Relating to law enforcement profiling by standardizing collection and centralizing the compilation and reporting of officer stop and compliance data, providing for officer training, creating a community policing advisory board, providing for penalties and remedies, and including effective date provisions

LAW ENFORCEMENT PROFILING. The bill creates new Code chapter 80I, relating to the prohibition of racial and ethnic profiling in law enforcement. DEFINITIONS.4, including while employed off-duty by a private employer and in uniform, but does not include a probation or parole officer. The bill defines “law enforcement activities” to mean traffic, bicyclist, or pedestrian stops by an officer; and actions during a stop, including asking questions, frisks, consensual and nonconsensual searches of an individual or any property, seizing any property, removing occupants from a motor vehicle during a traffic stop, issuing a warning or citation, and making an arrest. “Law enforcement activities” do not include roadblocks, vehicle check points, and security checks where every person seeking to enter a venue or facility is subject to detention, questioning, or a search of a person or property, and responses to requests for service. The bill defines “profiling” to mean a stop by an officer of a driver or passenger, a bicyclist, or a pedestrian for an alleged violation of the law, to allow the officer to then question and probe for information that might suggest the person has committed some not apparent or yet to be identified law violation. A stop shall be considered a pretextual stop under the following circumstances: when the race, color, ethnicity, religion, or national origin of the person stopped was considered or relied upon or a motivating factor in making the decision to make a racially discriminatory stop; or when the officer prolonged the stop beyond the amount of time when the law enforcement tasks tied to the alleged violation are or reasonably should have been completed. The bill defines “disparate treatment” to mean differential treatment of a person on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. The bill defines “pretextual stop” to mean a stop by an officer of a driver or passenger, a bicyclist, or a pedestrian for an alleged violation of the law, to allow the officer to then question and probe for information that might suggest the person had committed some not apparent or yet to be identified law violation. The bill defines a “discriminatory pretextual stop” to mean a stop involving disparate treatment by the officer or a stop for which the person’s race, color, ethnicity, religion, or national origin was considered or relied upon or was a motivating factor in the officer’s decision to make the stop or to take other action during the stop, including a request to consent to a search. It is not a discriminatory pretextual stop when an officer bases the officer’s decision to make a stop on a specific suspect description-based identification that includes in the suspect’s identification one or more of the personal characteristics or traits of race, color, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. However, a specific suspect description-based identification only provides probable cause or reasonable suspicion to stop a person who reasonably resembles the person described in that identification, and does not allow an officer to stop a person merely because the person is of the same race, color, ethnicity, religion, or national origin as the suspect. PROFILING. The bill prohibits an officer from engaging in profiling in the course of performing law enforcement activities. It is not profiling under the following circumstances: when a law enforcement agency’s policy allowing the use of information that has been provided by a victim describing the personal identifying characteristics of an alleged perpetrator; an action by an officer that relies upon personal identifying information, a specific suspect description-based identification, a person’s observed behavior, and other trustworthy information, except such information only provides probable cause or reasonable suspicion to stop a person who reasonably resembles the person described in that identification; and a traffic stop when directed at the traffic-related mission, namely, checking driver’s license, vehicle registration, insurance or financial responsibility, outstanding warrants, and issuing citations or preparing warnings, except the authority for a traffic stop ends when the officer’s tasks tied to the traffic infraction that is the basis for the stop are or reasonably should have been completed. COMMUNITY POLICING ADVISORY BOARD. The bill requires the attorney general to establish a community policing advisory board for the purpose of recognizing and promoting awareness of profiling by law enforcement, providing advice in development of best practices to prevent profiling, and monitoring implementation of best practices in the field. In establishing the board, the bill requires the attorney general to ensure that the board is racially and ethnically diverse and gender balanced. The bill specifies that the attorney general shall also provide or arrange for the staff necessary to assist the board. The bill provides that the community policing advisory board shall consist of voting members and four ex officio, nonvoting members. The attorney general shall appoint the following nine board members: four representatives from community organizations historically associated with efforts to eliminate racial discrimination, of whom one representative shall be at least years of age but not more than years of age at the time of appointment; three representatives from advocacy groups that support individuals who have experienced discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, or national origin; and two clergy members who have significant experience in addressing and reducing racial discrimination and other biases. The bill specifies that the following individuals shall also serve on the community policing advisory board: the attorney general or the attorney general’s designee, the director of the department of public safety, the director of the Iowa law enforcement academy, the state public defender or the state public defender’s designee, the director of the Iowa civil rights commission, the president of the board