Today, on the Iowa Bicycling Day at the Capitol, the Iowa House Transportation Committee unanimously passed SF2015 that standardize penalties in fatal bicycle crashes. Under the current code, it is a traffic ticket even in the event of a fatal or serious injury crash. Similar crashes involving motorists, pedestrians, or motorcyclists receive an enhanced penalty.
Advocates worked most of the day at the Iowa State Capitol and virtually online to contact their legislators and urge support of this bill. The Iowa Bicycle Coalition staff met with over a dozen legislators vying for their support of the bill.
After being introduced, bills are often assigned to a subcommittee. If passed, the bill is forwarded to a committee. If passed by the committee then the bill is sent to the chamber (House or Senate) for debate and passage. If the bill passes a chamber, it is sent to the opposite chamber (from House to Senate or Senate to House) where the process starts all over with a subcommittee, committee, and floor debate. After that, it heads to the governor for a signature. It is hard to pass bills and for good reason.
The Iowa Bicycle Coalition has many bills they are monitoring this session that promote bicyclist safety. Check out all of the work we are doing in the legislature at https://iowabicyclecoalition.org/policy-and-legislation/
Please share this with as many of our bike-supporting friends as possible. Each of our issues has a response form on our website. Just visit https://iowabicyclecoalition.org/policy-and-legislation/ and share the page we are trying to promote.
I hope you can also take a moment and support this work with a donation. Nobody likes to talk about the money part, but it does cost over $20,000 per year for lobbyists, email, advocacy platforms, and staff time at the Capitol. You can help.
Make a donation at https://ibc.app.neoncrm.com/forms/legislature
