A local legislator’s long-stalled effort to ban the use of cell phones while driving may finally become law next year, she said Friday morning.

“I think this is the year,” state Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, said.

She noted that a version of the bill was passed by the Senate earlier this year and remains alive for the 2024 legislative session.

Meyer talked about that bill during a legislative forum held by NAIFA, an organization of financial advisers, held Friday morning at the Best Western Starlite Village Inn & Suites.

Also during the forum, state Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, said he would like to cut the state income tax rate to 3.9 percent next year.

“That is my own personal feeling on the income tax,” he said, noting that the Republican caucus in the Senate has not discussed the idea.

State Sen. Jesse Green, R-Boone, and staff members for U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican, also attended.

Hands-free bill

For basically all of the five years she has been in the legislature, Meyer has introduced bills that would make it illegal to use cell phones or other electronic devices while driving unless they are in a hands-free mode.

Meyer summed up her bill by saying “You can’t have the phone in your hand while you’re driving.”

Texting while driving is already illegal in Iowa.However, talking on the phone, reading email or doing anything else on a phone, tablet or even laptop is not prohibited.

Meyer can cite instances in which crashes have been attributed to the use of electronic devices while driving, but no charges were filed because using the devices behind the wheel isn’t illegal.

She said banning the use of electronic devices while driving is a top priority for law enforcement.

In the past, her bills on the subject have been stymied for various reasons, including a desire by House Republican leaders to avoid passing bills that won’t pass in the Senate. She said the fact that the Senate has now passed a version of the bill gives her hope that 2024 may be the year it finally becomes law.

Green said he supports the proposal.

“It’s obvious to me that cell phones are the No. 1 problem,” he said.

Income taxes

Iowa’s personal income tax rate is gradually being ratcheted down to achieve a 3.9 percent rate in 2026.

Kraayenbrink said Friday that because the state’s revenues remain strong, he would like to see the 3.9 percent rate implemented in 2024, and made retroactive to Jan. 1 of that year.

“It’s just kind of an idea I have,” he said.

“People who pay taxes deserve a break and deserve their money back,” he added.

He said that he would like to eventually cut the income tax rate to 2 percent or even 1.9 percent.

Green said he would like to do away with the state income tax in the next six years.