of directors of the Iowa police chiefs association or the president’s designee; and the president of the Iowa state sheriffs’ and deputies’ association or the president’s designee. The bill specifies that the board shall also include four members of the general assembly who shall serve as ex officio, nonvoting members, with one member each appointed by the majority leader of the senate, the minority leader of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the minority leader of the house of representatives. The board members generally serve staggered four-year terms. The bill provides that the members of the board shall only receive reimbursement for actual expenses for performance of their official duties as members of the board. The bill specifies that the board shall be subject to the provisions of Code chapters (open meetings) and (open records). BOARD ACTIONS REQUIRED BY APRIL 1, 2023. The bill requires the board to develop a standard notice form to be provided to each individual stopped by an officer, when practicable, informing the individual of the individual’s right to file a complaint with the Iowa civil rights commission if the individual believes that the individual has been a victim of profiling. The bill provides that the board shall advise the attorney general when developing rules for the collection, compilation, and reporting of traffic, bicycle, and pedestrian stop data to ensure the use of uniform reporting practices across all reporting law enforcement agencies. The bill requires the board to approve rules prior to their adoption by the department of justice pursuant to Code chapter 17A. BOARD ACTION REQUIRED BY JULY 1, 2024, AND EVERY YEAR THEREAFTER. The bill provides that the board shall annually do the following: evaluate and comment upon the data compiled and reported to the attorney general by law enforcement agencies and the analysis of the data by the division of criminal and juvenile justice planning of the department of human rights; assess the collection, compilation, and reporting of stop data compiled by law enforcement agencies, assess the law enforcement training requirement, and determine if these requirements are effective; work in partnership with state and local law enforcement agencies to review and analyze profiling across geographic areas of the state; consult available evidence-based research on intentional and implicit biases, and the impact on law enforcement stop, search, and seizure tactics; issue an annual report that provides the board’s analysis of the past and current status of profiling across the state; and make policy recommendations for eliminating profiling. The bill also requires the board to hold at least three annual public meetings to discuss profiling and potential reforms to prevent profiling. NOTICE ABOUT FILING PROFILING COMPLAINT. The bill requires a law enforcement agency to require, when practicable, each officer who makes a stop to provide to each individual stopped a standard notice form, developed by the community policing advisory board, that discloses the individual’s right to file a complaint with the Iowa civil rights commission if the individual believes that profiling has occurred. DATA COLLECTED, COMPILED, AND REPORTED BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. The bill requires that each state and local law enforcement agency shall annually submit to the department of justice, no later than December of each year, the agency’s current policies that address profiling, and the agency shall post and maintain the current policy on the internet site of the agency. The bill requires that each law enforcement agency collect, compile, and report annually to the department of justice the following information related to stops including stops that involve questioning, driver’s license and vehicle registration checks that do not result in a citation or warning: the time, date, location, and duration of the stop; the reason for the stop; the results of the stop; the warning given or citation issued, if applicable; the offense the individual was arrested for, if applicable; the identifying characteristics of the individual stopped, including perceived race, ethnicity, English language proficiency, sex, and approximate age; and the actions taken by the officer during the stop. The actions to be reported include but are not limited to the following: whether the officer asked for consent to search the person and whether consent was provided; whether the officer searched the individual or any property, and if a search was performed, the basis for the search; whether the officer seized any property, and a description of the property that was seized and the basis for seizing the property; whether the officer used physical force or physical force was used against the officer; and any additional information which the officer or law enforcement agency considers appropriate. The bill provides that the attorney general, in consultation with the division of criminal and juvenile justice of the department of human rights, the board, and law enforcement agencies, shall develop a uniform standardized form for each law enforcement agency to use in collecting, compiling, and reporting the information required to be reported. The bill provides that each state law enforcement agency and the local law enforcement agencies in the state with jurisdiction over 50,000 residents shall submit the agency’s first report on or before January 1, 2024. The local law enforcement agencies in the state with jurisdiction over 25,000 residents but not more than 50,000 residents shall submit the agency’s first report on or before January 1, 2025. The remaining local law enforcement agencies shall submit the agency’s first report on or before January 1, 2026. The bill provides that a law enforcement agency shall not grant access to personal identifying information contained in the data collected by the law enforcement agency to any individual except to a federal, state, local, or tribal government employee or agent who requires access to such information in order to fulfill the purposes of the bill. However, the bill provides that a law enforcement agency may permit a contractor or nongovernmental agent access to personal identifying information that is contained in the data collected, if the contractor or nongovernmental agent signs an agreement which