1996 SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 2030 - Mental Health and Developmental Disability Funding and Related Provisions (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS. This Act relates to state and county mental health and developmental disability funding provisions by amending provisions associated with the base year used for determining maximum county expenditures and state funding levels. The Act amends provisions initially enacted in 1995 Iowa Acts, Chapter 206, S. F. 69.
Under prior law, a base year was established as the net amount a county expended in FY 1993-1994 for mental health and developmental disability (MH/DD) services. This base year is used as the maximum amount a county may levy for such services from the county's MH/DD fund, and the law provides a state goal of providing for funding for 50 percent of the total of all county base year expenditures. The Act provides a means for a county to change the base year amount by allowing a county to elect to either continue using the FY 1993-1994 figure or switch to the amount the county projects to expend in FY 1995-1996.
The Act also provides a budgeting mechanism to fund growth in MH/DD expenditures. The Governor vetoed provisions directed to this purpose in last year's S. F. 69. The new provisions provide for the State-County Management Committee, a policy group which makes recommendations concerning MH/DD services, to recommend an allowed growth factor adjustment to the Governor by November 15 for the succeeding fiscal year. The factor is to address costs associated with new service consumers, service cost inflation, and investments for economy and efficiency. The Governor is to consider the committee's recommendation for inclusion in the Governor's budget recommendations to the General Assembly.
Distribution of state property tax relief moneys to counties is subject to a three-factor formula based upon a county's proportion of the general population, taxable property valuation, and base year expenditures. The Act establishes, however, that the amount of property tax relief moneys provided in a fiscal year cannot be less than the amount in the previous fiscal year.
The Act makes a $6.6 million appropriation from the Property Tax Relief Fund to the state for purposes of Medical Assistance (Medicaid) services provided to minors with mental retardation in FY 1996-1997. These costs are a state responsibility.
Many provisions of the Act take effect February 8, 1996. The early effective date allows for implementation of adjustments to county certified budgets for FY 1996-1997 prior to the statutory budget certification date of March 15, 1996. The Act contains special provisions for appeals and certifications associated with the Act's provisions.

SENATE FILE 2071 - Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT. This Act creates the Iowa Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR). The new ACIR has the same membership and powers and duties as the Iowa ACIR had under the statute repealed on July 1, 1995.
The Iowa Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations has a membership of 21 persons. The members are appointed by the Governor as follows: four elected or appointed state officers; four elected or appointed city officers; four elected or appointed county officers; four elected or appointed officers of school corporations; and one representative of a regional council of governments established under Chapter 28H. In addition, two state senators shall be appointed by the Majority Leader of the Senate and two state representatives shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Members representing the General Assembly and the counties are to be divided equally between the political parties. All appointees are to be chosen giving consideration to population, gender, race, demography, and geography of the state. The commission is charged with the study of patterns, powers and functions of local governments, existing and desirable relationships between local governments and the state, necessary and desirable allocation of fiscal resources, special problems among local, regional, state, and interstate governments, and necessary and desirable roles of the state as the creator of local governmental systems.
A sunset or repealer provision effective July 1, 2002, is included.

SENATE FILE 2074 - City Hospital or Health Care Facility Trustees -- Terms (full text of bill)

BY HAMMOND. This Act relates to the terms of office of city hospital or health care facility trustees and the dates on which city hospital or health care facility trustees take and depart from office.
Previous law required that city hospital or health care facility trustees take office within 10 days after their election. The Act makes the dates on which trustees take office dependent on the type of election the trustees win. The Act provides that terms of office of trustees elected pursuant to general or city elections begin at noon on the first day in January which is not a Sunday or legal holiday. The terms of office of trustees elected pursuant to special elections begin at noon on the 10th day after the special election which is not a Sunday or legal holiday. The terms of office of trustees shall extend to noon on the first day in January that is not a Sunday or legal holiday or until their successors are elected and qualified. Trustees who are elected at special elections shall serve the unexpired terms of office or until their successors are elected and qualified.
The Act also provides that if a city has adopted an ordinance increasing the number of trustees to five, and the terms of office of four of the five trustees end in the same year, the date of expiration of the term of one of the trustees is extended by an additional two years.

SENATE FILE 2131 - Continuing Appropriations for City Public Improvements (full text of bill)

BY SZYMONIAK AND SORENSEN. This Act defines "continuing appropriation" as the unexpended part of the cost of a public improvement, which cost was adopted through a public hearing and was included in an adopted or amended budget of a city. The continuing appropriation does not expire at the conclusion of a fiscal year, but continues until the public improvement is completed, subject to the financial resources available to pay for the public improvement.

SENATE FILE 2299 - Reserve Peace Officers -- Professional Permits to Carry Weapons (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act provides that reserve peace officers are to be treated as peace officers for the purposes of obtaining and renewing professional permits to carry weapons.

