(Radio Iowa) – Security camera footage from the Iowa Capitol would only be available by court order under a proposal that’s cleared the Iowa Senate. The list of people who swipe a security card badge to gain access to the building would also be kept private. Senator Scott Webster, a Republican from Bettendorf, says the information could be used to track state officials and other people who work in the building and shouldn’t be subject to open records requests.

“People who threaten the lives of legislators and staff members should not have access to the comings and goings of the people they’re threatening,” Webster says. Republican senators supported the proposal. Democrats voted against it. Senator Janet Petersen of Des Moines says taxpayers should be able to find out what transpires in the Capitol. “If the public wants to know if their lawmaker is showing up for work every day by checking a key pad, that doesn’t impact our security,” Petersen said. “…If some shenanigans happen out there in the rotunda at a protest, shouldn’t the public be able to request those videos?”

Webster says body worn camera footage from state troopers and police would be available if a crime is committed in the Capitol, but the video from stationary cameras in the building shouldn’t be available to the public. “If they, the people wanted to cause this harm to the Capitol building — the people’s building, wanted to find out and go through all the camera footage to figure out where the blind spots might be in this Capitol, they could do it through an open record (request),” Webster said.

“We are eliminating that availability right now, which makes everyone in this building safer.” This proposal on access to Iowa Capitol security videos was added to a bill that significantly raises the penalties for government officials in Iowa who deny access to public records. The bill is championed by Republican Representative Gary Mohr of Bettendorf. He says the bill’s needed because Davenport officials delayed answering important questions from the media and citizens after the collapse of a six-story Davenport apartment building nearly two years ago.

Mohr says the Davenport city council also failed to vote in a public meeting about paying three Davenport city officials two million dollars to settle their allegations of workplace harassment.