Legalizing fireworks came one step closer last week when the Iowa Senate passed the bill over to the House.

Co-sponsor Senator Jack Chapman says last year they came really close to getting fireworks legalized in Iowa. The House passed the bill and a Senate committee then passed it through to the Senate floor, but lawmakers never got the chance to vote on it. This year, Chapman points out the bill started in the Senate.

“It was a crazy debate. We had roughly 44 amendments filed onto the bill. So we had to go through those one by one and that debate lasted probably five to six hours.”

Chapman adds that the legislation even includes cities and counties who don’t want to participate, the opportunity to opt out. Chapman says the bill would allow Iowans to purchase any consumer grade fireworks, but fireworks would only be displayed from June 1st through July 8th and December 10th through January 3rd.

“Now I would’ve preferred to have seen it year round. However the votes weren’t there to get that done. Folks wanted a narrower scope of when we could be able to shoot these off. That’s the kind of compromise we make as we go through the legislative process.”

 The bill passed with bipartisan support. It is now in the House for consideration. If the bill is signed by the governor, Iowa will become the 44th state to legalize fireworks.