Floor debate was the main focus of the past week in the Iowa Senate, with one constitutional amendment proposal making its way over to the House. Iowa remains the only state in the country in which the voting rights of felons are not automatically restored after debt has been paid to society. State Senator Ken Rozenboom says many in the Iowa Senate had a number of concerns they wanted to address, including the victims of those felons.

“While HJR 14 did pass the House last year, my colleagues and I in the Senate, one of which was to avoid a mess similar to the one happening in Florida,” Rozenboom says. “After voters in Florida changed their constitution to restore voting rights to felons, the legislature passed a law to implement those changes. That law caused several legal battles and uncertainty continues as that state’s primary election nears. In addition, the Senate believed a big component of the discussion was missing – the victims of those felons.”

Rozenboom says a majority of felons who have completed their sentence would still have their voting rights automatically restored, and additional restrictions would be placed on those who committed murder and rape, and requires those individuals to still contact the governor’s office to have their voting rights restored.

Senate File 2348 is a proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution, and would have to pass both chambers in the Iowa Legislature this session and next, and then pass by a simple majority of Iowa voters.