Iowa Senate adopts bill to revise pretrial bond rules and index amounts to inflation

The Iowa Senate on Thursday approved Senate File 2399, a measure the sponsor said is "to protect Iowans from violent criminals" by directing judges to consider the danger a defendant poses when setting bond.

The senator from Polk introduced the bill and an amendment, Senate Amendment 50 34, saying it "clarifies that the overwhelming and prevailing rationale behind setting bond is whether or not that defendant will be a danger to the general public," indexes bond amounts to inflation, and clarifies that bond payments are payable as the full amount rather than 10 percent. The sponsor also said the amendment requires that information provided to support a pretrial-release request be verified by the Department of Corrections before being presented to the court.

After opening remarks and no further floor discussion, the Senate adopted Amendment 50 34 and proceeded to a final reading of the bill. The secretary read the bill caption and the roll call vote produced a constitutional majority: 47 ayes, 0 nays. The chair declared the bill passed and the Senate granted unanimous consent to immediately message the bill to the House.

Supporters framed the bill as strengthening public safety and closing procedural gaps they said existed in bond-setting and pretrial-release verification. The record does not include additional floor debate opposing the bill.

The immediate next step is messaging the enrolled bill to the House for its consideration.