Des Moines, Iowa — Governor Kim Reynolds will soon get to decide whether to approve a state law that would nullify a recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling on “garbage grabs.”
Last summer the court ruled that under the state’s constitution, Iowa residents have an expectation of privacy when they place their garbage in a publicly accessible area — meaning law enforcement has to get a warrant for these kind of trash searches. A bill that passed the House would restore the status quo in Iowa, according to Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison.
A Clear Lake man who served two days in jail on a drug conviction argued the search warrant for his home was improperly obtained because it was based on evidence police found in trash bags outside his home. Representative Mary Wolfe, a Democrat from Clinton, says the ruling was a big deal because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled law enforcement doesn’t have to get a warrant to search trash bags and garbage cans in a driveway or at the curb.
Wolfe says the legislature can’t pass a law and should propose a constitutional amendment to take away this constitutional right.
Holt says the legislature routinely passes bills to legislatively overturn court rulings.
The bill passed the Senate unanimously last month and was approved in the House this week on a 58 to 36 vote.
