HF 758 – Documentation requirements for affidavits

HF 758 removes the word “substantially” so all counties have the same list of required documents for affidavits for real estate. Previously, Iowa law listed documentation for affidavits in real estate, and it was up to the local county to decide which documents on the list were required.
[5/17: 45-0 (Excused: Goodwin, Johnson, Nunn, Schultz, Williams)]

HF 765 – Assessor’s information provided electronically

HF 765 allows assessor’s information to be provided electronically or by e-mail if someone registers for that service.
[4/21: 46-0 (Excused: Mathis, Nunn, Schultz, Whiting)]

SF 252 – Low-Income Section 8 Housing regulation

SF 252 prevents Iowa cities from mandating participation in the Section 8 Federal Housing Program. This action allows landlords to turn away tenants who use public assistance to pay rent. Currently, Des Moines, Marion and Iowa City have ordinances requiring landlords to accept the vouchers. SF 252 maintains all current ordinances for two years. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is the administrator of Section 8, which helps low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities afford housing by subsidizing the cost for qualifying units.
[3/17: 30-17, party line (Excused: Goodwin, Hogg, Nunn)]

SF 554 – Abandoned property title acquisition

SF 554 allows a county to petition the district court in which the county is located, to award title of abandoned property when the property has been abandoned for at least six months, if the property is located outside the city limits, and if the property is no larger than 2.5 acres. The county cannot petition to acquire the land unless it submits to the court a plan to transfer title to the property to another entity within 18 months after the court enters judgement awarding title to the county. If the court does enter judgement and awards the title of land to the county, it must enforce the county’s plan to transfer title within 18 months.
[3/9: 47-0 (Excused: Hogg, Nunn, Whiting)]

HF 2477 – Permits for agricultural experiences

HF 2477 allows educational events and community experiences, such as school visits and farm-to-table dinners on agricultural land without a local government permit. Some counties had required $250 permits for each type of event.
[3/4: 45-3 (No: Bolkcom, Petersen, Quirmbach; Excused: Kraayenbrink, Wahls)]

HF 2481 — Certificates of the Treasurer

HF 2481 causes a certificate of the treasurer to expire upon the next annual certification of taxes. An expired certificate is not an acceptable document to present the recorder for recording.
[6/10: 50-0]

HF 2512 — Agriculture building fee and other county zoning laws

HF 2512 makes changes to county zoning ordinances. It eliminates the requirement for a zoning application, approval and fee for an ordinance to be considered inapplicable to land, farm barns, farm outbuildings or other buildings primarily used for agricultural purposes. Counties can still require application for housing in unincorporated areas. Land enrolled in a soil conservation program or water conservation program qualifies for the agricultural exemption.
[3/4: 37-11 (Yes: Republicans, Boulton, Giddens, Hogg, Kinney; Excused: Rozenboom, Wahls)]

SF 2025 – Joint county engineers

SF 2025 eliminates the requirement that sharing of a county engineer must be between adjacent counties.
[2/24: 48-0 (Excused: Feenstra, Shipley)]

SF 2195 – Elevators in multi-story commercial buildings

SF 2195 eliminates the requirement for a commercial elevator in a two-story building when the owner owns both the commercial first floor and the residential second floor. This bill is specific to federally designated historic districts. The owner must disclose the residential elevator when selling the property.
[2/26: 49-0 (Excused: R. Taylor)]

SF 2361 – Emergency management mutual aid compact

SF 2361 allows the Iowa Mutual Aid Compact (IMAC) to be used across all political subdivisions as originally intended. This will include all political subdivisions as members of the compact, though it further restricts members to county board of supervisors, mayor, and emergency management coordinator or designee. This is a priority of the Emergency Management Association.
[6/13: 49-0 (Excused: Hogg)]

HF 516 – County sheriff and police chief voting on joint 911 service board

HF 595 – Elections deputy salary

HF 685 – Cost of medical aid provided to prisoners in jails

HF 698 – Pioneer cemeteries

SF 93 – Abandoned structures and nuisance properties

SF 283 – Conflict of interest for school, county board and county employees

SF 502 – Political subdivision whistleblower protection

 

HF 516 – County sheriff and police chief voting on joint 911 service board

HF 516 provides voting membership on a joint 911 service board to county sheriffs and each local police chief within a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).
[4/17: 50-0]

 

HF 595 – Elections deputy salary

HF 595 authorizes elections deputies to receive 85 percent of the auditor’s salary.
[4/26: 49-0 (Absent: Feenstra)]

 

HF 685 – Cost of medical aid provided to prisoners in jails

HF 685 creates a work group comprised of the Iowa Sheriff’s and Deputies Association, the Iowa Association of Counties and the Iowa Hospital Association to review current process of payment for medical aid provided in county jails. The group must consider and propose recommendations related to prisoner payment, responsibility, payment processes and rates, and submit recommendations to the Legislature by December 15, 2019.
[4/15: 49-0 (Absent: Shipley)]

 

HF 698 – Pioneer cemeteries

HF 698 would allow a county board of supervisors and a pioneer cemetery commission to jointly decide the care of cemeteries that no longer qualify as pioneer cemeteries. Currently, 20 counties are using up to 6.75 cent levy to fund the cemeteries, but the highest is only 4.5 cents.
[4/1: 48-0 (Absent: Breitbach, Zaun)]