SENATE FILE 2352 - Room and Board Reimbursement by County Prisoners (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act authorizes the county sheriff to charge prisoners who are 18 years of age or older for the room and board provided to them while the prisoners are in the sheriff's custody. If a prisoner fails to pay for the room and board, the sheriff may file a room and board reimbursement lien. The county attorney may file the lien on behalf of the county sheriff. The room and board reimbursement lien does not apply to prisoners who are under court order to pay for their room and board under a work release program.

SENATE FILE 2359 - County Recovery of Costs Related to Homicide Victims (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act provides for payment, by the county of residence of the deceased person, of the fee and expenses of the county medical examiner for the preliminary investigation and preparation of required reports relating to a person's death if the person is a victim of murder, manslaughter or vehicular homicide, and the person's death affects the public interest.
Under the Act, the county may recover the medical examiner's expenses and fee from the defendant if the defendant is convicted of murder, manslaughter, or vehicular homicide. The Act also requires the county attorney of the county in which a judgment of conviction and sentence of murder, manslaughter or vehicular homicide is rendered against a defendant to notify, in writing, the clerk of the district court of the county of the deceased person's residence so that the county may recover the fee and expenses of the medical examiner from the defendant.

HOUSE FILE 400 - Joint Equipment Purchases by Political Subdivisions (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION. This Act repeals the requirement that cities, counties, townships, school districts, or other political subdivisions, before making a purchase of equipment worth at least $50,000, consider making the purchase with another political subdivision of the state. The Act also repeals the requirement that the minutes of the governing board making the purchase indicate what other governing bodies were contacted concerning a possible joint purchase of the equipment.

HOUSE FILE 2177 - Urban Renewal -- Century Farm Exclusion (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act provides that areas designated as economic development areas for purposes of urban renewal shall not contain land which is part of a century farm unless the owner of the century farm agrees to include the century farm in the urban renewal area. The Act applies to economic development areas designated before, on or after July 1, 1996.

HOUSE FILE 2187 - Rural Water Districts -- Attachment (full text of bill)

BY VANDE HOEF. This Act provides that 30 percent of the owners of land within a proposed addition to a rural water district may petition the board of supervisors to attach all of the real property in the proposed addition to the district. The board of supervisors will approve or disapprove the petition after notice and a public hearing.

HOUSE FILE 2256 - Implementation of New or Revised Federal Block Grants (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act provides requirements for state agencies implementing new or revised federal block grant provisions which affect local governments.
The Act amends a section of Chapter 8, the Budget and Financial Control Act, which relates to deposit of federal funds. The Act requires a state agency to develop a block grant plan in response to program changes mandated by changes at the federal level. The primary goal of the plan should be to attain savings for taxpayers and to avoid shifting costs to the state and local governments. The Act requires that state agency planning meetings be held jointly with the affected political subdivisions and members of the public. The planning requirements include publishing of proposed expenditures and accountability measures, providing a preference for existing service delivery systems, providing transition time for a local government to accommodate changes in federal and state policy, allowing flexibility for local government implementation of a service, eliminating mandates on local governments that were eliminated for the state, limiting state administrative costs, and prohibiting use of federal funds to supplant state spending efforts.
A state agency must send copies of its block grant plan to the Fiscal Committee of the Legislative Council and to the chairpersons and ranking members of the appropriate subcommittee on appropriations. The Act requires that the plan and any accompanying program changes be adopted by administrative rule.
The Act takes effect April 16, 1996.

HOUSE FILE 2258 - Benefited Recreational Lake Districts (full text of bill)

BY WEIDMAN. This Act authorizes the residents of a recreational lake area to form a district for the purpose of improving water quality. The Act also authorizes the board of trustees of a benefited recreational lake district to acquire real estate or interest in real estate or take other action to promote or improve water quality.

HOUSE FILE 2259 - City Sewer or Water Utility Connections (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act changes the procedure for establishing one or more districts and schedules of fees for the connection of property to the city sewer or water utility. The Act provides that the connection fee may include the equitable cost of extending the utility to the properties, including reasonable interest from the date of construction to the date of payment. The Act also provides that when a city annexation plan includes area adjoining the city, but a petition requesting city sewer or water utility connection has not been presented, the county board of health cannot regulate private water supplies and private sewage disposal facilities in the proposed annexed area until annexation takes place, or an annexation plan is abandoned, unless the individual property owner voluntarily pays the connection fee and requests to be connected to the city sewer or water utility.

HOUSE FILE 2299 - Filing of Instruments by County Recorders (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act provides a county recorder with the option of filing instruments beginning with the number one and numbering consecutively from the first working day of a calendar year until the last working day of the calendar year or by filing instruments beginning with the number one immediately after the annual settlement with the board of supervisors and numbering consecutively until the next annual settlement.

