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&am2nd=
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&am2nd=
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&am2nd=
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&am2nd=
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=
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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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