A bill to ease the penalty for first-time possession of a small amount of marijuana has cleared a Republican-led subcommittee in the Iowa Senate. Being caught with an amount of pot that’s five grams or less would be a simple misdemeanor if the bill becomes law. Republican Senator Brad Zaun of Urbandale says that kind of a youthful indiscretion is penalized too harshly under current law. “This charge follows these younger people or these adults that make these decisions which ruins, I think, their opportunities with jobs and employment,” Zaun says.

The bill cleared a three-member senate subcommittee Thursday, then it faces review in a full Senate committee. A similar bill cleared the Iowa Senate three years ago when Democrats held a majority of seats. Republicans now occupy 29 of the 50 seats in the state senate and Zaun is aware of the opposition from other Republicans. “I know this is an uphill climb,” Zaun says.

A recent analysis from the American Civil Liberties Union found that while the same percentages of whites and blacks use marijuana, black Iowans are eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa woman who worked for the Child Saving Institute in Omaha has been accused of having sex with a teenage boy who was staying at the institute’s shelter. Douglas County, NE., prosecutor Brenda Beadle says 23-year-old Hanna Dickerson, of Neola, will be charged today (Friday) with sexual abuse of a dependent.

The boy is a ward of the state who turned 17 in July. He said in an August interview that he and Dickerson engaged in sex several times in July and August. An institute spokeswoman has declined to describe Dickerson’s job duties. Dickerson’s no longer employed there.

A bid to ban all traffic enforcement cameras in Iowa is among the first bills to get some traction in the 2018 Iowa legislature. Subcommittees in both the House and Senate have approved the ban. However, competing legislation to keep the cameras, but require fines be funneled into law enforcement budgets has also cleared a House subcommittee. Senator Brad Zaun (ZAHN), a Republican from Urbandale, has been seeking a “traffic cam” ban for years and he led a discussion of his bill Thursday morning. “I think what’s given this effort more energy this year…is what happened in Cedar Rapids where they’ve decided to hire a collection agency and when these people are coming in and they did not pay their tickets to the vendor or the city, they’re not going to get their tax refund,” Zaun says.

Senator Rich Taylor, a Democrat from Mount Pleasant, says the cameras do not take into consideration adjustments drivers make based on traffic conditions. “Why don’t we just put a GPS on everybody’s car? We’ll have no human equation. If you go over the speed limit, you get a ticket,” Taylor said. “Now if there’s a fire truck coming behind you and you have to speed up to get out of his way, doesn’t matter. You still get a ticket.” Law enforcement officials say the speed cameras are critical in areas where it’s unsafe for officers to conduct traffic stops.  Cedar Rapids Police point to curving Interstate-380 through downtown Cedar Rapids as an example. Gary Grant, a lobbyist for the City of Cedar Rapids says “I think there are folks that as much as they dislike the technology and dislike their use, that there are appropriate areas for their use.”  Grant says traffic cameras are “an important tool for law enforcement.” He added that “As law enforcement budgets get tighter and tighter, we need to give them force multipliers when they’re out on the street.”

Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, says he’s sympathetic to the idea technology can help law enforcement be more efficient, but he backs the ban.  “Our current system of traffic cameras isn’t acceptable to the broad mass of citizens,” Schultz says. “This way won’t work.”  In 2012, the Iowa House voted to ban traffic cameras, but the Iowa Senate never considered the bill.

(Radio Iowa)

The head of the Iowa Department of Human Services says he’s making changes at the agency in reaction to the starvation deaths of two teens who’d been adopted out of foster care, but Jerry Foxhoven is warning legislators the “bureaucracy” can’t be realigned “overnight.” “As I try to tell people, DHS is a pretty big organization, when you’re trying to change culture, when you’re trying to make a change — we’re not a jet ski. You know, we’re an aircraft carrier,” Foxhoven says. “I’m trying to turn us into a pontoon boat, so we can more a little bit and be more agile.”

Foxhoven testified before the House and Senate Oversight Committees Thursday afternoon to review an outside consultant’s report on the agency’s child protection services. “It takes a lot of courage to take off all your clothes and stand in front of a mirror. It really does and that’s what we really did here,” Foxhoven said. “…DHS said: ‘Let’s just lay it all on the line and take a real clear look at us and tell us what we’re doing well and what we’re not doing well, so we can start formulating a plan.'”

Foxhoven became D-H-S director in June, AFTER the deaths of teenagers in Perry and West Des Moines where adoptive parents now face criminal charges. Foxhoven has ordered yearly medical check-ups for kids whose parents are getting state adoption subsidies — something he says no other state is doing. Members of the Oversight Committees were largely complimentary of Foxhoven’s work thus far. However some, like Democratic Senator Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids, raised concerns about the high number of child abuse investigations social workers are handling. “I read the report…It’s got some pretty bad things in there,” Hogg said. “…Case loads far exceed those that are recommended nationally. Not enough training.”

Foxhoven says he doesn’t have the money to hire more case workers, so he’s working to ease the stress for the workers he does have — by reducing red tape. “We are a bureaucracy beyond bureacracies. We’re the largest state agency by far,” Foxhoven says. “…As I meet with workers, I say: ‘Tell me what’s driving you crazy.’…I’m basically saying: ‘Tell me what you’re heartburn is. I’m your Maalox.'” Foxhoven has ensured social workers who visit homes to investigate child abuse allegations have a state-issued cell phone. Social workers had been relying on printed-out Mapquest directions rather than a cell phone’s more accurate G-P-S.

(Radio Iowa)