HOUSE FILE 2399 - Eligibility for County General Assistance (full text of bill)

BY BRAUNS. This Act amends provisions in Iowa Code Chapter 252, relating to eligibility for county general assistance, by requiring a person to be in the county, lawfully, as a condition of eligibility for the assistance.

HOUSE FILE 2426 - Tax Increment Financing Certification Requirements (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act changes from December 31 to December 1 the date by which a city or county is required to annually certify to the county auditor the amount of debt obligations to be paid from tax increment financing revenues and the allocation of tax increment financing revenues to the urban renewal area.

HOUSE FILE 2427 - Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Developmental Disability Services (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act provides for the involvement of the county single entry point process in voluntary and involuntary placements of individuals for mental health or mental retardation care and treatment services and amends related statutes involving billing and payment for the services.
Enactments in the 1994 and 1995 Legislative Sessions initiated reforms of county service and payment provisions for mental health, mental retardation, and developmental disability (MH/MR/DD) services. The reforms involve greater state participation in the funding of the services, a requirement that county budgets for the services operate within a fixed budget, and implementation of service management provisions. The service management provisions include implementation of a single entry point process (also referred to as a central point of coordination) to manage intake and referral to services.
The Act incorporates the single entry point process into Code provisions providing for voluntary and involuntary placements for mental health or mental retardation services when the services are paid in whole or part by a county. Commitments for an evaluation or services must be to a provider designated through the single entry point process. The Department of Human Services is directed to utilize the single entry point process in referrals to Medical Assistance (Medicaid) services, to the extent allowed under federal requirements.
The Act includes provisions for coordination between the single entry point process of an individual's county of residence and that of the individual's county of legal settlement. Iowa has historically maintained a process for determining the payment responsibilities of the county or state government for services based upon initial residence, subject to modification for other factors. This process is known as "legal settlement" and is not changed by the Act.
Other provisions of the Act address the amount of per diems billed to a county for care provided at a state hospital-school or state mental health institute. Under prior law, the per diem amount was fixed at the amount in effect on July 1, 1988, subject to an increase up to the amount of adjustment in the consumer price index. The Act changes this inflation increase factor to be based instead upon the amount of the allowed growth factor authorized in law for county MH/MR/DD budgets. The new factor applies beginning with FY 1997-1998.
Counties are expressly authorized to pay for MH/DD services by pooling appropriations from their MH/DD funds with other counties and with regional county entities. Other service payment provisions of the Act relate to the Medical Assistance (Medicaid) program. Counties pay the nonfederal share of intermediate care facility for persons with mental retardation (ICFMR) services and other services to the same adult population covered under the program. The Act includes time frame goals for the Department of Human Services to complete claims and cost settlements to counties for services paid for by counties.
The law prohibiting counties from requiring community mental health centers to provide identifying information concerning individuals receiving services is amended to authorize required provision of administrative, diagnostic and demographic information. Agencies providing MH, MR or DD services under a county management plan are authorized to access the child abuse registry for information concerning current or prospective employees.
The Act includes a number of provisions involving the State-County Management Committee, an advisory body for MH/MR/DD issues and policy questions. The membership of the committee is expanded to include a representative nominated by the Association of Federal, State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The committee is directed to develop recommendations for establishing standards for MH/MR/DD services, standards for limiting cost shifting and excess costs and profits under managed care plans, and quality measurement and improvement provisions for the services. In addition, the committee is to recommend to the department actions to assist in the transition of persons served in an ICFMR to services funded under a Medical Assistance home and community-based services waiver. This provision of the Act takes effect May 2, 1996, and the department is to submit a report to the Governor and General Assembly in January 1997.

HOUSE FILE 2488 - Special Census Certification (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS. This Act provides that a city or county which undertook a special census in 1995 for the purposes of determining the allocation of population-based road use tax funds or personal property tax replacement funds and which was prevented from filing the special census results with the Secretary of State by December 31, 1995, due to a federal government shutdown, shall have the census results considered timely filed if the results are filed with the Secretary of State within 30 days of April 18, 1996.
The Act takes effect April 18, 1996.

HOUSE FILE 2491 - Pioneer Cemeteries -- Cemetery Levy (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS. This Act authorizes a county board of supervisors, by ordinance, to assume jurisdiction and control of pioneer cemeteries in the county. "Pioneer cemetery" is defined as a cemetery where there have been six or fewer burials in the preceding 50 years. The board of supervisors may create a cemetery commission to manage the pioneer cemeteries. The board of supervisors shall pay the costs of maintaining the pioneer cemeteries from the county general fund and the board may levy a tax not to exceed 6.75 cents per $1,000 of the assessed value of all taxable property in the county to repair and maintain all cemeteries under the jurisdiction of the board.

RELATED LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 2155 - Municipal Infractions -- Jurisdictional Amount (Complete summary under COURTS, CIVIL LAW & PROCEDURE, & PROBATE.)

