Numerous new laws go into effect in Iowa on Monday

July 1st--Monday--is the date that most of the bills passed by the Iowa Legislature during its 2019 session go into effect.

The most significant bill--from the standpoint of Northeast Iowans--is the result of the contested State Assembly race between Republican Michael Bergan and Democrat Kayla Koether.  The election reform law makes a number of changes, most notably, requiring statewide use of postal service barcodes to determine the date that an absentee ballot was placed into the federal postal service. There were 29 absentee ballots which arrived late to the Winneshiek County Auditor's Office last November, but because postal service barcodes weren't used on absentee ballots, there was no way to ensure the ballots were cast before the deadline.

Monday is also the day Senate File 113 goes into effect.  The law allows a person charged with a 3rd offense OWI to be charged as a habitual offender, tripling the time they could be required to serve in prison.  Supporters of the bill said it would improve highway safety by keeping repeat drunk drivers off the roads.

Another bill going into effect is the "Empower Rural Iowa Act."  This law creates a broadband grant program to expand reliable internet access to rural and under-served areas of the state. It also makes changes to and provides additional funding for the Workforce Housing Tax Incentive Program to spur development of affordable housing in rural Iowa and areas impacted by this spring's severe flooding.