The Iowa House overwhelmingly passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would restore voting rights for felons who have completed their sentences, a major step forward for one of Gov. Kim Reynolds' key priorities.

The measure passed the Republican-controlled House on a 95-2 vote Thursday and is now eligible for consideration in the Iowa Senate, where it may run into problems. It will need to advance through the Senate committee process before the end of next week in order to meet a legislative deadline.

Reynolds, a Republican, hailed the House vote.

"Today’s strong bipartisan vote is a victory for Iowans who deserve a second chance. There’s a broad coalition of supporters behind this constitutional amendment, and I will continue working with members of the Iowa Senate to move the process forward, allowing Iowans a vote on this important issue," Reynolds said in a statement.

House Majority Leader Chris Hagenow, R-Urbandale, praised Reynolds' leadership on the issue. The governor called for the amendment in her Condition of the State address in January and has been working to convince lawmakers to back the measure.

"It’s because our governor set this forth that it gave us maybe a little extra wind in our sails to get this done," he said.

There's still a long process ahead. The bill must pass the Senate this year. Then it must be passed again by the full Legislature in 2021 or 2022 and be placed on the ballot for a statewide vote.

Every House Democrat backed the proposal, with Rep. Mary Wolfe describing the caucus as a "heck yes."

"This is something that I and many members of my caucus have been talking about, filing bills about and working towards for many years now," said Wolfe, D-Clinton.

On the House floor, Democrats urged Reynolds to sign an executive order immediately restoring felon voting rights for those who have completed their sentences.

Reynolds has said she doesn't want the process to change with each governor because it would create confusion. Her staff recently redesigned the application for felons to apply to regain their voting rights, which she said will simplify the process.

Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will need to advance the bill before the end of next week for it to survive a legislative deadline. He said it will be an "uphill climb" to pass the measure in the Senate, where many Republicans have concerns about it.

"I, personally, am not going to stand in its way, but I have to have votes to move things out of committee," Zaun said.

Many Republicans want to require complete payment of victim restitution, which can be tens of thousands of dollars, before felons become eligible to vote.

Some also want to exclude people convicted of certain crimes, like homicides and sexual offenses, from being able to regain voting rights.

"I do not believe that rapists, child molesters or murderers should ever have those rights back," said Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, who managed the bill's passage in the House. He promised the Legislature would address those concerns next year in a separate bill.

House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, said she believes her caucus was willing to back the measure because they know Republicans will develop the rules to implement the amendment before they vote on it again in the next legislative session.

"This is a statement that goes in the Constitution, but there’s policy that surrounds it and I would predict that if we don’t get that policy crafted in two years, it will have a tough go moving forward," Upmeyer said.

It's the lack of any exceptions that led Rep. Jon Jacobsen, R-Council Bluffs, to cast one of the two no votes on the measure.

Jacobsen said he is generally supportive of restoring felon voting rights. But nothing in the language of the constitutional amendment guarantees there will be any exceptions, he said.

"As Reagan said, 'trust but verify.' I can’t trust without some verification. There’s no verification here," he said.

If that language isn't included in the constitutional amendment itself, a future Legislature could change which felons qualify to have their voting rights restored, he said.

"My concern is that in the future a Legislature will try to re-amend the Constitution by statute," he said.

Zaun said he and his fellow senators are concerned about restitution and making exceptions for certain crimes. But the lack of a separate bill this year won't stop them from acting on the amendment, he said.

"That isn’t something that needs to be done right now. That would not stop or prohibit us from moving this in Judiciary," Zaun said.

Iowans are broadly supportive of restoring voting rights to felons after they have completed their sentences, with 64 percent in favor, 29 percent opposed and 7 percent not sure, according to a recent Iowa Poll.

The current ban on felon voting has caused problems in Iowa with some legitimate voters being denied the chance to vote and some felons being able to vote, even though they should not.