Iowa House passes ban on ‘gay panic defense’

Iowans charged with a violent crime couldn’t use a sufferer’s sexuality or sexual orientation or gender identification as a mitigating issue of their protection underneath a invoice handed Thursday within the Iowa Home.

It was one in all a number of payments Home lawmakers handed by way of the chamber, together with payments prohibiting black bear searching and creating protections in opposition to defamation lawsuits.

The invoice banning the “homosexual panic protection,” Home File 159, handed the Home with near-unanimous assist. Rep. Mark Cisneros, R-Muscatine, was the one member to vote in opposition to it.

“This protection is each heinous and ridiculous, and this invoice would eradicate it as a protection in Iowa,” mentioned Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton.

The invoice has handed the Home twice prior to now, however nonetheless has not made progress within the Senate. The invoice was supported by LGBTQ rights teams, together with One Iowa and Iowa Secure Colleges.

Black bear searching

A black bear ambles by way of a cornfield in 2016 close to the Yellow River State Forest in Northeast Iowa. Likelihood is the bear was passing by way of from its residence in a neighboring state. In keeping with the Iowa Division of Pure Assets, the state doesn’t have a reproducing inhabitants of black bears. However black bear sightings are rising extra widespread in Iowa. (Photograph provided by Brian Gibbs)

Home File 175, a invoice that provides black bears to a listing of “fur-bearing animals” which are protected and managed by the Iowa Division of Pure Assets, handed within the Home 90-5.

The invoice would make it against the law to hunt black bears with out following rules set out by the state.

The invoice, proposed by Rep. Dave Jacoby, a Democrat from Coralville, goals to guard the potential resurgence of the species in Iowa. Black bears initially are native to Iowa, however the state has not had a viable inhabitants for over a century, in line with the Iowa DNR.

There have been greater than 40 black bear sightings in Iowa since 2002, in line with the company.

“This certainly is to guard black bears that migrate to Iowa or remigrate to Iowa,” Jacoby mentioned. “…This provides them a protected standing till the DNR has time to overview any searching or trapping seasons that could be acceptable.”

Anti-SLAAP invoice

Home lawmakers additionally handed a invoice that will make it more durable for public figures to sue people and media retailers for exercising first-amendment rights.

The invoice, Home File 177, is supposed to go after what are generally known as strategic lawsuits in opposition to public participation, or SLAAP. Beneath the invoice, a celebration that’s sued underneath sure situations would have the ability to file for expedited aid and keep away from a lot of the fee related to the lawsuits. The court docket may additionally award the successful social gathering legal professional and litigation charges.

Rep. Steve Holt, a Republican from Denison, mentioned the invoice turned a precedence for him after a 2018 incident through which the Carroll Instances Herald was sued by a former Carroll police officer for libel. The newspaper received the lawsuit, however was left with tens of 1000’s of {dollars} in litigation charges.

“This laws is about defending our small-town newspapers and media retailers,” Holt mentioned.