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HOUSE
STRENGTHENS LAW AGAINST SEX OFFENDERS
The House on Wednesday
passed a bill that significantly toughens the law against
registered sex offenders.
First, the bill
requires a mandatory two-year supervision of all convicted sex
offenders, domestic abusers and stalkers after their release
from prisons. Many of these offenders avoid treatment while in
prison, thus increasing the risk of recidivism upon release.
Once completing their entire prison sentence and returning to
society, they remain untreated. Mandatory supervised release
closes the loophole for offenders who refuse treatment while in
prison, and provides the treatment and supervision upon
release. The two years of supervision served by the offender
will be treated exactly as parole, and violations of the
supervision will be treated the same as a violation of parole.
The second provision in
the bill would require that all persons who must register on the
sex offender registry submit a DNA sample. Current law requires
certain offenders to submit DNA once convicted, and this bill
would add sex offenders to that list. Additionally, the bill
creates new penalties for offenders who fail to comply with the
registry requirements by increasing the length of time they must
remain on the registry by an additional ten years.
The bill also requires
that photos posted on the sex offender registry be updated
annually, and requires that the offender be notified that they
must submit to annual photos. It allows the general public to
post relevant information about any sex offender, including the
offender’s name, address, photographs and criminal history.
Also required is that
persons on the sex offender registry wear electronic monitoring
devices while they are on parole, probation, work release or any
other type of conditional release. The cost of an electronic
monitoring device is $4.75 per day, per offender and paid for by
the offender. Probation and parole officers will monitor the
activity through the Iowa Department of Corrections.
Finally, the bill
prevents sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school
or child care facility.
The amendment restricts
where persons on the sex offender registry may live. Current law
forbids any person on the sex offender registry from living
within 2,000 feet of public or nonpublic elementary or secondary
schools, or a child care facility.
HOUSE PASSES CHILD AND DEPENDENT CARE TAX CREDIT
On Tuesday the House
passed HF 802, the Child and Dependent Tax Credit by a margin of
95 ayes and 5 nays.
What is the
credit?
The Iowa Child and
Dependent care tax credit is an individual income tax credit
which is computed as a percentage of the child and dependent
care credit allowed for federal income tax purposes.
The Iowa credit is
computed so that those with lower net incomes are allowed higher
percentages of their federal child care credit than taxpayers
with higher net incomes.
House File 802 allows
for Iowa families earning between $40,000 and $50,000 to receive
30% of the federal credit on their Iowa income taxes, as well.
This bill has the
potential to affect several thousand middle-class Iowa families.
Who can claim this
credit?
This credit is available
to people who, in order to work or to look for work, have to pay
for child care services for dependents under age 13.
The credit is also
available if you paid for care of a spouse or a dependent of any
age that is physically or mentally incapable of self-care.
SALES TAX REBATE FOR AUTO RACETRACK FACILITIES
In an innovative way to
provide economic assistance to the Newton Motor Speedway, House
Study Bill 290 was introduced in House Ways & Means Committee
this week. This bill would allow the owner/operator of the
Newton Motor Speedway to retain up to $12.5 million in state
sales tax that its customers would pay for tickets, concessions,
and merchandise. Once $12.5 million is collected, sales tax
from the track would go directly to the state treasury.
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How HSB 290 Works
The owner/operator of the
Newton Motor Speedway would apply for a sales tax rebate (for the
sales tax collected by retailers physically located within the
boundaries of the speedway) to the Iowa Department of Revenue.
The retailers will submit
sales tax collected to the state on a monthly basis, which will be
placed in a separate account. The Department of Revenue will then
rebate the dollars collected by the retailers the following month,
once they have qualified.
Items Rebated
The rebate will apply to
the sales tax from the sale of goods, merchandise, or services
furnished to purchasers at the track, including advance ticket and
admissions sales.
Rebate Timeline
In order to qualify for the
rebate, only transactions that occurred after January 1, 2006, and
before January 1, 2016, will be legible for the sales tax rebate.
Construction on the Newton
Motor Speedway is slated to begin this spring, and the facility is
expected to generate $1.1 million in sales tax revenue each year,
with the total dollar impact of annual operations reaching $67
million. The speedway is expected to create 50 full-time jobs and
up to 500 temporary jobs during racing events.
Ways
& Means Update
Bills passed out of
committee this week:
House File 790 – An Act making changes relating
to the practice of pharmacy, establishing and
appropriating fees, and providing penalties.
House File 763 –An Act relating to cemeteries and cemetery
regulation, providing administration and enforcement procedures,
establishing requirements for interment rights
agreements and reporting, establishing and
appropriating fees, and providing penalties.
House File 783 – An Act relating to persons commercially
cleaning toilet units and private sewage disposal facilities by
providing regulations, fees, and civil penalties, and making
appropriations.
House File 692 – An Act relating to coupling Iowa's tax laws
with the federal Internal Revenue Code and including applicability
date provision.
House File 796 –An Act relating to tax credits for equity
investments in qualifying businesses or community based seed capital
funds.
House File 733 – An Act relating to the port authorities
including providing for the establishment, control, and dissolution
of port authorities and providing for certain powers, limitations,
and requirements including issuing revenue bonds and pledge
orders, charging fees, entering into contracts and agreements,
employing persons and peace officers, and providing for the
use of revenues and exemption from property taxes.
House File 791 –An Act relating to the recognition and licensing
of professional employer organizations and providing for penalties.
House File 640 – An Act relating to the regulation and
registration of certain vessels, the operation of certain vessels by
minors, inspections of certain vessels, the operation of vessels
for hire or commercial vessels, providing for penalties, and
appropriating the moneys collected from certain registration fee
increases to the state fish and game protection fund.
Bills introduced in committee this week:
HSB 290 – An Act authorizing the rebate of state sales tax to
the owner or operator of a sanctioned automobile racetrack facility.
HSB 291 – An Act relating to a sales tax holiday for purchases
of certain computers during certain times.
HSB 292 – An Act relating to the county recorders' county land
record information system project and providing an effective date. |
Week
in Review Archives