CIVIL LAW, PROCEDURE AND COURT ADMINISTRATION

SENATE FILE 344 - Appeal Bonds - Monetary Limits - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR
SENATE FILE 371 - Recording of Documents or Instruments by County Recorder - Fees and Standards
SENATE FILE 2167 - Descent and Distribution of Property - Disclaimers of Powers, Rights, or Interests in Property and Medical Assistance Benefits Recovery
SENATE FILE 2193 - Sexually Violent Offenses - Insanity of Defendant - Civil Commitment
SENATE FILE 2199 - Landlord-Tenant Law - Dangerous Activities of Tenant - Notice of Termination and Notice to Quit
SENATE FILE 2230 - Claims Resulting From Contaminated Property - Third-Party Liability - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR
SENATE FILE 2234 - Child Custody and Visitation
SENATE FILE 2266 - Environmental Status of Rental Property - Landlord Disclosure
SENATE FILE 2306 - Civil Actions - Appeal Bonds
HOUSE FILE 22 - Custody and Care of Children - Awards of Physical Care
HOUSE FILE 2170 - Product Liability Actions
HOUSE FILE 2176 - Termination of Parental Rights - Abandonment of Child
HOUSE FILE 2325 - Criminal Procedure - Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims - Direct Appeals
HOUSE FILE 2396 - Settlement Offer Prior to Trial - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR
HOUSE FILE 2440 - Noneconomic Damage Limit - Medical Malpractice Cases - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR
HOUSE FILE 2450 - Real Property - Conveyances and Other Transfers - Marketable Record Title
HOUSE FILE 2455 - Marriage and Domestic Relations Requirements - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR
HOUSE FILE 2527 - Birth Certificate Copies - Biological Parents
HOUSE FILE 2528 - Modification of Child Custody Orders - Entry of Juvenile Court Dispositional Order
HOUSE FILE 2530 - Criminal Penalty Surcharges
HOUSE FILE 2533 - Domestic Abuse Protective Orders and Court-Approved Consent Agreements
HOUSE FILE 2572 - Administration of Courts and Judicial Proceedings
HOUSE FILE 2579 - Appeals From Condemnation Proceedings - Damage Awards - Interest

RELATED LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 2188 - Human Rights - Asians and Pacific Islanders - Commission

SEE STATE GOVERNMENT. This Act creates a Division on the Status of Iowans of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage within the Department of Human Rights, and creates a Commission on the Status of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage.

SENATE FILE 2298 - Government Funding, Administration, and Regulation - Appropriations and Miscellaneous Changes

SEE APPROPRIATIONS. Divisions V and VI of this Act make appropriations for health and human services and provide numerous related provisions, including appropriations for child welfare, child support, and many other items affecting children.

HOUSE FILE 2207 - Substantive Code Corrections

SEE STATE GOVERNMENT. This Act contains statutory corrections that adjust language to reflect current practices, insert earlier omissions, delete redundancies and inaccuracies, delete temporary language, resolve inconsistencies and conflicts, update ongoing provisions, or remove ambiguities. Changes made include changes related to the applicability of the definition of the term "qualified expert" under the Indian Child Welfare Code chapter, a correction to a provision relating to temporary removal hearings in child in need of assistance proceedings, and changes to provisions related to annexation of territory by a city, public utility regulation, regulation of various business entities, forcible entry and detainer actions, and district associate judge elections. The corrections to the district associate judge elections provisions take effect April 26, 2004.

HOUSE FILE 2230 - Safe Deposit Box Access by Trustees

SEE BUSINESS, BANKING & INSURANCE. This Act allows a trustee of a trust created by a deceased owner or lessee of a safe deposit box to present a certification of trust to a bank or a credit union to gain access to the contents of such a safe deposit box.

HOUSE FILE 2243 - Liquefied Petroleum Gas Systems - Liability for Injuries or Damages

SEE ENERGY & PUBLIC UTILITIES. This Act provides that in an action regarding personal injuries or property damage resulting from defects or other condition of a liquefied petroleum gas system, the finder of fact shall consider any negligent act of a customer, owner, or other person installing, modifying, maintaining, or repairing the system if the negligent act was a cause in fact of the accident or condition causing the personal injuries or property damage.

