A disclosure report filed Thursday with the IRS showed that the 527 organization called Iowans for Responsible Government, which ran attack ads against former Governor Terry Branstad before the primary election, was funded entirely by the Democratic Governors Association.

The DGA gave $782,500 to the group and is also Governor Chet Culver's largest contributor.

"We were right all along," said Branstad campaign manager Jeff Boeyink, who said the group crossed a serious line and needs to be held accountable for its actions. "We have reached a new low in Iowa politics."

All children under 18 riding in a car must be buckled up in a seat belt even when in the back seat; texting while driving will no longer be allowed; and more than 200 traffic fines will increase under three of the approximately 144 state laws that took effect Thursday, the first day of 2011 fiscal year.

Nearly three-fourths of the 196 bills approved by the 2010 legislature had a July 1 enactment date. Here's a closer look at some of the changes.

Seat-belt requirement: The law now requires all children under 18 to wear a seat belt or safety seat in a motor vehicle, even when in the back seat. The legislation didn't survive on its own but saw final passage as part of the transportation budget bill. Responsibility is placed on the violator rather than the driver if the person is 14 or older.

Ban on texting while driving: Iowa joins 28 other states with a ban on texting while driving. Adult drivers are restricted from reading, writing, and sending text messages. Teens with an instruction permit, restricted license, or intermediate license are banned from all use of cell phones and other electronic devices while driving. The bill includes exceptions for global positioning systems and for trucking and transit companies that use digital dispatch systems, as well as for public-safety and health-care professionals. The law took effect Thursday but allows a one-year education period during which violators will be given warnings. After that, violators will be guilty of a simple misdemeanor and could be fined $30. Penalties are harsher if an accident occurs and causes serious injury or death.

Governor Chet Culver's campaign has launched its first ad of the general-election season, and it's aimed directly at Republican gubernatorial nominee and former Governor Terry Branstad.

The ad, called "Cooked," focuses on former Republican State Auditor Richard Johnson's assertion that Branstad "cooked the books" and "kept two sets of books." The ad also says: "Branstad doubled state spending, raised the state's sales tax, raised the gas tax, [and] even wanted to tax Social Security."

The ads are the first Culver has run since November 2009, when he ran ads called "Balanced Budget" and "Stronger Than Ever" that focused on state spending and recovering from the 2008 floods and the national recession.

Branstad campaign manager Jeff Boeyink defended Branstad's record and said the ad offers no positive vision for the future.

Iowa political insiders and analysts are putting their money on Terry Branstad to win the Republican Party's top-of-the-ticket race in Tuesday's primary election.

One longtime insider to GOP politics predicted this week that Branstad will win with roughly 50 percent of the vote, with Bob Vander Plaats just under 30 percent and Rod Roberts at about 16 or 17 percent. That insider said he would be "shocked" if Branstad didn't win the nomination.

But Dennis Goldford, a political-science professor at Drake University, gives the social-conservative backing behind Vander Plaats a little more credit than that. "I'd be surprised if Branstad lost the primary, but I wouldn't be shocked," he said. "It may well be that Branstad wins. I wouldn't say he got it, [that] it's done."