The Iowa Senate approved a piece of House Republicans’ “tough on crime” agenda Tuesday, passing a measure setting restrictions on bail scheduling and pretrial releases.
The Senate initially passed Senate File 2399 unanimously in February, at that time as a bill setting pretrial bond amounts for Class A and forcible felonies. But the House voted to amend the measure before sending it back in March, substituting the bill with language from House File 2505, one of the three proposals included in House GOP’s crime package in 2026.
The amended measure requires judges to provide a written justification if they deviate from uniform bond schedules, explaining why they are setting a lower bail. The measure allows the bond schedule to be adjusted for inflation.
Additionally, setting bails lower than the uniform bond schedule or pretrial release is not available without written justification for people arrested on charges of intimidation with a dangerous weapon, possessing or transporting a weapon by a felon, or a forcible felony. If an individual faces simple or serious misdemeanor charges related to violence or drugs, the bill would also ban “promise to appear” releases, which typically would allow a person to sign a document allowing them to be released from custody without going to jail.
While senators largely approved this change, the measure was amended to allow for pretrial releases of people charged with nonviolent, non-drug serious and simple misdemeanors if they need to receive necessary medical attention. Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, said this change was a “recognizance piece for an important component of how our counties manage inmates in their custody when they are injured or in need of medical attention.” These individuals would be returned to the custody of a law enforcement agency “once the defendant is medically cleared and fit for confinement,” according to the amendment.
Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, said he understood the argument for restricting releases and setting higher bonds for crimes related to violence, but said this measure, by including drug charges, would also lead to more people in jail for simple misdemeanor charges for possession of substances like marijuana, who would not be able to afford the higher bond.
Bisignano said it was “common sense” to believe the measure will lead to more people in jail, thus increasing costs on property taxpayers for expanding and staffing jails.
“I’m concerned with is that, at a time we’re trying to address property taxes, that even at the very lowest level of criminal charges, we’re making it more difficult to get those people out of the jail, which is a cost to the county and the county taxpayers,” Bisignano said.
Bousselot responded that people charged with crimes are probably guilty.
“I think what the bill is driving at, or at least the amendment is driving at, is recognizing that a third of all crimes in Iowa are committed by repeat offenders,” Bousselot said. “Seventy-five percent of violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders and so the hope would be that if we are going to keep people who are charged with crimes, under probable cause probably guilty of that crime for that charge to exist in the first place, that they pose a threat and that we’re making it tougher for them to be on the streets.”
The American justice system is based on the premise that people charged with crimes are considered innocent until proven guilty in court. Bisignano pointed out the bill does not specify that only repeat offenders could be denied bond or pretrial release.
The measure returns to the House. If the House approves the Senate’s amendment, the measure will head to the governor’s desk.
