2001 Summary of Legislation CIVIL LAW, PROCEDURE AND COURT ADMINISTRATION Published by the Iowa General Assembly -- Legislative Service Bureau

CIVIL LAW, PROCEDURE AND COURT ADMINISTRATION LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 146 - Tobacco Settlement Agreement Modifications (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act amends the provisions of the Code relating to the Master Settlement Agreement entered into by the state and leading U.S. tobacco product manufacturers. The Act makes changes to comply with the model Act provisions that were to be adopted by all states party to the agreement.

   The Act takes effect March 30, 2001.

SENATE FILE 222 - Statute of Limitations -- Unsafe or Defective Improvement to Real Property -- VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This bill would have reduced from 15 to 10 years the time in which civil actions arising out of the unsafe or defective condition of an improvement to real property based upon tort and implied warranty could be brought.

SENATE FILE 337 - Transfer of Structured Settlement Payment Rights -- Tort and Workers’ Compensation Claims (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE. This Act creates new Code Chapter 682, titled the "Structured Settlement Protection Act," which provides requirements and procedures for the transfer of structured settlement payment rights for tort and workers’ compensation claims.

   The Act provides that not less than three days prior to the date on which a payee signs a transfer agreement, the transferee shall provide the payee with a separate disclosure statement.

   The Act provides that a transfer of structured settlement payment rights shall not be effective unless the transfer has been approved in advance in a final court order or order of a responsible administrative authority based on certain express findings. The Act, under certain circumstances, requires in camera proceedings by the court or responsible administrative authority and prohibits certain information from being included in the order approving the transfer.

   The Act provides that the structured settlement obligor and the annuity issuer shall be, as to all parties except the transferee, discharged and released from liability for the structured payments. The Act identifies the liabilities of the transferee in relation to the structured settlement obligor and the annuity issuer, and provides that the annuity issuer and the structured settlement obligor shall not be required to divide periodic payments.

   The Act establishes the procedure that shall be followed in order to receive approval of a transfer of structured settlement payment rights, and provides for the venue where an application must be brought. The Act also provides certain notice provisions. The Act provides for maintaining the confidentiality of certain terms of a structured settlement agreement or transfer agreement.

   The Act provides that the provisions of Code Chapter 682 shall not be waived. The Act includes jurisdictional provisions. The Act provides that a transfer shall not extend to payments that are life-contingent unless certain procedures are agreed to. A payee who proposes to make a transfer shall not incur any penalty, forfeit any fee, or incur any liability if the transfer does not meet the requirements of Code Chapter 682.

   The Act applies to any transfer under a transfer agreement entered into on or after the thirtieth day after July 1, 2001, the effective date of this Act. Nothing in the Act shall imply that a transfer under a transfer agreement reached prior to that date is effective.

SENATE FILE 347 - Domestic Abuse Protective Orders -- Plaintiff’s Fees and Costs (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act eliminates filing and service of process fees for plaintiffs seeking relief from domestic abuse, and allows the court to determine whether these fees should be assessed to the defendant.

   The Act also complies with the federal Violence Against Women Act funding certification requirements.

SENATE FILE 354 - Administration of Decedents’ Estates -- Medical Assistance Claims (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act places limits on the filing time for medical assistance claims against a decedent’s estate to 15 months after the date of second publication of notice to creditors, or two months after service of notice by ordinary mail to the entity designated by the Department of Human Services, whichever is later. The Act applies to both testate and intestate estates.

SENATE FILE 523 - Distribution of Estates by Affidavit -- Taxation (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS. This Act amends Code Section 633.356 to permit, in cases where the value of the estate does not exceed $25,000, distribution of an estate by affidavit, rather than probate. That section currently sets the cap at $10,000. The Act also makes corresponding amendments to Code Sections 450.4 and 450.44, increasing the value of a decedent’s estate that is exempt from inheritance taxation from $10,000 to $25,000.

HOUSE FILE 180 - Dissolution of Marriage -- Financial Information -- Court-Approved Courses (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act provides that with regard to the course that is required to be completed by parties to an action which involves issues of child custody or visitation, if participation is waived or extended for good cause or is otherwise not required, the court may grant a final dissolution of marriage decree or enter a final custody order even though the parties have not completed the course. The Act also provides that under these circumstances, the parties are exempt from providing a certificate of completion of such course prior to the granting of the decree or the entry of the final order. The Act also provides that under these circumstances, the court may order that the parties receive, in an alternative format, the information that would otherwise have been provided during participation in the course.

   The Act also provides that the court, in its discretion in a dissolution of marriage action, may order a trustee to provide information including but not limited to trust documents and financial statements relating to any beneficial interest a party to the pending action may have in the trust.

