A high profile bill discussed each of the last two years did not make any further headway when the Iowa Legislature reconvened for the current session, though lawmakers believe it will have a leg up in the next general assembly.

House Joint Resolution 14 deals with a constitutional amendment on felon voting rights restoration, and it was passed out of the Iowa House last year. However, it died last year and this year in the Senate Judiciary Committee, though the Senate did get one aspect of it passed and signed. District 10 State Senator Jake Chapman (R) says the committee wanted to ensure that the voting restoration wasn’t just a blanket resolution for all felons. As a result, they instead moved forward with Senate File 2348, which Chapman says better clarifies which felons can have their voting rights restored. “In the Senate, we passed what was actually statutory language. And that statutory language helped clarify that if you’re involved in a homicide, serious sexual assault, (or) those type of crimes that you do not get automatic restoration. So we want to make sure that that was clarified. And so that was passed out of the Senate, the House took that legislation up and passed it, and the Governor signed it.”

Chapman says regarding the constitutional amendment on felon voting rights, the Legislature won’t do any further work on it this year. Instead, Governor Kim Reynolds is expected to take an executive action to restore voting rights to existing felons that fit the criteria throughout the state. The amendment will then be reintroduced in the 2021-22 general assembly to address future felon voting restoration. Iowa continues to be the only state where felons have to petition the Governor for the right to vote. To learn more about this and other topics from the current legislative session, click the link below to listen to the recent Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with Chapman.

https://www.raccoonvalleyradio.com/2020/06/15/lets-talk-dallas-county-6-15-2020-jake-chapman/