(Des Moines, Iowa – via the Iowa Capital Dispatch) State senators gave initial approval Monday to a bill that would bring back the death penalty in Iowa for first-degree murder cases where a person intentionally murders a police officer or prison employee. Senate Study Bill 3085 is one of two bills to be discussed this session to reinstate capital punishment in Iowa. It passed a three-member subcommittee with two Republican votes.

The practice, abolished in the state in 1965, often has been proposed by Republican lawmakers in recent decades as a punishment for specific crimes. None of the bills have reached the governor’s desk. The legislation advanced Monday would allow for the death penalty to be imposed in cases where a person is convicted of first-degree murder and of intentionally killing of a peace officer, or correctional officer, hostage or other public employee while in a correctional facility.

Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, said he was opposed to the death penalty. He also criticized Republican lawmakers for focusing on law enforcement in the legislation but not adding language related to school shootings. Sen. Scott Webster, R-Bettendorf, responded that the perpetrator of the Perry High School shooting would not be eligible for the death penalty under the proposal. The shooter in that case was a minor who took his own life.

The bill’s language on peace officers and correctional facility employees comes after the 2021 murders of a correctional officer and nurse at the Anamosa State Penitentiary by two inmates. Bisignano said including measures related to the Anamosa case while excluding any response to school shootings after the Perry deaths was “about as tone deaf as you can get.” Bisignano also said the legislation is a “political round,” and not a “live round” unless Gov. Kim Reynolds indicates she would sign the death penalty back into law.

No lobbyists or members of the public spoke in support of the bill, but Sen. Dave Rowley, R-Spirit Lake, said many Iowans support reinstating the death penalty. Rowley said he supports the measure to support the law enforcement officers who have been murdered and to help their families seek justice following their deaths.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will next hear the bill and consider an amendment to the legislation. Last session, a bill that advanced out of the Judiciary Committee proposed allowing the death penalty in cases where a minor is kidnapped, raped and murdered, and similar measures were introduced in 2021 and 2019. The 2023 bill, Senate File 357, was reassigned a subcommittee earlier in January, which has not yet been scheduled.