HOUSE FILE 2327 - Child Abuse Assessment and Training

SEE CHILDREN & YOUTH. This Act relates to child abuse assessment requirements involving notification of parents, interviews of persons alleged to have committed child abuse, and training of child protection workers employed by the Department of Human Services.

HOUSE FILE 2347 - Uniform Limited Partnership Act

SEE BUSINESS, BANKING & INSURANCE. This Act is based on an updated version of the Uniform Limited Partnership Act, approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2002. The Act creates a new Code Chapter 488 to replace Code Chapter 487.

HOUSE FILE 2351 - Waste Tire Management - Enforcement

SEE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION. This Act requires the Attorney General, upon the request by the Department of Natural Resources, to institute any civil or criminal legal proceeding necessary to obtain compliance with an order of the Environmental Protection Commission or the department's director to prosecute a person for violating the Code section, or any rule adopted pursuant to the section, regulating waste tire disposal. The Act creates a civil penalty.

HOUSE FILE 2358 - Practice of Cosmetology - Miscellaneous Changes

SEE HEALTH & SAFETY. This Act provides for the imposition of a civil penalty by the Board of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences Examiners for violations of Code Chapter 157 in an amount not to exceed $1,000 per violation, with each day of a continued violation constituting a separate offense, up to a maximum penalty of $10,000.

HOUSE FILE 2378 - Medical Assistance Trusts - Payment Rates

SEE HUMAN SERVICES. This Act relates to the disposition of the property received or held by a medical assistance income trust, also known as Miller Trusts.

HOUSE FILE 2397 - Actions to Abate Nuisances - Electric Utilities - Comparative Fault

SEE ENERGY & PUBLIC UTILITIES. This Act provides that an electric utility may assert a defense of comparative fault in an action to abate a nuisance against the utility if the electric utility has complied with engineering and safety standards and if the electric utility has secured all required permits and approvals.

HOUSE FILE 2441 - Spanish Language Interpreter Qualifications

SEE HUMAN SERVICES. This Act relates to the development of a mechanism by the Commission of Latino Affairs to ensure Spanish language interpreter qualifications and relates to providing a list of such interpreters to specified state agencies.

HOUSE FILE 2462 - Child Welfare Pilot Projects

SEE CHILDREN & YOUTH. This Act requires the Department of Human Services to implement two types of child welfare pilot projects.

HOUSE FILE 2476 - Communicable Diseases Affecting Poultry - Pathogenic Viruses

SEE AGRICULTURE. This Act regulates certain pathogens affecting poultry, including avian paramyxovirus, commonly referred to as Newcastle disease, and avian influenza. The Act establishes a number of civil penalties imposed on persons who own poultry, operate establishments, or participate in certain activities which create a risk that the pathogen may spread. It also allows the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship or a local law enforcement officer to confiscate and destroy poultry as part of an enforcement action.

HOUSE FILE 2481 - Child in Need of Assistance Dispositional Orders

SEE CHILDREN & YOUTH. This Act expands the circumstances by which, and the grounds upon which, the juvenile court may modify, vacate and substitute, or terminate a child in need of assistance dispositional order.

HOUSE FILE 2544 - Real Estate Records and Transactions

SEE LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act broadens the $5 fee collected by the county auditor for each property transfer to include any instrument that unconditionally conveys real estate.

HOUSE FILE 2555 - Public Health Programs and Regulation - Additional Provisions

SEE HEALTH & SAFETY. This Act makes changes in programs under the purview of the Iowa Department of Public Health and authorizes the Board of Mortuary Science Examiners to impose civil penalties upon a finding of unlicensed practice.