This Act raises the jurisdictional amount for municipal infractions heard by magistrates and judges to $4,000.

SENATE FILE 2245 - Public Retirement Systems (Complete summary under STATE GOVERNMENT.)

This Act makes numerous changes pertaining to public retirement systems, including the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS, Chapter 97B), the Public Safety Peace Officers' Retirement, Accident, and Disability System (PORS, Chapter 97A), and the Statewide Fire and Police Retirement System (Chapter 411).

SENATE FILE 2259 - Vessels -- Certificates of Title (Complete summary under NATURAL RESOURCES & OUTDOOR RECREATION.)

This Act provides that a documented vessel requires no title to be issued by the county recorder; and if a documented vessel has been titled, the title will be canceled when submitted to the county recorder.

SENATE FILE 2294 - Multidisciplinary Community Services Teams (Complete summary under HUMAN SERVICES.)

This Act creates multidisciplinary community services teams in the county home rule chapter of the Iowa Code, Chapter 331. The members of a team are expressly authorized to disclose confidential information to one another concerning an individual or a family.

SENATE FILE 2301 - Lead Abatement and Inspection (Complete summary under HEALTH & SAFETY.)

This Act directs the Iowa Department of Public Health to establish a program for the training and certification of lead inspectors and lead abaters who provide inspections and abatement for monetary compensation.

SENATE FILE 2449 - Tax Revisions and Related Matters - ITEM VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR (Complete summary under TAXATION.)

Division III of this Act would have fully funded the amounts of the homestead tax credit, military service tax credit, and the elderly or disabled tax credit and rent reimbursement for FY 1997 and would have provided for the appropriation of these amounts annually thereafter. Currently, these credits are funded only to the extent funded in FY 1993. The Division would have taken effect July 1, 1996, and applied to claims payable in fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 1996.
Division VII of this Act would have required the state to fully fund the cost of providing a property tax credit or property tax exemption if the credit or exemption was enacted after January 1, 1997. If the state did not fully fund the cost of the credit or exemption, the taxpayer would only receive a portion of the credit or exemption equal to the amount funded.

SENATE FILE 2470 - Miscellaneous Appropriations and Related Matters -- Economic Development Appropriations (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

This Act relates to public levy, expenditure and regulatory matters by making standing, economic development and other appropriations, and includes provisions authorizing local governments to implement innovation zones to improve outcomes for children and families; revises funding provisions under the county property tax limitation, and for mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse levies and services; creates a statewide Enhanced 911 Communications Council; and authorizes charging of fees to inmates for room and board and other jail costs.

HOUSE FILE 111 - Homeowners' Association Swimming Pools (Complete summary under HEALTH & SAFETY.)

This Act exempts certain homeowners' associations from the swimming pool regulation chapter of the Code if certain other conditions are met, including that the swimming pool or spa operated by the homeowners' association is inspected by an entity other than the Iowa Department of Public Health or a local board of health.

HOUSE FILE 419 - Secondary Roads -- Area Service Classification (Complete summary under TRANSPORTATION.)

This Act allows a county board of supervisors to designate area service roads as class "C" roads and allows for restricted access and a minimal level of maintenance.

HOUSE FILE 2140 - Motor Fuel and Special Fuel Taxation and Regulation (Complete summary under TAXATION.)

This Act makes corrective changes to motor fuel tax law. The Act allows a governmental agency to designate another governmental agency as an agent for purposes of filing and receiving the motor vehicle fuel tax refund.

HOUSE FILE 2153 - Reinstatement Upon Denial of Disability Retirement Benefits (Complete summary under STATE GOVERNMENT.)

This Act provides certain reemployment rights for a member of the Statewide Fire and Police Retirement System and the Public Safety Peace Officers' Retirement, Accident, and Disability System following denial of the member's application for a disability retirement allowance.

HOUSE FILE 2370 - Limited Liability Companies and Corporations -- Miscellaneous Provisions (Complete summary under BUSINESS, BANKING & FINANCE.)

This Act makes changes to statutory provisions applicable to limited liability companies and corporations, including exempting certain limited liability companies and corporations from a requirement relating to the registration of trade names with county recorders.

HOUSE FILE 2433 - Waste Tires (Complete summary under ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION.)

This Act relates to the management of waste tires by providing for the establishment of a Waste Tire Management Fund and Waste Tire Management Grant Program. The Act also provides that a county may apply for grant moneys from the Waste Tire Management Grant Program in establishing and administering local waste tire management programs.

HOUSE FILE 2498 - Miscellaneous Insurance Division Regulatory Provisions (Complete summary under BUSINESS, BANKING & INSURANCE.)

This Act exempts political subdivisions operating perpetual care cemeteries from the requirement of establishing a minimum perpetual care and maintenance guarantee fund of $25,000.

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