{"id":660,"date":"2014-03-18T11:13:58","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T03:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/?p=660"},"modified":"2014-03-18T11:13:58","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T03:13:58","slug":"fireworks-legislation-passes-first-hurdle-in-iowa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/18\/fireworks-legislation-passes-first-hurdle-in-iowa\/","title":{"rendered":"Fireworks legislation passes first hurdle in Iowa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/023.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/023.jpg\" alt=\"02\" width=\"653\" height=\"706\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/023.jpg 653w, https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/023-277x300.jpg 277w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A bill allowing for the sale of fireworks in Iowa passed through a House panel Monday despite an overwhelming show of opposition from fire safety officials and others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m trying here to dissuade you,\u201d said Mike Scott, an ophthalmologist from Dubuque\u2019s Iowa Academy of Ophthalmology. \u201cStates that ban the sale (of fireworks) have much less injuries than states that allow the sale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said 30 percent of fireworks injuries lead to permanent vision loss and 45 percent of those injuries involve children.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Scott, the two-lawmaker subcommittee heard from Roger Beeson of the Iowa Firefighters Association, Scott Anderson of the Iowa Pyrotechnic Association, Thomas Stanberry who was representing the insurance industry and others who opposed the bill.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, said he understood the concerns but thought the ban infringed on \u201cIowans freedom and liberty.\u201d He noted 46 other states allow for the sale of fireworks being discussed in the bill.<\/p>\n<p>Two people, former House Speaker Christopher Rants of Sioux City and lobbyist Scott Weiser, supported the legislation on behalf of their clients.<\/p>\n<p>Windschitl said he was working on an amendment to address some of the concerns from critics.<\/p>\n<p>The amendment, he said, would allow cities \u2014 but not counties \u2014 to ban fireworks in their communities, and it would institute a licensing fee for people who want to sell fireworks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it they would only be for sale at brick-and-mortar shops,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re don\u2019t want to see a bunch of tents popping up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A bill allowing for the sale of fireworks in Iowa passed through a House panel Monday despite an overwhelming show of opposition from fire safety officials and others. \u201cI\u2019m trying here to dissuade you,\u201d said Mike Scott, an ophthalmologist from &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/18\/fireworks-legislation-passes-first-hurdle-in-iowa\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,52,48,64,53,29,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fireworks","category-fireworks-display","category-fireworks-news","category-fireworks-rules","category-fireworks-show-photo","category-29","category-21"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":662,"href":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions\/662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfireworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}