 

SF 93 – Abandoned structures and nuisance properties

SF 93 makes changes to the abandoned structures and abatement law. The bill removes the length of time needed to consider a structure abandoned, along with evidence of financial responsibility, if the property is in need of abatement. A hearing is eliminated if those interested show intent and responsibility to restore the property in good faith. The bill’s aim is to motivate current owners to restore nuisance properties with local option. The bill exempts agricultural land.
[3/25: 50-0]

 

SF 283 – Conflict of interest for school, county board and county employees

SF 283 raises the threshold to $6,000 for conflicts of interest for school board members, county board members and county employees when they enter into a contract with the specified entity.
[4/1: 45-3 (No: Boulton, Celsi, Hogg; Absent: Breitbach, Zaun)]

 

SF 502 – Political subdivision whistleblower protection

SF 502 requires a political subdivision’s human resources department to provide notification of whistleblower protection, along with information about the state’s Office of Ombudsman protections. The legislation also provides for civil damages to the whistleblower.
[4/25: 50-0]

All bills passed by the Legislature and sent to the Governor for her signature during the 2018 session. 

SF 481 – “Sanctuary city” ban
SF 2226 – Groundwater hazard statements with county recorder
SF 2227 – County resolution publication
SF 2291 – Assessor notices
HF 2258 – Flood mitigation funds
HF 2340 – Fence law changes
HF 2371 – Exempting state/municipalities liability honeybees on public property
HF 2372 – County supervisor district plans
HF 2379 – Municipal utility retirement systems 

 

SF 481 deals with enforcement of immigration laws. The bill holds county or city public safety officers liable for unconstitutional detention pursuant to ICE detainer requests with financial penalties for noncompliance.

 

SF 2226 relates to formatting requirements for groundwater hazard statements filed with a county recording office.

 

SF 2227 allows a county auditor to print a summary of all resolutions instead of the complete text of resolutions adopted by the board of supervisors. Currently, the entire text of the resolution must be printed.

 

SF 2291 gives counties and property owners another option for providing assessor notices. If an assessor is required or authorized by Iowa Code to send an assessment, notice or other information by mail, they may instead provide the information electronically. Private information and addresses are protected in the bill.

 

HF 2258 allows the flood mitigation fund to reimburse costs of approved projects incurred after project approval. Local governments may use these funds to reimburse other city funds to pay for projects. Currently, government entities can seek approval for flood protection projects and the use of certain sales tax increments from the fund.

 

HF 2340 expands governing provisions for constructing or maintaining fences on the property boundary between adjoining landowners.

 

HF 2371 exempts state and municipal property from liability for honeybee hives purposely placed on public property, as long as the hive owner and the state acted in good faith.

 

HF 2372 makes changes to the redistricting process for county boards of supervisors:

• A districting plan can only be changed after six years and only by a special election.
• County districts must be drawn using the Legislative Services Agency, similar to the Legislature’s redistricting process.
• A supermajority vote by residents is required for counties to return to plan three.

 

HF 2379 allows only new municipal utility employees covered by IPERS to continue in their IPERS coverage. This was reviewed and approved by IPERS staff and legal counsel.

The following bills were passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor.

HF 307 – Waterworks/sewer service franchise
HF 308 – Release of military personnel records
HF 485 – City council members to serve as volunteer firefighters
SF 439 – Recorder’s notices
SF 451 – Electronic pay via county treasurer
SF 481 – Enforcement of immigration laws

HF 307 adds sewers to the list of services for which a city may grant a franchise, and adds sewer services and water works franchises to the list of franchises for which an election is not required unless there is a petition.
[4/3: 49-0 (Bertrand excused)]

 

HF 308 mirrors the federal government relating to military personnel records maintained by a county recorder. The bill allows individuals to request a copy of a confidential record when the event that resulted in the record occurred at least 62 years prior to the request. Previous law required the event to have occurred at least 75 years prior to the request.
[4/6: 49-0 (Bertrand excused)]

 

HF 485 allows city council members to serve as volunteer firefighters in any position or capacity.
[4/4: 50-0]

 

SF 439 allows the original lien, certificate or notice included in a file to be returned to the sender, or disposed of by the County Recorder if the sender does not wish it returned, if there is an official copy of the lien, certificate or notice in the Recorder’s office, maintained in the Recorder’s office as an electronic document, or is recorded, copied or reproduced by any electronic, optical, magnetic, microfilm or other storage method.
[3/15: 49-0 (Horn excused)]

 

SF 451 allows for certain property tax payments and redemptions to the County Treasurer, as well as calculating amounts of interest due, via Internet.
[3/13: 49-0 (Bertrand excused)]

 

SF 481 deals with enforcement of immigration laws. If a county or city public safety officer releases a person who is the subject of an immigration detainer request by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, the local government is liable for damages from any felony committed by the person in Iowa within 10 years following their release. The Republican majority brought up this bill for debate in direct violation of the Joint Rules of the Iowa General Assembly (specifically Rule 20).
[3/12: 32-15-1, party-line (except Allen, Bowman, Ragan voting “yes”; Taylor “present”; D. Johnson “no”; Bertrand, Bisignano excused)]