Beer drinkers will toast new Iowa laws on July 1

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Iowa beer drinkers will no doubt be hoisting glasses in celebration on Wednesday as scores of new state laws take effect, particularly one allowing retailers to sell take-home craft beer in "growlers."

Some of the other changes to the state's law books include a tax break for coin-operated laundries, tougher restrictions on funeral protests, revised guidelines for strip searches in jail, and new rules on privileged conversations between doctors and patients after an adverse health incident.

The new laws represent the work of the 2015 session of the Iowa Legislature. Unless House and Senate members make a special provision, new state laws generally take effect on July 1.

A couple of notable exceptions this year: A 10-cent per gallon increase in state gasoline and diesel fuel taxes and a state law setting the school start date for Aug. 23. Both have already taken effect.

The beer legislation allows businesses holding a class "C" alcohol permit, including convenience stores, groceries and other retailers, the ability to fill and refill containers known as "growlers" with craft brews for personal consumption off the premises.

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The new law requires the person filling these containers to be 18 years old or older, and the containers cannot be larger than 72 oz. Finally, the measure provides these sealed containers are not considered open containers so long as they remain unopened.

Supporters says the new law recognizes a growing market in Iowa for craft beer, and will allow the product to be offered in a safe and responsible way.

Robert Bailey, a spokesman for the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division, said the only retailer he knows that has been shooting for a July 1 starting date for refillable beer is I-35 Spirits in Ankeny. Others have been lagging behind because of the considerable investment, he said, and he noted that state regulators have still been in the process of writing guidelines.

Because there are sanitation expectations, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals will also be involved to deal with food production requirements, Bailey said.

Arthur Rice, who owns I-35 Spirits with his wife, Jessica, said there is enormous interest among Iowa beer drinkers in buying growlers filled with craft beer. He planned to open briefly at midnight Wednesday morning so he could stake a claim to be the first store in Iowa — or at least one of the first — to sell beer under the new law.

"We sell a lot of liquor because of the hotels around here, but craft beer is our big draw," Rice said. He said he can currently sell kegs of craft beer, but the new law will allow him to transfer it into smaller containers. He immediately began remodeling his store after Gov. Terry Branstad signed the legislation in April, and he plans to focus on local craft beers not available in bottles or cans.

Brewer-friendly Iowa legislators have also revised the state's definition of beer in another change effective Wednesday.

Under existing law, beer has legally stopped being beer in Iowa once it hits the 5 percent alcohol mark. Some stronger brews, which are typically 5 to 8 percent alcohol by volume, had been left in limbo somewhere between a lager and a liquor. The new law changes the definition of beer to include high alcoholic content beer.

Here is a look at some other changes in state law taking effect on July 1:

PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATIONS: If an adverse health care incident occurs, this law will allow a physician and their health facility to engage in an open, confidential discussion with a patient related to the incident. The physician and the health facility will be able to investigate the incident and discuss, with the patient, what went wrong and plans to prevent similar incidents. All communication will be confidential and not subject to discovery or other means of legal compulsion.

COIN LAUNDRY SALES TAX: Current law enumerates a list of taxable services subject to the state sales tax. If a service is not listed as a taxable service it is not subject to sales tax. This bill makes a specific exclusion for the use of self-pay washers and dryers from the enumerated taxable service of laundering. This means that all other laundering services will still be taxed, but self-pay laundry will not be subject to sales tax.

FUNERAL PROTESTS: This legislation will keep protesters 1,000 feet away from a funeral or memorial service, funeral procession or burial service. Previous Iowa law set the spacing at 500 feet. The law is aimed at members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church who have protested at the funerals of military service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

STRIP SEARCHES: If a person is arrested for a scheduled violation or a simple misdemeanor and is not being housed in general population of a jail, he or she won't be subject to a strip search without probable cause. A person who is housed in a jail's general population may be subject to a strip search or a visual strip search

SEIZED FIREARMS: All firearms and ammunition seized by law enforcement will be deposited with the Department of Public Safety.

DOT SNOWPLOW LIGHTS: The Iowa Department of Transportation will be permitted to install flashing blue and white lights on the rear of about 175 snowplow trucks for a pilot project aimed at reducing traffic accidents. DOT officials say their snowplow trucks have been involved in more than 200 traffic crashes over the past five years, and they believe the blue and white lights should improve safety by increasing visibility in winter storms.

RECREATION ON PUBLIC PROPERTY: This new law, which resulted from sledding accidents, protects municipalities from claims of negligent design or construction of a public facility for recreational activities. The law also exempts municipalities from liability claims relating to acts or omissions by employees from a person engaged in recreational activities if the person knew or should have known the risk created by the recreational activity.

VISITATION RIGHTS: Visitation rights of adult children to see ailing parents will be authorized under a new Iowa law promoted by Kerri Kasem, daughter of radio personality and actor Casey Kasem. She lobbied for the law after her late father was moved from his nursing home in California, first to Nevada and then to Washington, without his children's knowledge or consent.

ANIMAL TRUCK WASH FACILITIES: This allows for the effluent and resultant solids from these operations to be treated as manure rather than industrial wastewater that requires much more expensive treatment requirements.

IOWA READING CORPS: This change creates a statute for the already existing Iowa Reading Corps program, a statewide initiative to help ensure that all Iowa students are on track to read at grade level by the end of third grade. The Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service and the Department of Education are to collaborate on the initiative, as well as the Iowa Reading Research Center.

BUYING CLUB MEMBERSHIPS: The bill offers consumer protection for free trial offers within the state's consumer fraud laws. It requires sellers making free trial offers to provide the consumer with clear and conspicuous information of the offer's terms, which the consumer must affirmatively consent to, before the offer can become effective. Second, a seller cannot enroll a consumer into a free-trial offer without first obtaining the consumer's billing information directly from the consumer or, alternatively, from a third party the consumer authorized to provide billing information.

SCHOOL TAX MONEY: This new law expands the use of Iowa school districts' physical plant and equipment tax levy funds to include the repair of equipment and technology, school buses, and recreational equipment purchased with these dollars.

SEXUAL MISCONDUCT: A peace officer shall not engage in a sexual act with an individual committed to the custody of the state's prisons, community corrections, or in a county jail. Additionally, peace officers shall not engage in a sex act with a juvenile placed at a juvenile facility. Violation is an aggravated misdemeanor.

MILITARY VICTIM ADVOCATE: Military victim advocates will have confidentiality privileges when helping victims of sexual assault.

SNOWMOBILE OPERATIONS: Current law says that snowmobiles can be operated on the right-of-way on an interstate or freeway only when using an underpass that has been abandoned. The underpass also has to be the only alternative to the use of a traveled roadway. The new law says that snowmobiles can be operated on the right-of-way of an interstate or freeway when using an underpass or a bridge. However, the snowmobile must come to a complete stop before entering the right-of-way of the interstate. The snowmobile driver must also yield to any traffic on the road before crossing.

SEVERANCE PAY FOR COUNTY OFFICIALS: This law prevents the board of supervisors of a county from approving separation or severance pay for the auditor, treasurer, recorder, sheriff, county attorney, or a supervisor.