SSB 1140

This bill relates to certain public safety, public employment, and law enforcement matters, and provides penalties. DENIAL OF STATE FUNDS —— LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY BUDGETS. The bill provides that a local entity, including any entity under the jurisdiction of the local entity, shall be ineligible to receive any state funds if the local entity reduces the budget of their law enforcement agency unless the total budget of the local entity is reduced by an equal or larger percentage or the local entity provides sufficient justification for the reduction. _____ the department of management for any reductions in the local entity’s law enforcement budget. Sufficient justification may include: reductions related to one-time capital or one-time equipment or vehicle purchases in the prior fiscal year; reductions related to lower personnel cost of law enforcement personnel due only to lower cost entry-level law enforcement personnel replacing prior law enforcement personnel; reductions due to the merging or consolidation of jail services or communications and dispatch services or the merging of law enforcement agencies; and reductions due to reduced population in a jurisdiction served by a law enforcement agency. State funds shall be denied to a local entity by all state agencies for each state fiscal year that begins after the fiscal year in which the law enforcement agency’s budget is reduced.31. State funds for law enforcement purposes shall not be denied. The department of management is directed to adopt rules pursuant to Code chapter 17A. The governor’s office of drug control policy shall not expend any moneys received from any state or federal grants to a local entity that reduce the budget of their law enforcement agency unless the total local entity budget is reduced by an equal or larger percentage. Any moneys for law enforcement purposes shall not be denied. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING. The bill makes changes to public employment collective bargaining and bargaining unit determinations. The bill includes a peace officer employed by a regents institution in the definition of a “public safety employee”, and allows public safety employees to be the subject of a separate bargaining unit if they comprise fewer than percent of the current unit and the majority of the public safety employees support a petition to form a new unit. PEACE OFFICER, PUBLIC SAFETY, AND EMERGENCY PERSONNEL BILL OF RIGHTS. _____ official duties or directly related to the officer’s status as an officer, including due to a person knowingly filing a false complaint against the officer, shall have the right to pursue civil remedies under the law against any person, group of persons, or organization or corporation including the head of an organization or corporation, for damages including but not limited to actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees. DISPARATE TREATMENT BY LAW ENFORCEMENT. The bill creates a new Code chapter concerning disparate treatment by law enforcement. The bill provides that it is the purpose of the Code chapter to prohibit disparate treatment by law enforcement, including racial and ethnic profiling, to foster trust and cooperation with law enforcement in Iowa communities and to create a safer state for all Iowans. “Disparate treatment” is defined as the differential treatment by a law enforcement officer of a person on the basis of personal demographics, but does not include reliance on a specific subject description-based identification. “Personal demographics” is defined as personal characteristics which include but are not limited to race, creed, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or any other identifiable characteristics. “Specific subject description-based identification” is defined as a reasonably detailed description of the personal identifying characteristics of a potential suspect or victim, including personal demographics. The bill also defines “law enforcement activities”, “law enforcement agency”, “law enforcement officer”, “law enforcement services”, and “stop”. The bill provides that a state or local law enforcement officer or civilian employee of a law enforcement agency performing law enforcement activities or delivering law enforcement services shall not engage in the disparate treatment of any person. _____ The bill directs each state and local law enforcement agency to collect and compile data on every stop conducted by a law enforcement officer of the agency during a calendar year, and to submit an annual report to the division of criminal and juvenile justice planning of the department of human rights. The following information shall be collected, compiled, and reported when a law enforcement officer stops a person and requests a person’s identification: the time, date, and location of the stop; the nature of the alleged law violation that resulted in the stop; whether an arrest was made; whether a search was conducted as a result of the stop; whether an oral or written warning was given or a citation issued; the offense the person was arrested for, if applicable; the identifying characteristics of the person stopped including race or ethnicity, sex, and age; and any other information which the officer or law enforcement agency considers appropriate. In consultation with law enforcement agencies, the justice and community policing board established in the bill, the department of public safety, and the division of criminal and juvenile justice planning of the department of human rights shall develop a uniform manner for each law enforcement agency to report the information. The division of criminal and juvenile justice planning of the department of human rights shall compile all data reported, analyze the data in a timely manner, and provide an analysis of the data along with the compiled data to the board by November of each year. The report shall be accessible to the public from a prominent place on the board’s website. The bill provides that a law enforcement agency shall investigate all violations concerning disparate treatment by law enforcement administratively, and that a person shall have the right to pursue civil remedies under Code chapters 669 (state tort claims) and 670 (tort liability of governmental subdivisions). JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY POLICING ADVISORY BOARD.132 to the justice and community policing advisory board, and increases board membership from to members. The bill provides for the appointment of members of the advisory board by the governor as well as other ex officio, nonvoting members. The bill adds the following duties to the justice and community policing advisory board: providing the general assembly with an analysis and recommendations of current criminal code provisions and proposed legislation regarding potential disparity in law enforcement activities and the delivery of law enforcement services; studying and making recommendations for eliminating disparity in law enforcement activities and the delivery of law enforcement services; and recommending to the department of human services the adoption of rules pursuant to Code chapter 17A for the collection, compilation, and reporting of stop data. DRIVER’S LICENSE AND NONOPERATOR IDENTIFICATION CARDS APPLICATIONS —— RACE AND ETHNICITY. The bill provides that a person applying for a driver’s license or a nonoperator’s