NOTES: IOWA LEGISLATION
During the 78th General Assembly, the Iowa Legislature entertained a bill, Senate File 301, that would expand the current grandparents rights laws.
In effect, this bill would have eliminated the stipulation in the current law ( Iowa Code 598.35, paragraph 7) that says a grandparent must have had a substantial relationship with the grandchild prior to filing the petition for visitaiton.
The bill passed through the Senate and was messaged to the House where it was assigned to the Human Resources Committee. Chairman, Dan Boddicker (R. Dist 39) rushed the bill quickly through the committee so as to "provide a vehicle" for some other type of change in this law.
Even though the bill made it out of committee, it was never scheduled for floor debate and is now considered dead.
With the upcoming Supreme Court decision regarding Troxel vs Granville, legislators are hesitant to amend any laws dealing with grandparent visitation, as well they should be.
If the Supreme Court rules broadly, it stands to make the Iowa law ineffectual.
However, that doesn't mean our work is done! Iowans who favor PARENTS RIGHTS over third party rights will need to continue to push the next General Assembly to repeal this law in it's entirety.
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