HOUSE FILE 326 - Civil Rights Actions -- Mediation (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act amends mediation language in the Civil Rights Act to provide that formal mediation is not a mandatory step for every complaint filed with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. The Act further provides that a mediator may be designated in writing by the commission to conduct formal mediation of a complaint filed with the commission. Once this designation is made, certain confidentiality provisions and privileges apply.

HOUSE FILE 354 - Determination and Pronouncement of Death (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act authorizes a physician assistant, a licensed practical nurse, or a registered nurse to pronounce death for a patient whose death occurs in a licensed hospital, a licensed health care facility, a Medicare-certified home health agency, or a Medicare-certified hospice program.

   The Act also amends the Iowa Criminal Code to include the pronouncement of death by a physician assistant, a licensed practical nurse, or a registered nurse.

HOUSE FILE 567 - Adoptions -- Interstate Legal Risk Placements and Standby Procedures (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES. This Act relates to adoption.

   The Act provides that in the case of an interstate adoption, a child may be placed in the home of a prospective adoptive parent under a legal risk placement prior to the termination of the parental rights of the biological parent of the child.

   Under a legal risk placement, the prospective adoptive parents must provide a legal risk statement, in writing, acknowledging all of the following: that the placement is a legal risk placement; that the court of the state of the sending agency retains jurisdiction over the child for purposes of the termination of parental rights of the biological parents; that if termination of parental rights cannot be accomplished, the child must be returned promptly to the state of the sending agency; that the prospective adoptive parents assume full legal, financial and other risks associated with the legal risk placement and that the Department of Human Services is held harmless for any disruption or failure of the placement; and that the prospective adoptive parents are to provide support and medical and other appropriate care to the child pending termination of parental rights of the biological parents and assume liability for the costs associated with returning the child to the state of the sending agency if the placement is disrupted or fails.

   The Act specifies the information to be included in a legal risk statement, defines "legal risk placement," and provides for other conforming changes in the Code to allow for a legal risk placement.

   The Act also establishes provisions for a standby adoption, which is an adoption in which a terminally ill parent consents to termination of parental rights and the issuance of a final adoption decree effective upon the occurrence of a future event, which is either the death of the terminally ill parent or the request of that parent for the issuance of a final adoption decree.

HOUSE FILE 654 - Property Exempt From Execution -- Retirement Plan Contributions, Earnings, and Increases in Value (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act relates to the amount of contributions to and accumulated increases in the value of certain retirement plans that are exempt from the payment of obligations of a debtor. The Act specifies that the amount of the contributions and accumulated increases in value of a federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) qualified retirement plan which is transferred to certain specified retirement plans is exempt from creditors. This includes Keogh plans, Roth individual retirement accounts and annuities, regular individual retirement accounts and annuities, simplified employee pension plans, and salary reduction simplified employee pension plans.

   The Act provides that an individual may change brokers when transferring retirement funds from one qualified retirement plan to another without the risk that rolling over the retirement funds would make the retirement funds nonexempt.

   The Act also increases the amount of the maximum exempt contribution to numerous non-ERISA qualified plans to the actual amount of the contribution deducted for individual retirement accounts and annuities or the maximum amount that could be contributed and deducted in the tax year of the contribution, whichever is less. The Act also provides for a two-year look-back provision limiting the maximum contribution to an amount that could be contributed to an individual retirement account.

   House File 755 (see Appropriations) amends this Act to specify that the exemptions for contributions to numerous non-ERISA qualified plans shall not exceed, for each tax year of contributions, the actual amount of the contribution deducted on the debtor’s tax return or the maximum amount which could be contributed to an individual retirement account and deducted in the tax year of the contribution, whichever is less. This provision takes effect July 1, 2001.

The Act takes effect April 25, 2001.

RELATED LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 184 -- County Sheriff Services -- Fees -- Garnishment Release (Complete summary under LOCAL GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act increases the fees a county sheriff must collect for serving various notices, warrants, orders, summons, executions, and subpoenas, and increases the hourly or daily fees for attending property sales, summoning and attending juries, or conveying patients to and from public institutions.

SENATE FILE 185 -- Factory-Built Structures -- Manufactured Home Installer Certification (Complete summary under STATE GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act modifies the definition of a factory-built structure to specifically include a mobile home, manufactured home, or a modular home and provides for the certification of manufactured home installers pursuant to rules of the State Building Code Commissioner. The commissioner may establish a fee for certification of installers. All fees collected are credited to the General Fund of the State and appropriated to the commissioner to pay the costs of administering the certification process.

SENATE FILE 209 -- Control of Infectious or Contagious Diseases in Cattle and Other Animals -- Paratuberculosis (Complete summary under AGRICULTURE.)

