Week of February 4: Other Bills of Interest to ABI Members

February 4, 2022

In addition to priority legislation, ABI is tracking several pieces of legislation that would affect members.

Guns in Employer Parking Lots

Lawmakers from the Senate advanced SF 2143 this week during a subcommittee meeting. The bill provides that an employer must not prohibit an employee “from carrying, transporting, or possessing a firearm or ammunition” if the firearm or ammunition is out of sight and locked inside the employee’s car on the employer’s property. An employee would include a contract employee or volunteer.

E-verify

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced SF 339 this week. The bill would mandate all businesses in Iowa to use the federal e-verify system. This legislation would impose severe penalties on businesses, including revoking all business licenses for an entity that commits a second violation. ABI has concerns over the contracting language in the legislation and the ability of a member of the public to file a complaint against any business.

Copies of Employee Files

SF 355 would require an employer to provide an employee with one copy of the employee’s personnel file at no cost. This could be administered electronically. It passed out of the Senate State Government Committee with an amendment.

Limiting the Implementation of Solar Farms

A bill that requires commercially-owned solar panels installed on agricultural land to have a corn suitability rating (CSR) of 65 or lower passed out of subcommittee on Wednesday. SF 2127 also requires a commercially-owned solar panel field installed on agricultural land to be not less than one-half mile distance from surrounding solar panel fields and not less than 1,250 feet from the nearest adjacent landowner. CSR is defined in the legislation to be the most recent ratings determined by the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach for different types of soil for potential row-crop productivity.

Pizza Dough Roller Bill

A bill to create an exception for people under 18 years old to operate power-driven pizza dough rollers with specific safeguards passed out of a Senate subcommittee with recommendation of an amendment and then the Senate Labor and Business Relations Committee this week. SSB 3072 adds new language to a provision in Iowa Code that prohibits people under age 18 from operating certain power-driven bakery machines.

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