Republicans on a House panel advanced a bill Thursday that would mandate a 20-year prison sentence for people convicted of multiple specific crimes. Iowa’s current habitual offender law has stackable sentences of 15 years with a mandatory minimum of three years in prison.
The Iowa State Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ Association support the bill (HSB 666). A lobbyist for the group said the bill would help address repeat offenders by sending a clear signal that they’ll have to serve significant prison time.
Mahaska County Attorney Andrew Ritland said he’s prosecuted people with more than 10 separate felony convictions, but each sentence was no more than a year or two. He said it’s a small number of people who commit the majority of crimes.
“I do appreciate the intent of the bill,” he said. “I appreciate holding people who clearly do not care about following the law to a higher account.”
Ritland said the bill should allow the mandatory minimum to be adjusted if recommended by a prosecutor.
Former Democratic state Rep. Wayne Ford spoke against the bill. He pointed to Iowa’s progress in recent years that have moved the state away from its previous status as the worst in the nation for disproportionately incarcerating Black men.
“I oppose House Study Bill 666. I do not out of disagreement with the committee’s intent, but out of concern that expanding mandatory sentencing risks going back to number one,” Ford said.
Molly Spellman, a defense lawyer, also opposed the bill. She said it includes nonviolent offenses in its point system and requires disproportionate punishment for those convictions.