   This Act provides for the regulation of livestock, including by providing for the control of paratuberculosis and the marketing of dairy cattle. Under the Act, a person who violates provisions regulating paratuberculosis or the marketing of dairy cattle is subject to a civil penalty of at least $100 but not more than $1,000. In addition, the Act authorizes the department to file a petition in the district court seeking injunctive relief.

SENATE FILE 267 -- Supplemental Appropriations and Reductions (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act relates to state budgetary matters by making reductions to appropriations made for FY 2000-2001 from the General Fund of the State and includes a permanent reduction in the state’s contribution rate to the Judicial Retirement Fund that was vetoed by the Governor.

SENATE FILE 355 -- Custody of Newborn Infants -- Release at Institutional Health Care Facilities -- Parental Rights (Complete summary under CHILDREN & YOUTH.)

   This Act, known as the "Newborn Safe Haven Act," allows a parent of a newborn infant to voluntarily release custody of that infant at an institutional health facility. The Act includes various civil and criminal immunity provisions for persons involved with making or receiving the custody release.

SENATE FILE 372 -- Public Records and Documents (Complete summary under LOCAL GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act amends a number of Code sections relating to the recording of mortgage documents, liens, military veteran discharges, and other instruments with the county recorder. The Act also repeals several sections that require ruled columns and an index form for affidavits, mortgages, and other legal documents. The amendments and repeals are proposed to remove impediments to the electronic recording of various legal instruments and improve recording procedures.

SENATE FILE 392 -- Appeals From Juvenile Court (Complete summary under CHILDREN & YOUTH.)

   This Act provides that an appeal shall be heard by the appellate court at the earliest practicable time if the order or decree affects the custody of a child. The Act also authorizes the Supreme Court to prescribe new rules to expedite appeals from orders terminating parental rights.

SENATE FILE 412 -- Compulsory School Attendance Age (Complete summary under EDUCATION.)

   This Act provides that if a child enrolled in a school district or accredited nonpublic school reaches the age of 16 on or after September 15, the child is deemed to be of compulsory attendance age for the entire academic year.

SENATE FILE 453 -- County Administrative Procedures, Filing Requirements, and Related Costs (Complete summary under LOCAL GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act amends various powers and duties of various county officers relating to the payment of county obligations by check in lieu of warrants, requires the county treasurer to dispose of the tax list after 10 years, establishes specific requirements relating to a certificate of change of title of real estate, and provides that service of notice on agents of nonresidents will be given by certified and regular mail in lieu of personal service. The Act also provides that the cost of a record search and cost of serving the notice by mail by a tax sale certificate holder is no longer added to the amount necessary to redeem a tax sale certificate. The amendment regarding record search and cost of service formerly charged by a tax sale certificate holder takes effect April 18, 2001.

SENATE FILE 458 -- Services and Proceedings Involving Juvenile Delinquents and Other Children (Complete summary under CHILDREN & YOUTH.)

   This Act relates to children’s programs and provisions involving the Department of Human Services and the juvenile court, including hearings and orders for out-of-home placements of children, hearing notice requirements, and permanency hearings.

SENATE FILE 470 -- Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals -- Regulation and Remedies (Complete summary under AGRICULTURE.)

   This Act amends Code Chapter 163 regulating infectious and contagious diseases in animals by providing that persons violating the chapter’s provisions are subject to civil penalties in lieu of criminal penalties, and authorizing the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship or the Attorney General to apply to the district court for injunctive relief.

SENATE FILE 486 -- Law Enforcement Initiative Surcharge (Complete summary under CRIMINAL LAW, PROCEDURE & CORRECTIONS.)

This Act provides for the assessment of a $125 surcharge for deferred judgments and convictions of certain criminal offenses in addition to any other fine, surcharge, or court cost assessed in a criminal case.

SENATE FILE 527 -- Appropriations -- Judicial Branch (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act makes appropriations to the judicial branch for FY 2001-2002, reduces the state’s contribution to the Judicial Retirement Fund, and provides that moneys from the Enhanced Court Collections Fund may be used for compensating judicial hospitalization referees.

SENATE FILE 530 -- Appropriations -- Justice System (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

This Act makes appropriations for FY 2001-2002 to the departments of Justice, Corrections, Public Defense, and Public Safety, the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, the Office of Public Defender, and the Board of Parole. The Act also requests the Legislative Council to study the civil commitment of persons with mental illness or a substance abuse problem.

HOUSE FILE 270 -- Campus Security and Sexual Abuse Policies and Reports (Complete summary under EDUCATION.)

   This Act strikes language that requires accredited postsecondary institutions in Iowa to file with the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning of the Department of Human Rights a copy of an annual campus crime statistics report, along with a copy of a written policy relating to sexual abuse that the institutions disseminate to students.