HOUSE FILE 2581 - Miscellaneous Economic Development, Taxation, Regulatory, and Employment-Related Changes — EXTRAORDINARY SESSION

SEE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Division III of the Act reaffirms and reenacts provisions pertaining to supersedeas bonds, including provisions contained in 2004 Iowa Acts, S.F. 2306. The Act takes effect September 7, 2004.

CIVIL LAW, PROCEDURE AND COURT ADMINISTRATION

SENATE FILE 344 - Appeal Bonds - Monetary Limits - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND LABOR RELATIONS. This bill related to monetary limits on appeal bonds in civil cases, and would have provided that if a civil judgment or order appealed from in a district court proceeding is for money, an appeal bond could not exceed the lesser of 110 percent of the amount of the money judgment or $25 million.

SENATE FILE 371 - Recording of Documents or Instruments by County Recorder - Fees and Standards (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act specifies formatting standards for documents or instruments that are presented for recording by the county recorder. Each document or instrument, except a survey and plat or a drawing related to a survey or plat, is to be presented for recording with writing, printing or drawing only on one side of the page; each page is to be no larger than eight and one half inches in width and 14 inches in length; and each page is to be of white paper of not less than 20 pound weight without watermarks. All preprinted text is to be at least eight point in size and no more than 20 characters and spaces per inch. All other text typed or computer generated, including all names of parties to an agreement, shall be at least 10 point in size and no more than 16 characters and spaces per inch. If a document or instrument is presented for recording with preprinted text smaller than 8 point and 10 point type for all other text, the document or instrument shall be accompanied by an exact typewritten or printed copy that meets type size requirements. All signatures on a document or instrument shall be in black or dark blue ink and of sufficient color and clarity to ensure that the signatures are readable when the document or instrument is reproduced. Each document or instrument shall have a top margin of at least three inches of vertical space from left to right, which shall be reserved for the recorder's use. All other margins shall be a minimum of three fourths of one inch.

Each document or instrument containing any of the following information shall have that information on the first page of the document or instrument below the three inch margin: the name, address, and telephone number of the preparer, the name and complete address of a taxpayer for any document or instrument of conveyance, a return address, the title of a document or instrument, all grantors' or grantees' names, an address required by statute, the legal description of the property and parcel identification number, or a document or instrument number for statutory requirements. If there is insufficient space on the first page for all of the above information, the page reference of the document or instrument where the information is located shall be noted on the first page.

The following documents or instruments are exempt from the formatting requirements: a military separation document or instrument; a document or instrument executed outside the United States; a certified copy of a vital record issued by a governmental agency; a document or instrument where one of the original parties is deceased or otherwise incapacitated; a document or instrument formatted to meet court requirements; a federal tax lien; a filing under the Uniform Commercial Code; or a document or instrument which is signed before July 1, 2004. Senate File 2298 (see Appropriations) amends this portion of the Act to change the signing date for exempt documents to July 1, 2005, to correspond with the other dates cited in the Act.

A document or instrument rejected for recording by the county recorder shall be returned to the preparer or presenter with an explanation of the reason for rejection.

On or after July 1, 2005, a document or instrument that does not conform to the format standards shall not be recorded except upon payment of an additional recording fee of $10 per document or instrument. The additional recording fee applies only to documents or instruments dated on or after July 1, 2005, and does not apply to exempt documents or instruments.

SENATE FILE 2167 - Descent and Distribution of Property - Disclaimers of Powers, Rights, or Interests in Property and Medical Assistance Benefits Recovery (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act relates to the Iowa Probate Code, including provisions relating to estate recovery of medical assistance benefits, the power to disclaim property interests, and trusts.

HUMAN SERVICES. Changes made in the area of human services allow the Department of Human Services to obtain funds in satisfaction of a decedent's medical assistance debts when no successor affidavit has been presented to the court in which the decedent's estate is being administered.

