JUDICIARY Week of April 2

SF 2208 – Confidentiality of arrest warrants

HF 2399 – Scrap metal sales

FLOOR ACTION:

SF 2208 allows employees of the Department of Corrections and Community Based Corrections who have been authorized by the Director of the Department of Corrections to have access to confidential arrest warrant information. Under current law, peace officers, county attorneys, judicial officers and court employees have access to confidential arrest warrant information. In addition, the bill specifies that once a defendant has made an initial appearance in court, the arrest warrant information is no longer confidential. The Senate passed this bill previously, and it was amended by the House. The Senate accepted the House amendment, which gives the court the ability to determine circumstances under which a confidential arrest warrant could be disclosed. [4/3: 48-0 (Horn, Bertrand excused)]

HF 2399 relates to scrap metal transactions and the recording of scrap metal transactions. This bill is intended to help thwart the theft of certain scrap metals, primarily copper. When a person sells scrap metal to a dealer in Iowa, the seller must provide the seller’s name, address and place of business, if any, and present the dealer with a valid driver’s license or nonoperator’s identification card, military ID card, passport or other government-issued photo identification. After an initial transaction with a seller, the scrap metal dealer may only require the person’s name and place of business for subsequent purchases, if the dealer retains all information received during the initial transaction. Scrap metal dealers must keep a confidential log of all of the transactions, which  must be provided to a law enforcement agency upon request during normal business hours if the agency has reasonable grounds to request such information as part of a criminal investigation. All scrap metal transactions that exceed a sale price of $50 will require payment by check or electronic funds transfer. Exceptions to the requirements for recordkeeping in the bill include the transactions for the sale of catalytic converters for which the sale price is $75 or less, transactions in which a scrap metal dealer is selling scrap metal, and transactions in which the person selling the scrap metal is known to the scrap metal dealer purchasing the scrap metal to be an officer, employee, agent of an established commercial or industrial business. Violations are subject to a civil penalty of $100 for the first violation, $500 for a second violation and $1,000 for a third or subsequent violation. This bill preempts any local ordinance that regulates scrap metal transactions. However, the Senate adopted an amendment that allows cities with a population of greater than 150,000 with local ordinances related to scrap metal transactions to retain those ordinances. [4/4: 45-0 (Bertrand, Boettger, Horn, Houser, Seymour excused)]