prohibits further disclosure of the personal identifying information beyond disclosure to the contractor or nongovernmental agent. DATA COMPILED BY THE DIVISION OF CRIMINAL AND JUVENILE JUSTICE PLANNING OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS. The bill requires the attorney general, in consultation with the community policing advisory board and the Iowa civil rights commission, and with input from stakeholders including federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, local communities, researchers, and civil rights organizations, to adopt rules pursuant to Code chapter 17A for law enforcement agency collection and compilation of law enforcement activities related to traffic, bicycle, or pedestrian stops, and citizen complaints. The rules adopted under the bill shall do the following: require each law enforcement agency to collect and compile data as required under the bill; require each law enforcement agency to prominently publicize the compiled data on the law enforcement agency’s internet site; require each law enforcement agency to maintain all data collected, compiled, and reported under the bill for at least years; and provide for the protection and privacy of any personal identifying information about the officer or the individual stopped that is contained in the collected and compiled data. The bill requires the division of criminal and juvenile justice planning of the department of human rights to in turn compile the data collected from law enforcement agencies for analysis. The bill specifies that the division shall analyze the data provided. The bill further requires the division to provide the compiled data and analysis to the community policing advisory board, the Iowa civil rights commission, the department of justice, and the public. TRAINING GUIDELINES. The bill provides that the director of the Iowa law enforcement academy, subject to the approval of the Iowa law enforcement academy council, shall develop and disseminate training guidelines and best practices to reduce and eliminate profiling. In developing the training guidelines and best practices, the director shall consult with the department of justice, the community policing advisory board, the Iowa civil rights commission, and the division of criminal and juvenile justice planning of the department of human rights, with opportunity for input from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, civil rights organizations, and persons having an interest and expertise in the field of cultural awareness and diversity. STATUTORY REMEDIES. The bill provides that the remedies authorized in the bill are not exclusive and do not foreclose an individual from asserting any remedies the individual may have based on the common law or other statutes. UNFAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES —— RETALIATION —— PENALTIES. The bill provides that it shall be an unfair discriminatory practice under the Iowa civil rights Act, Code chapter 216, for a peace officer to engage in profiling described in the bill. The bill also specifies certain behaviors that do not constitute an unfair discriminatory practice. The bill provides that it is an unfair or discriminatory practice for an employer or the employees of the employer to discriminate against another employee because the employee makes a charge, testifies against, assists, or participates in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing related to profiling. The bill specifies that it shall be an unlawful employment practice under the Iowa civil rights Act, Code chapter 216, for an employer or the employees, or other agents, to discriminate against an employee because of the employee’s opposition to profiling, or because the officer made a charge, testified against, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing related to profiling. The bill specifies that an officer or an employee of a law enforcement agency who retaliates against an officer or employee for making a charge, testifying against, assisting, or participating in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing related to profiling shall be subject to discipline, including dismissal. USE OF DATA IN DISPARATE TREATMENT AND DISPARATE IMPACT CASES. The bill specifies that data compiled pursuant to the bill is admissible in individual and pattern and practice disparate treatment profiling cases and in disparate impact profiling cases under the Iowa civil rights Act. DRIVER’S LICENSE AND NONOPERATOR’S IDENTIFICATION. The bill provides that the department of transportation shall request a person who applies for a driver’s license or nonoperator’s identification card or for renewal of a driver’s license or nonoperator’s identification card to disclose and specify the person’s race, ethnicity, and primary language, each of which may be disclosed and specified at the person’s discretion. Under the bill, prior to January 15, 2024, and prior to January of each year thereafter, the department of transportation shall submit a report to the general assembly detailing the number of driver’s license and nonoperator’s identification card holders who have disclosed and specified a race, ethnicity, or primary language. The bill provides that the department shall electronically maintain as part of a person’s record the race, ethnicity, and primary language information obtained by the department, but shall not include such information on the face or in any machine-readable portion of the person’s driver’s license or nonoperator’s identification card. The department of transportation shall not release race, ethnicity, and primary language information collected under this Code section except to any of the following: the department of justice, the community policing advisory board, the Iowa civil rights commission, the state court administrator, and the division of criminal and juvenile justice planning of the department of human rights for use in research activities and in producing statistical reports and analysis as permitted by law. STATE MANDATE.3.2, subsection 3, which would relieve a political subdivision from complying with a state mandate if funding for the cost of the state mandate is not provided or specified. Therefore, political subdivisions are required to comply with any state mandate included in the bill. EFFECTIVE DATE. The bill takes effect on October 1, 2022.