IOWA PROBATE CODE. Changes made in the area of probate include the creation of the "Iowa Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interest Act," which replaces current Code Section 633.704 relating to the same subject. The Act applies to disclaimers of any interest in or power over property, including disclaimers used for tax planning purposes; defines "disclaimant," "disclaimed interest," and "disclaimer" and provides that any disclaimer which is qualified for estate and gift tax purposes under the Internal Revenue Code is also a valid disclaimer; specifies an interest may be disclaimed even if vested; makes ineffective any attempt to limit the right to disclaim which the creator of the interest or nonfiduciary power seeks to impose on a person; specifies the formal requirements of a disclaimer, and specifically allows a partial disclaimer; specifies that a disclaimer is irrevocable on the later date to occur of either delivery or filing, or the effective date of the disclaimer, and provides that a disclaimer must be irrevocable in order to be a qualified disclaimer for tax purposes; provides certain rules related to the effect of a disclaimer on present and future interests, certain rules related to a disclaimer of rights of survivorship in jointly held property, a disclaimer of interest by a trustee, a disclaimer of a power of appointment or other power not held by a fiduciary, a disclaimer by an appointee, object, or taker in default of an exercise of a power of appointment, and a disclaimer by a fiduciary; specifies certain rules related to the delivery or filing of a disclaimer; and specifies certain circumstances under which a disclaimer is barred or limited.

The Act further provides that a disclaimer under the provisions of the Act constitutes a transfer of assets for the purpose of determining eligibility for medical assistance benefits under Code Chapter 249A in an amount equal to the value of the property, interest or right disclaimed.

IOWA TRUST CODE. The Act specifies certain amendments relating to the Trust Code. The Act provides that burial, funeral and perpetual trusts are exempted from the Trust Code; specifies the circumstances under which a spendthrift trust is created to restrain both voluntary and involuntary transfers of the beneficiary's interest, and circumstances under which such a trust may be available to a creditor; provides for an award of attorney fees and costs in a judicial proceeding involving the administration of a trust; and provides that in the absence of contrary evidence, discretionary language granting a trustee discretion to make or withhold a distribution shall prevail over any language indicating that the beneficiary may have a legally enforceable right to distributions or indicating a standard for payments or distributions.

SENATE FILE 2193 - Sexually Violent Offenses - Insanity of Defendant - Civil Commitment (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act provides that if a sexually violent predator petition is filed, and the person is found not guilty by reason of insanity for a sexually violent offense, the court shall determine whether the acts charged were proven as a matter of law. Under the Act, if as a matter of law the finding of not guilty by reason of insanity requires a finding that the underlying elements of the charge were proven, then no further fact finding is required and the person shall be subject to civil commitment as a sexually violent predator. However, the Act provides that if as a matter of law the finding of not guilty by reason of insanity does not require a finding that the underlying elements of the charge be proven, the case shall proceed as if the person were incompetent under Code Section 229A.7 to determine whether the person should be committed as a sexually violent predator.

SENATE FILE 2199 - Landlord-Tenant Law - Dangerous Activities of Tenant - Notice of Termination and Notice to Quit (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act relates to residential landlord-tenant law by making certain changes related to family violence and domestic abuse.

The Act provides that a landlord under Code Chapter 562A, Uniform Residential Landlord-Tenant Law, or 562B, Manufactured Home Communities or Mobile Home Parks Residential Landlord and Tenant law, must provide specific information in a written notice of termination and notice to quit to a tenant relating to the tenant's activities that are alleged to create a clear and present danger to the health or safety of other tenants, the landlord, the landlord's employee or agent, or other persons on or within 1,000 feet of the landlord's property. Such notice shall also include a statement of the law with regard to actions the tenant may take if other persons are responsible for the clear and present danger, such as seeking a protective order or filing a report with law enforcement. Such actions may render the termination and notice to quit inapplicable to the tenant.

SENATE FILE 2230 - Claims Resulting From Contaminated Property - Third-Party Liability-VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE. This bill related to immunity from third party liability for claims resulting from contaminated property. Division V of H.F. 2484 (see Business, Banking & Insurance) enacts similar legislation that takes effect May 6, 2004.

The bill would have provided that a person who holds indicia of ownership of property contaminated by a hazardous substance, hazardous waste, or regulated substance, and that satisfies certain ownership related requirements, would not be liable to any third party for any third party liability arising from such contamination.

