This week, Iowa House Republicans released a slate of tough-on-crime legislative proposals to ensure Iowa does not become a haven for career criminals. The first bill, which is awaiting a bill number, is the House Republicans Career Criminals bill. We are implementing a “Three-and-Done” Strike System. If you choose a lifestyle of crime, you choose to lose your ability to live freely in our society. This legislation creates a cumulative strike system for repeat offenders, triggering a mandatory minimum 20-year sentence without parole once a career criminal reaches three full strikes. A person receives a Full Strike for any conviction for felonies and specific aggravated misdemeanors, including sex offenses, assaults, certain thefts and drug possession. A person receives a half Strike for all other aggravated misdemeanors and some serious misdemeanors including those involving assaults, drug possession and theft. Under current law, repeat violent offenders are released back onto the streets where they become a risk to our children and loved ones. The tiered-strike system outlined in this bill is a common sense, fair system that ensures once an individual chooses a pattern of dangerous criminal behavior that they are removed from society and unable to continue to wreak havoc on our communities.

The second bill, which will run through the Public Safety Committee, is a pretrial accountability and bail reform act. The major components of the bill include inflation-adjusted bail schedules and requires justification for deviations. Any judge who departs from the Supreme Court’s established bail schedule must document their specific reasoning on the record. Also, Promise To Appear release will only be allowed if an individual has been charged with a nonviolent, non-drug-related simple or serious misdemeanor. It also requires fact checking for pre-trial release by the Department of Corrections to independently verify claims regarding residency, employment and criminal record before release can be considered. Current loopholes and excessive judicial discretion have allowed career criminals to return to the streets shortly after arrest. These reforms close those gaps.

Third, House Study Bill 633 will create a dashboard to provide Iowans with objective data on how judges exercise their discretion. It requires the state to collect and publish information including how often a judge departs from standard bail schedules or statutory sentencing recommendations, the frequency with which a judge’s decisions are overturned by higher courts for legal errors, and how quickly a judge rules on motions and cases. Currently, when Iowans head to the polls for retention elections, they are often flying blind, forced to rely on hearsay rather than facts. By making this information clear and accessible to Iowans, we are empowering voters with an accurate understanding of how a judge manages the people’s business. This isn’t about telling judges how to rule; it is about ensuring that when they use their discretion, they do so in the light of day.

As always, I look forward to seeing you at the capitol, or in the district.

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Contact Dean Fisher at dean.fisher@legis.iowa.gov.