HOUSE FILE 301 -- Rural Fire Protection (Complete summary under LOCAL GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act limits the liability of a rural water district or association for failure to provide or maintain fire hydrants, facilities, or an adequate supply of water or water pressure for fire protection if the facilities, hydrants or water used is not for fire protection.

HOUSE FILE 310 -- Child Support Recovery Unit -- Court Records Access -- Setoff Payments for Support (Complete summary under HUMAN SERVICES.)

This Act relates to child support enforcement. The Act authorizes the disclosure of certain official juvenile court records and orders relating to paternity, support, or the termination of parental rights to the Child Support Recovery Unit, upon request, without court order. The Act also makes changes relative to orders for support for which an obligation may have accrued during a time period in which a support order was not yet in force.

HOUSE FILE 356 -- Workers’ Compensation and Other Liability -- Miscellaneous Changes (Complete summary under LABOR & EMPLOYMENT.)

   This Act makes several changes to laws relating to workers’ compensation, including the establishment of a new rate for the calculation of interest on certain tort judgments and decrees. The provision establishing the new rate takes effect April 26, 2001, and applies retroactively to February 28, 2001.

HOUSE FILE 502 -- Offenses Against Animal Facilities or Crop Operations (Complete summary under AGRICULTURE.)

   This Act amends Code Chapter 717A, which prohibits a person from injuring animals or interfering with animal facilities, by broadening the scope of the chapter’s applicability, including broadening the types of animals and animal facilities and the types of injuries to animals covered by the chapter. The Act also prohibits the destruction of crops or related property and the disruption of crop operations, and provides for a cause of action and special damages and criminal penalties for violations of the prohibitions.

HOUSE FILE 597 -- Meat and Poultry Processors -- Unclaimed Deer Venison (Complete summary under NATURAL RESOURCES & OUTDOOR RECREATION.)

   This Act provides that any deer venison deposited for processing that remains unclaimed for two months after the licensed meat and poultry processor has attempted to contact the venison owner shall be presumed to be abandoned and may be donated to a local nonprofit, charitable organization. A licensed processor who reasonably inspects the meat at the time of donation and finds it fit for human consumption is exempt from civil or criminal liability arising from the condition of the meat.

HOUSE FILE 624 -- Mayor-Council City Government -- Appointment and Dismissal of Police Chief or Marshal (Complete summary under LOCAL GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act provides that the marshal or chief of police of a city with a mayor-council form of government, and without civil service or an intergovernmental agreement providing another method of selection, shall be appointed and dismissed by the mayor with the consent of a majority of the city council.

HOUSE FILE 680 -- Child and Dependent Adult Abuse Reporting (Complete summary under CHILDREN & YOUTH.)

   This Act relates to child and dependent adult abuse reporting, including mandatory reporters of abuse, abuse reporter training, and provides for civil liability for employers or supervisors who apply a policy, work rule, or other requirement that interferes with a person making an abuse report.

HOUSE FILE 713 -- County Lease or Lease-Purchase Contracts and Records, Fees, and Tax Credits Affecting Real Property (Complete summary under LOCAL GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act provides for the division and transfer of property pursuant to a dissolution, annulment, or separate maintenance order.

HOUSE FILE 726 -- Appropriations -- Health and Human Rights (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act provides for appropriations to the Department for the Blind, the Iowa State Civil Rights Commission, the Department of Elder Affairs, the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy, the Iowa Department of Public Health, the Department of Human Rights, and the Commission of Veterans Affairs. The Act increases the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) surcharge from $5 to $10 for operating while intoxicated offenses and offenses relating to the possession, manufacture or delivery of controlled substances. Revenues from the DARE surcharge shall be utilized for the DARE Program and other similar programs.

HOUSE FILE 727 -- Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Developmental Disabilities Services (Complete summary under HUMAN SERVICES.)

   This Act relates to mental health, mental retardation, and developmental disability services and services funding, and to court orders for placement of persons with a serious mental impairment.

HOUSE FILE 732 -- Appropriations -- Human Resources (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act makes appropriations to the Department of Human Services and includes many child welfare, child support, and juvenile justice items, including foster care, adoption, and other child welfare services; funding for court-ordered services for juveniles and juvenile detention; directives to juvenile court services; and other provisions involving the juvenile court.

HOUSE FILE 762 -- Homeland Security and Defense - Military Duty and Emergency Management Services - SECOND EXTRAORDINARY SESSION (Complete summary under STATE GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act authorizes the Department of Public Health to conduct and maintain a statewide risk assessment of any present or potential danger to the public health from biological agents on public or private property with the use of administrative search warrants if necessary. The Act also includes a number of legal protections for Iowa National Guard personnel who are called to active state service or state active duty for 90 days or more.

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