The bill would have provided that a person who acquired property contaminated by a hazardous substance, hazardous waste, or regulated substance would not be liable to any third party for any third party liability arising by reason of such contamination, provided that the person does not knowingly cause or permit a new or additional hazardous substance, hazardous waste, or regulated substance to arise on or from the acquired property that injures a third party or contaminates property owned or leased by a third party, and the person is not a potentially responsible party or affiliated with any potentially responsible party by reason of certain relationships.

The bill would have required a person who holds indicia of title to property or a person who acquired property to provide reasonable access to the acquired property to any potentially responsible party or to any authorized regulatory authority for the purpose of investigating or evaluating any contamination, planning, or preparing a remedial plan for any abatement of the contamination, and for any required remediation.

SENATE FILE 2234 - Child Custody and Visitation (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act provides that in order to encourage parent compliance with a child visitation order, a temporary order for custody is to provide for a minimum visitation schedule with the noncustodial parent, unless the court determines that such visitation is not in the best interest of the child. The Act also allows a father to petition, during the same action as that which establishes paternity, for rights of visitation or custody.

SENATE FILE 2266 - Environmental Status of Rental Property - Landlord Disclosure (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act relates to landlord disclosure requirements regarding the environmental status of rental property.

The Act provides that the landlord or a person authorized to enter into a rental agreement on behalf of the landlord shall disclose to each tenant in writing before the commencement of the tenancy if the property is listed in the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Information System maintained by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

SENATE FILE 2306 - Civil Actions - Appeal Bonds (full text of bill)

BY IVERSON AND GRONSTAL. This Act relates to civil action appeal bonds including monetary limits.

The Act provides that if a civil judgment or order appealed from in a civil action is for money, an appeal bond may exceed 110 percent of the amount of the money judgment if the court makes specific findings justifying exceeding such an amount. In doing so, the court shall consider certain criteria, but in no case shall an appeal bond exceed $100 million, regardless of the value of the money judgment. However, such limit shall not apply in cases where the court finds that the defendant intentionally dissipated the defendant's assets outside the ordinary course of business for the purpose of evading payment of the judgment.

The Act takes effect April 20, 2004, and applies to cases pending and filed on or after that date.

HOUSE FILE 22 - Custody and Care of Children - Awards of Physical Care (full text of bill)

BY BODDICKER. This Act provides that if joint legal custody of a child is awarded to both parents, the court may award joint physical care to both joint custodial parents upon the request of either parent. If the court denies the request for joint physical care, the court must provide specific findings of fact and conclusions of law that the awarding of joint physical care is not in the best interest of the child.

HOUSE FILE 2170 - Product Liability Actions (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act relates to product liability actions.

The Act provides that an assembler, designer, supplier of specifications, distributor, manufacturer, or seller shall not be subject to liability for failure-to-warn claims in product liability actions for product risks and risk-avoidance measures obvious to or generally known by foreseeable product users.

The Act further provides that in any action against an assembler, designer, supplier of specifications, distributor, manufacturer, or seller for damages arising from an alleged defect in packaging, warning or labeling of a product, a product bearing or accompanied by a reasonable and visible warning or instruction and that is reasonably safe for use if the warning or instruction is followed shall not be deemed defective or unreasonably dangerous on the basis of failure to warn or instruct.

HOUSE FILE 2176 - Termination of Parental Rights - Abandonment of Child (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act addresses the criteria used for the determination of abandonment of a child by a putative father as one of the grounds for termination of parental rights and applies the criteria in determining abandonment to both parents. The Act provides that a parent is deemed to have abandoned a child for the purpose of the grounds for termination section of the Code based on meeting certain criteria and based on the age of the child. Certain criteria still apply only with regard to the deeming of abandonment of a child by a putative father.