identification card will be requested by the department of transportation to specify the person’s race or ethnicity. The bill requires the department to make an annual report to the general assembly regarding the number of persons who have disclosed and specified a race or ethnicity. Race and ethnicity information shall only be released to a law enforcement officer, an employee of a law enforcement agency, the justice and community policing advisory board, the state court administrator, and the division of criminal and juvenile justice planning of the department of human rights. ACTS CONTROLLED ON FULLY CONTROLLED-ACCESS FACILITIES. The bill provides that it is unlawful for a person to operate a bicycle, skateboard, or other pedestrian conveyance or be a pedestrian anywhere on a fully controlled-access facility.8A. The fine for a violation is $135. COUNTY RECORDER FILING FEE.604(1), which may be used for implementing and maintaining a process for redacting the names of any state or federal judicial officer, state or federal prosecutor, or law enforcement officer contained in electronic documents that are displayed for public access through an internet site. COMMUNICATIONS IN PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENCE. The bill provides that a peer support group counselor who obtains information from an officer or a civilian employee of a law enforcement agency or fire department shall not be allowed, in giving testimony, to disclose any confidential communication properly entrusted to the counselor by the officer or civilian employee while receiving counseling. The officer or civilian employee may consent to the disclosure. ASSAULTS. The bill adds intentionally pointing a laser emitting a visible light beam at another person with the intent to cause pain or injury to another to the definition of assault. This definition does not apply to a law enforcement officer who uses a laser in discharging or attempting to discharge the officer’s official duties, to a health care professional who uses a laser in providing services or to any other person who is licensed or authorized by law to use a laser or uses it in the performance of the person’s official duties, or to a person who uses a laser to play tag, paintball, and other similar games using light-emitting diode technology.3A relating to assaults on persons engaged in certain occupations by adding a civil employee of a law enforcement agency and a civil employee of a fire department to the list of persons engaged in certain occupations against whom an assault is committed and increasing the penalties for violations of the Code section. _____ Code section with the intent to inflict a serious injury, or who uses or displays a dangerous weapon in connection with the assault, commits a class “C” felony; a person who commits an assault against any of the persons listed in the Code section who uses or displays a dangerous weapon in connection with the assault commits a class “C” felony; a person who commits an assault which causes bodily injury or mental illness commits a class “D” felony, with a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of one year; and a person who commits any other assault commits an aggravated misdemeanor. HARASSMENT. The bill provides that a person commits harassment in the first degree when the person commits harassment against another person who is lawfully in a place of public accommodation. Harassment in the first degree is an aggravated misdemeanor.7A relating to bias-motivated harassment of persons engaged in certain occupations. The bill provides that a person commits bias-motivated harassment when such person maliciously, and with the intent to intimidate, annoy, or alarm another person because of that person’s actual or perceived employment as a peace officer, civilian employee of a law enforcement agency, jailer, correctional staff, member or employee of the board of parole, health care provider, employee of the department of human services, employee of the department of revenue, fire fighter, whether paid or volunteer, or civilian employee of a fire department causes either death or serious bodily harm to another person, bodily injury, or damage to or destruction of any real or personal property of another person without permission and the amount of damages to the property exceeds $750 or the value of the property exceeds $750. A person who commits bias-motivated harassment is guilty of a class “D” felony for causing bodily injury or property damage, and a class “C” felony for causing death or serious bodily harm. _____ shall not merge with any other crime. A sentence imposed for bias-motivated harassment shall run consecutive to any sentence for any other offense related to the act or acts establishing an offense of bias-motivated harassment. The court shall order restitution. CRIMINAL MISCHIEF IN THE SECOND DEGREE. The bill provides that acts of a person which damage, deface, alter, or destroy any publicly owned property, including a monument or statue, is criminal mischief in the second degree. Criminal mischief in the second degree is a class “D” felony. RIOT CRIMES. The bill increases the penalty for a riot crime from an aggravated misdemeanor to a class “D” felony. UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY. The bill increases the penalty for unlawful assembly from a simple misdemeanor to an aggravated misdemeanor. DISORDERLY CONDUCT.4 (disorderly conduct) are simple misdemeanors.4 by providing additional criminal penalties greater than a simple misdemeanor for additional acts of disorderly conduct. The bill provides that a person commits a serious misdemeanor when the person, without lawful authority or color of authority, obstructs or attempts to obstruct any street, sidewalk, highway, or other public way, or obstructs or attempts to obstruct any business, business drive, parking lot, or business access, with the intent to prevent or hinder its lawful use by others.2.1; or causes bodily injury. The bill provides that a person commits a class “C” felony when the person, without lawful authority or color of authority, obstructs any street, sidewalk, highway, or other public way with the intent to prevent its unlawful use by others and serious injury or death results. ARREST BY WARRANT —— CERTAIN CRIMES —— HOLDING PERIOD. The bill provides that a defendant arrested for criminal mischief in the second degree for an act that damages, defaces, alters, or destroys any publicly owned property including a monument or statue; for rioting; unlawful assembly; or disorderly conduct shall not be released within hours of the time of arrest. The court may release the defendant in less than hours if the court finds that the defendant is not likely to immediately resume the criminal behavior based on the circumstances of the arrest and the defendant’s criminal history. Court findings shall be in writing and shall be attached to the warrant. PENALTY PROVISIONS. A class “C” felony is punishable by confinement for no more than years and a fine of at least $1,370 but not more than $13,660. A class “D” felony is punishable by confinement for no more than five years and a fine of at least $1,025 but not more than $10,245. An aggravated misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than two years and a fine of at least $855 but not more than $8,540. A serious misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $430 but not more than $2,560.