Washington-based bill gets unanimous state legislature vote

WASHINGTON — A bill shaped heavily by input from former Washington County Attorney John Gish and current Assistant Washington County Attorney Shane McChurch has passed the state house and senate with unanimous votes of approval. Titled Senate File 84, the legislation cracks down on sexual exploitation of minors.

Gish and McChurch drafted the bill, and submitted it to State Sen. Dawn Driscoll and Rep. Heather Hora. The group met several more times to touch base on the bill — and its companion version in the house — as it moved through the legislature.

“I think, in the end, it ended up being one of the top pieces of legislation that came out of this year,” Driscoll said. “It’s such an amazing feat, that a bill went through in one session, this was the first year that it was introduced … it’s such a big win for Iowa, and I think it’s even more amazing that John brought it forward, and we can say it came from Washington County, and (be) very proud of that.”

The bill changes state code to make first offenses of child pornography possession a Class D felony — rather than an aggravated misdemeanor — and make subsequent offenses a Class C felony. It goes on to reduce the protections of deferred judgment in such cases, require that offenders be denied parole or work release until they serve between 50% and 70% of their maximum sentence, and spell out a restitution process for the victims of such crimes.

Gish, who is now Assistant Attorney General for Victim Services at the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, said he rarely prosecuted child pornography and exploitation cases as Washington County’s top prosecutor. Instead, he typically sent them to the federal level where laws included mandatory sentencing and fewer means of circumvention.

“Iowa’s sexual exploitation laws are extremely weak,” Gish said. “I really thought it was unconscionable, what we had on the books.”

The legislation also criminalizes attempts to entice undercover police agents who pose as minors, a change that would enable sting operations to enforce the law. Gish said the language was recommended by police who advised policymakers before the bill reached a vote.

“When the senate judiciary subcommittee met about this issue, there was a ton of law enforcement there showing their support,” he said. “They wanted to see this type of language so they could catch these bad guys on the internet.”

Another section of the bill establishes new legal definitions of electronic stalking, an amendment added by the house before their own vote.

While that wasn’t in the version first proposed by Washington County officials, the legislators and Gish said they were on board with the addition.

“You can tell it’s a really good piece of legislation, because they add different things to it as the process goes on,” Driscoll said.

While the policymakers said they were proud to see the bill pass with no negative votes, Rep. Heather Hora said it wasn’t out of the ordinary.

“A majority of our bills are unanimous,” she said. “There’s very few that are divided down the middle, or divided down party lines … bills like this that benefit all Iowans, we can all get behind that.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com