HOUSE FILE 2325 - Criminal Procedure - Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims - Direct Appeals (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act relates to raising an ineffective assistance of counsel claim in a criminal case against an attorney in a postconviction proceeding or on direct appeal. An ineffective assistance claim generally alleges that a defendant's conviction resulted from the ineffective assistance of the defendant's counsel, and the ineffective assistance of counsel is the proximate cause of the damage to the defendant.

The Act provides that an ineffective assistance of counsel claim shall generally be determined by filing an application for postconviction relief pursuant to Code Chapter 822. The Act provides that the claim need not be raised on direct appeal in order to preserve the claim for postconviction relief purposes. Current law provides that a person must raise an ineffective assistance of counsel claim on direct appeal from the criminal proceedings in order to preserve a claim for postconviction relief.

A party under the Act may raise an ineffective assistance of counsel claim on direct appeal if the party has reasonable grounds to believe that the record is adequate to address the claim on direct appeal. However, the Act provides that the court has the option to decide the claim for postconviction relief purposes under Code Chapter 822.

HOUSE FILE 2396 - Settlement Offer Prior to Trial - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This bill would have limited recovery of prejudgment interest in any pending or proposed civil action where an offer to confess judgment is made, but is not accepted, and a subsequent trial results in a judgment that is less than the amount in the offer to confess judgment. In such a case, no prejudgment interest would be calculated or recoverable after the date of the offer to confess judgment.

HOUSE FILE 2440 - Noneconomic Damage Limit - Medical Malpractice Cases - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, REGULATION AND LABOR. This bill would have created a "Noneconomic Damage Awards Against Health Care Providers Act."

The bill provided that in a civil action for damages for injury or death against a health care provider, defined as a physician, advanced registered nurse practitioner, hospital, or health care facility, arising out of an act or omission in connection with the provision of health care services, the injured plaintiff would be entitled to recover noneconomic damages not to exceed $250,000, except in cases where the plaintiff proved the defendant acted with malicious intent. "Noneconomic damages" was defined as damages arising from pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, loss of chance and loss of consortium, and any other nonpecuniary damages. The Governor item voted a provision in S.F. 2298 (see Appropriations) that would have amended the bill to expand the definition of "health care provider" to include a licensed physician assistant, a nurse, and a federally licensed, regulated or registered nonprofit blood bank, blood center, or plasma center.

HOUSE FILE 2450 - Real Property - Conveyances and Other Transfers - Marketable Record Title (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act relates to real property, including acknowledgments of real property conveyances and limitations on causes of action concerning real property.

The Act repeals the acknowledgment provisions in Code Chapter 558 relating to real property conveyances and, by operation of law, makes similar acknowledgment provisions contained in Code Chapter 9E, relating to notarial acts, the sole acknowledgment requirements.

The Act also amends Code Chapter 614, relating to limitations of actions, to make provisions relating to the Code chapter division on marketable record title applicable to the entire Code chapter. The provisions made applicable to the entire chapter are those relating to definitions, liberal construction, rights upon expiration of a lease, extension of limitation statutes, and 40-year period extension in certain cases.

HOUSE FILE 2455 - Marriage and Domestic Relations Requirements - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES. This bill would have required that the application for a license to marry have attached a certificate form to be used by the parties completing the application to document completion of premarital education. The bill also would have required the parties to a petition for dissolution of marriage, annulment, or separate maintenance that involves minor children, or to an application for a motion to modify an order involving custody or visitation, beginning October 1, 2004, to submit a proposed parenting plan within 30 days after service of process of the petition or application.

HOUSE FILE 2527 - Birth Certificate Copies - Biological Parents (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES. This Act provides that the mailing of a certified copy of the certificate of birth to a biological parent is not precluded by the execution of a release of custody under the Termination of Parental Rights Code chapter and that, upon the request of a biological parent, such certificate shall be provided to the biological parent unless the parental rights of the biological parent are terminated. The Act also directs the clerk of the juvenile court to send a copy of the termination of parental rights order to the State Registrar for the purposes of determining the status of the parental rights of a biological parent requesting a certified copy of the certificate of birth.

