Des Moines, Iowa — A bill to overturn a nearly 80-year old ban on the sale and use of fireworks in the Hawkeye state has easily cleared an Iowa Senate committee.
District 2 State Senator Randy Feenstra of Hull serves Sioux, O’Brien, and Cherokee counties and a portion of Plymouth county. He tells us about the issue’s history.
This area’s other state senator, David Johnson from Ocheyedan is on the other side of the issue. He cites public safety issues and the possibility for injury.
Feenstra gives us the timeline for the bill in the Senate.
The bill would let Iowa cities and counties “opt out” and establish ordinances banning fireworks during the two holiday periods.
Original Story:
Northwest Iowa — A bill to overturn a nearly 80-year old ban on the sale and use of fireworks in the Hawkeye state has easily cleared an Iowa Senate committee……..and one northwest Iowa Senator isn’t happy about it.
It was a hot summer day in June of 1931 when, legend says, a young boy with a lighted sparkler started a fire in Spencer that destroyed most of the downtown area of that city. The Spencer Fire of 1931, as it’s known, was the reason that a ban on fireworks in Iowa went into effect a few years later. But now, according to a bill that has passed a senate committee, fireworks would be legal in June and just after the 4th of July as well as in early December through the beginning of January.
Republican Senator Jake Chapman of Adel supported the measure, saying many Iowans want to celebrate New Years and Independence Day with fireworks.
The bill easily cleared the Senate State Government Committee on an 11-to-four vote. Senator David Johnson of Ocheyedan, an independent, attended the committee meeting and argued the bill would give Iowans undesireable new freedoms.
The bill would let Iowa cities and counties “opt out” and establish ordinances banning fireworks during the two holiday periods. The measure includes new fees for retailers that want to sell fireworks, so the bill has to clear another senate committee that reviews tax policy before the proposal is eligible for debate in the full senate. Nearly all fireworks are illegal to sell and set off today in Iowa. There have been several attempts to legalize fireworks in Iowa over the past few years, but they’ve all fallen short.
