Fisher

The House continues to deal with bills that have come over from the Senate, including House bills that the Senate has amended.

One of my bills, House File 917, which deals with limiting the liability of motocross facilities, returned from the Senate with an amendment that expanded the bill to include fairgrounds, which frequently promote motocross races. There are eight of these types of motorcycle racing facilities in Iowa supporting this form of family recreation, plus the fairs that hold races annually. While this bill helps the promoters of the race tracks directly, it is important for supporting the industry as a whole. Motocross racers buy motorcycles and equipment from dealers statewide, and these families also buy campers and equipment and travel around the state visiting convenience stores, restaurants and motels. Also, these tracks draw racers from out of state, further increasing Iowa’s tourism business. This bill helps ensure these small businesses can continue to survive and thrive, and by extension, all these other businesses continue to benefit as well. This is just one way in which Republicans are supporting local businesses and Iowa tourism.

Another one of my bills, House File 2337, which deals with making falsifying education credentials on an application for employment a crime, returned from the Senate with an amendment to also make falsifying professional licensure a crime. The House adopted the Senate amendment and passed the bill 89 to 3, sending it on to the governor’s desk for signature.

The House passed Senate File 378, a bill to increase the speed limit from 55 to 60 MPH on roads that do not have a specific speed limit set. The bill now goes to the governor for signature. I voted No on the bill because the change will cause our counties to incur expenses in changing the signs. Imposing this increased cost on our counties at a time when most of our citizens are upset about rising property taxes, which are all levied by local government, seemed contradictory. Safety is also an issue. The Iowa Dept. of Transportation told me years ago that increasing the speed limit doesn’t increase the accident rate, but it does increase the severity of accidents.

The House passed House File 2706, a bill to reform the state magistrate system on Wednesday, sending it to the Senate. The current magistrate system was created in 1983, and needs have changed over the decades. Some rural county magistrates have a very low workload, whereas some county magistrates have a very high workload. This bill would allow the judicial system to reassign magistrates within a judicial district in order to level the workload and save the taxpayers’ money.

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

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Dean Fisher, a Republican from Montour, represents District 53 in the Iowa House.