to be filed when the property damage exceeded $500.
The report must be filed within 48 hours of the occurrence when a person
dies, disappears, or suffers an injury requiring medical treatment by a
licensed health care provider. In all other cases, the report must be filed
within five days of the occurrence. Code section 462A.9 is amended to
provide that the owner of a personal watercraft equipped with a cut-off
switch must maintain the cut-off switch and the accompanying cut-off switch
lanyard in an operable, fully functional condition. A violation of this new
provision is punishable by a scheduled fine of $20 under Code section
805.8B. Code section 462A.12 is amended to prohibit a person from operating
a personal watercraft that is equipped with a cut- off switch, at any time,
without first attaching the accompanying cut-off switch lanyard to the
operator's person while the engine is running and the personal watercraft is
in use. A violation of this provision is punishable by a scheduled fine of
$25. Code section 462A.43 is amended to provide that if a vessel has an
expired registration at the time of a transfer of ownership of the vessel,
the transferee is required to pay all applicable fees for the current
registration period, the appropriate writing fee, and a $5 penalty, after
which a transfer of number for the vessel will be awarded in the same manner
as an original registration. Code section 481A.55, subsection 1, is amended
to allow a person to buy or sell the bones of wild turkeys that were legally
taken. A violation of this provision is punishable by a scheduled fine of
$50. Code section 481A.123 is amended to provide that the prohibitions of
the section against discharging a firearm within 200 yards of a building
inhabited by people or livestock, or a feedlot, do not apply to the
discharge of a firearm on a farm unit by owners, tenants, or their family
members who reside on the farm unit. The terms "family member", "farm unit",
"owner", and "tenant" are defined to mean the same as in Code section
483A.24, which deals with the rights of resident landowners, tenants, and
their families who reside with them, to hunt on farm units which are in
tracts of two or more contiguous acres, are operated as a unit for
agricultural purposes, and are under the lawful control of the owner or the
tenant. Code section 481A.130 is amended to provide that a person who
unlawfully takes an antlered deer shall be assessed damages for
reimbursement to the state based on the score of the deer as measured by the
Boone and Crockett Club's scoring system, instead of net scoring system, for
whitetail deer, based on the gross inches score, not the point score of the
deer. Code section 481A.133 is amended to provide that when a person is
assessed damages for unlawfully selling, taking, catching, killing,
injuring, destroying, or possessing an animal, the person's licenses,
certificates, and permits are suspended until payment in full of the
assessed damages and accrued interest. The bill removes the option that
allowed a person to pay damages pursuant to a payment schedule. The bill
also specifies that interest begins to accrue as of the date of judgment at
a rate of 10 percent per year. Code section 483A.27 is amended to provide
that a person born after January 1, 1972, instead of January 1, 1967, must
complete a hunter safety and ethics education course before obtaining a
hunting license and that a hunting license obtained by a such a person who
has not completed the required course shall be revoked. A violation of these
provisions is punishable by a scheduled fine of $20.
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?category=Matt&service=
Billbook&frm=3&hbill=SF78%20%20%20%20&cham=Senate&amend=%20%20%20%20%20%20&a
m2nd=

S.F. 128    A bill for an act relating to an increase in the taxes on
cigarettes and tobacco products, imposing an inventory tax on tobacco
products, creating a health care trust fund, and providing an effective date
and providing an applicability provision.
EXPLANATION This bill relates to cigarettes and tobacco products.  The bill
increases the percentage of the basic cost of cigarettes presumed to be the
cost of doing business by a retailer from 6 percent to 8 percent and by a
wholesaler from 3 percent to 4 percent. The bill increases the tax on
cigarettes from 1.8 cents per cigarette to 6.8 cents per cigarette.  The
effect of the bill is to increase the tax on a package of cigarettes from 36
cents to $1.36. The bill requires that cigarettes be sold only in packages
of 20 or more cigarettes. The bill also provides for an increase in the tax
on tobacco products from 22 percent of the wholesale sales price for
distributors and 22 percent of the cost of tobacco products for the use of
or storage by consumers of tobacco products, to 44 percent of the wholesale
sales price or the cost. The bill creates a health care trust fund for
deposit of the revenues generated from the taxes on cigarettes and tobacco
products.  Moneys in the fund are to be used only for the purposes of health
care. The bill provides for payment of the inventory tax by all persons
required to obtain a distributor's, wholesaler's, or retailer's permit, or a
distributor's or subjobber's license, who have in their possession and hold
for resale on the effective date of an increase in the tax rate, cigarettes,
little cigars, or tobacco products upon which the tax has been paid, unused
cigarette tax stamps which have been paid for, unused metered imprints which
have been paid for, or tobacco products for which the tax has not been paid.
The bill provides that, notwithstanding the provision relating to the
inventory tax, persons required to obtain a permit or license as specified
in the bill shall not be subject to an inventory tax on the items as
provided in the bill as a result of the tax increase provided in the bill.
The bill takes effect upon enactment.
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?category=Matt&service=
Billbook&frm=3&hbill=SF128%20%20%20%20&cham=Senate&amend=%20%20%20%20%20%20&
am2nd=

S.F. 405    A bill for an act relating to national pollutant discharge
elimination system permits for disposal systems.
EXPLANATION This bill relates to national pollutant discharge elimination
system permits for disposal systems. The bill provides that, for a city with
a population of 250 or less, the maximum fee for national pollutant
discharge elimination system permits shall be $210 regardless of how many
permits for nonstorm water the city holds. The bill provides that a single
family home shall not be charged a fee for a national pollutant discharge
elimination system permit.
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?category=Matt&service=
Billbook&frm=3&hbill=SF405%20%20%20%20&cham=Senate&amend=%20%20%20%20%20%20&
am2nd=
____________________________________________

Lyle Krewson
Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter Lobbyist

1725 S. 50th Street #602
West Des Moines, IA 50265

[log in to unmask]

515-238-7113 - Cel
____________________________________________ 


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