A bill allowing colleges to notify underage students’ parents if they are caught drinking or using illegal drugs on campus was sent to Gov. Tom Vilsack’s office Wednesday and is awaiting his signature.

The bill’s author, Rep. Roger Thomas, D-Elkader, said he got the idea after Congress passed a bill in 1997 allowing states to enact such a law and after speaking with Upper Iowa University President Ralph McKay.

“[McKay] told me that the problem was students get kicked out of school after they had received several pervious infractions and were again caught drinking underage,” Thomas said. “Then the school would have parents call asking why the school did not call them so they could help.”

Thomas said he talked to his daughter and son, both of whom either graduated or are attending Iowa State, and they said underage drinking is a problem at colleges.

“My daughter is a senior now, and if she had a problem, I would want to help. I would tell her, ‘Look, you have one more time, then you’re out of here. You’re grown up, and you’re on your own, but I am still here to help,'” he said.

The bill also calls for a statewide study of the link between underage drinking and lower grades, said Rep. Rosemary Thomson, R-Marion, one of the bill’s original sponsors.

“It will be a one-time study to report on the relations between grades and substance abuse,” Thomson said.

Thomas said he knew notifying students’ parents would not solve the underage drinking problem in Iowa, but he thought it would at least help.

“It’s not a cure for drinking, but it is something that might help the process. I believe Iowa has good families and parents that want to help their children,” he said.

But some critics say the bill is an invasion into students’ private lives.

Ben Stone, executive director of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, said the ICLU has strongly lobbied against the bill, even going so far as to organize a campaign to call the parents of legislators to urge them to vote against the bill.

“This is a matter between adult students and their parents,” Stone said. “My concern is if they start studying students’ grades, they will start monitoring other areas, like whether they are cleaning their room. This is a slippery slope. I don’t like it when the government starts interfering in citizens’ private matters. They are punishing and patronizing students.”

Vilsack will now have 30 days to either sign or veto the bill, but Thomas said he was confident the governor would sign it into law.

“I talked with the governor, and my impression was he intended to sign it,” Thomas said.