HOUSE FILE 2528 - Modification of Child Custody Orders - Entry of Juvenile Court Dispositional Order (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES. This Act allows the district court to consider a juvenile court custody order entered pursuant to Code Chapter 232 when modifying custody or support orders made pursuant to Code Chapter 598.

HOUSE FILE 2530 - Criminal Penalty Surcharges (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act requires that the drug abuse resistance education surcharge and the law enforcement initiative surcharge be remitted by the clerk of the district court to the State Court Administrator just as the criminal penalty surcharge is currently. Under current law the clerk of the district court remits the drug abuse resistance surcharge and the law enforcement initiative surcharge to the Treasurer of State.

The Act also requires that the drug abuse resistance education and law enforcement initiative surcharges be imposed on all applicable offenses.

The Act reorganizes Code Chapter 911 by creating a separate Code section for each surcharge, but does not create a new surcharge, change the surcharge amount that can be assessed for a criminal offense, or change the distribution of the revenue from the surcharges.

HOUSE FILE 2533 - Domestic Abuse Protective Orders and Court-Approved Consent Agreements (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act relates to protective orders filed under the Domestic Abuse Act.

The Act eliminates the requirement to indicate on a standard pro se protective order form that a plaintiff in a domestic abuse action wishes to proceed pro se because the plaintiff does not have sufficient funds to pay the filing and service fees.

The Act provides that a person may be convicted of a simple misdemeanor or held in contempt of court for a violation of a valid foreign protective order. A "foreign protective order" includes certain temporary or permanent protective orders entered by a court of another state, Indian tribe, or U. S. territory, orders to vacate the homestead, orders that establish conditions of release, or sentencing orders in criminal prosecutions arising from a domestic abuse assault. Such person convicted or held in contempt is required to serve a jail sentence. A simple misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than 30 days and may include a fine of at least $50 but not more than $500. Contempt of court is punishable by confinement for no more than six months and may include a fine of at least $500.

The Act specifies that if a magistrate finds probable cause to believe that a person has violated an order or approved consent agreement relating to a domestic abuse assault, the magistrate shall order the person to appear either before the court which issued the original order or approved the consent agreement, or before the court in the jurisdiction where the alleged violation occurred.

HOUSE FILE 2572 - Administration of Courts and Judicial Proceedings (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS. This Act relates to the procedures and duties of the clerk of the district court and the judicial branch.

The Act makes the State Records and Archives Act in Code Chapter 305 applicable to the executive and legislative branches exclusively.

The Act provides that a person issued a citation for failing to carry their driver's license while operating a motor vehicle shall not be convicted of this offense if the person produces their driver's license to the clerk of the district court prior to going to court. Current law provides that a person shall not be convicted of failing to carry their driver's license while operating a motor vehicle if the person presents their license at the time of the person's arrest or at the time the person is charged with failing to carry a driver's license while operating a motor vehicle.

The Act equalizes the fee for certifying a change of title in an estate with other change of title certifications by increasing the change of title certification fee in an estate from $10 to $20.

The Act creates a fee for filing a motion to show cause in a criminal case. The fee shall be the same as the fee for filing and docketing a complaint, information or citation for the underlying criminal case from which the motion arises.

The Act provides that the clerk of the district court may have employees when authorized. Current law provides that the clerk of the district court may employ deputies, assistants and clerks.

The Act requires the executor or administrator of an estate to deliver certificates pertaining to each parcel of real estate to the county recorder.

The Act repeals Code Section 636.13, which requires the clerk of the district court to keep a book of surety company certificates and revocations.

HOUSE FILE 2579 - Appeals From Condemnation Proceedings - Damage Awards - Interest (full text of bill)

BY GIPP. This Act provides that when an award of damages in a condemnation proceeding is appealed to district court, the sheriff shall transfer to the clerk of the district court where the appeal is taken the balance of the award not paid to the claimant. The Act requires the clerk of the district court to deposit the balance of the award in an interest-bearing account. When rendering judgment on assessment of court costs, the district court shall award the interest earned on the account.