TRANSPORTATION

SENATE FILE 2066 - Motor Vehicle Safety - Child Restraint Systems
SENATE FILE 2070 - Motor Vehicle Regulations and State Transportation Department Duties and Activities
HOUSE FILE 2433 - Issuance of Driver's Licenses and Nonoperator Cards - Fees Retained by Counties

RELATED LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 297 - Snowmobile and All-Terrain Vehicle Regulation

SEE NATURAL RESOURCES & OUTDOOR RECREATION. This Act contains provisions regulating the operation of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, including limitations on the lawful operation of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles on or across highways and railroad rights-of-way.

SENATE FILE 2112 - Appropriations - Transportation

SEE APPROPRIATIONS. This Act makes appropriations from the Road Use Tax Fund and the Primary Road Fund to the Iowa Department of Transportation and amends provisions relating to the administration of revenues derived from the income tax checkoff for the Keep Iowa Beautiful Fund.

SENATE FILE 2118 - Public Utilities - Public Road Rights-of-Way

SEE ENERGY & PUBLIC UTILITIES. This Act provides that a public utility may construct, operate, repair, or maintain the utility's facilities within a public road right-of-way if the facility does not interfere with the public use of the road.

SENATE FILE 2148 - Motor Fuel Theft - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR

SEE CRIMINAL LAW, PROCEDURE & CORRECTIONS. This bill would have added driver's license suspension as a sentencing option for theft of motor fuel from a retail dealer.

SENATE FILE 2154 - Failure to Obey School Bus Warning Devices - Citations

SEE CRIMINAL LAW, PROCEDURE & CORRECTIONS. This Act provides that a citation for failure to obey a school bus warning device shall be issued to the owner of the motor vehicle involved in the violation if the identity of the driver cannot be determined.

SENATE FILE 2253 - Motor Vehicle Ownership Transfers - Damage Disclosure Requirements

SEE BUSINESS, BANKING & INSURANCE. This Act amends provisions relating to damage disclosure requirements for transfer of ownership of a motor vehicle.

SENATE FILE 2284 - Regional Transit Districts

SEE LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act authorizes the creation, by Code Chapter 28E agreement, of a regional transit district in a county with a population in excess of 300,000 or in one or more contiguous counties and in certain cities if one of the counties has a population in excess of 300,000. Division XVI of S.F. 2298 (see Appropriations) amended this Act to lower the county population threshold to 175,000.

SENATE FILE 2288 - Federal Block Grant Appropriations

SEE APPROPRIATIONS. This Act appropriates federal block grant and other nonstate moneys to state agencies for the federal fiscal year beginning October 1, 2004, and ending September 30, 2005. The Act appropriates federal funding and other nonstate funding made available to the state for transportation programs.

SENATE FILE 2289 - Records and Fees Administered by County Treasurer

SEE LOCAL GOVERNMENT. This Act makes various changes relating to the duties of county treasurers, including the correction of information on certain motor vehicle documents presented to the treasurer; issuance of new certificates of title for valueless mobile, modular or manufactured homes; and payment of annual vehicle registration fees. The Act also increases the fee charged for notation of a security interest on a certificate of title.

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

SEE APPROPRIATIONS. Division XVI of this Act modifies the Regional Transit District Law in S.F. 2284 (see Local Government); requires the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) to adopt rules relating to railroad employees' access to first aid and medical treatment; and increases the special motor vehicle plates and registration fees for special natural resources plates.

Division XXII makes changes relating to Iowa individual income tax checkoffs. The division reenacts the Keep Iowa Beautiful Checkoff and the Keep Iowa Beautiful Fund. Moneys in the fund are awarded by IDOT to applicants who submit a plan for litter prevention, improving waste management and recycling efforts, or a beautification project.

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 to provisions relating to manufactured and mobile homes, the crime of abandonment of a vehicle, and scheduled violations for certain traffic offenses.

HOUSE FILE 2394 - Driver Education Instruction by Teaching Parent - VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR

SEE EDUCATION. This bill would have allowed a parent who is providing private instruction to a student at least 14 years of age to instruct the student in a driver education course approved by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

TRANSPORTATION

SENATE FILE 2066 - Motor Vehicle Safety - Child Restraint Systems (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION. This Act relates to requirements for securing children being transported in motor vehicles other than school buses or motorcycles.

The Act requires that a child under one year of age and weighing less than 20 pounds be secured in a rear-facing child restraint system that meets federal safety standards and is used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. A child under the age of six must be secured by a child restraint system, and a child who is at least six but less than 11 years of age must be secured by either a child restraint system or a safety belt or safety harness. Iowa law currently requires that a child under age three be secured by a child restraint system and a child at least three but under six years of age be secured by a child restraint system or a safety belt or safety harness.

A violation of child restraint requirements is a simple misdemeanor punishable by a scheduled fine of $25. However, the Act provides for a phase-in of the new law. During the 18 months beginning July 1, 2004, peace officers shall issue only warning citations for violations of the new requirements, provided the motor vehicle operator is, at a minimum, in compliance with the child restraint or safety belt or safety harness requirements in effect prior to July 1, 2004. Peace officers may continue to issue citations for violations of the prior law during that period.

The Act requires the Iowa Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the Department of Public Safety, to engage in a public education effort regarding the new child restraint requirements. Contingent upon the availability of funding, the two departments must make a reasonable effort to identify existing state and local programs that provide assistance to low-income families and to coordinate efforts with those programs to assist Iowa parents, particularly those with more than three children under age 11, to comply with the new child restraint requirements.

SENATE FILE 2070 - Motor Vehicle Regulations and State Transportation Department Duties and Activities (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION. This Act makes technical and substantive changes to Code provisions regulating the registration and titling of motor vehicles and to provisions governing miscellaneous administrative duties of the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT). Many of the amendments in the Act are associated with the transition to electronic methods of doing business at the state and county levels, and those provisions, which constitute the major portion of the Act, are effective January 1, 2005.

The Act expands IDOT's authorization to develop and implement electronic procedures for commercial vehicle registration and titling to include all motor vehicles. Several Code sections are amended relating to registration and titling of motor vehicles to allow for acceptance of electronic signatures. In addition, requirements for information establishing the identity and address of the applicant and any person with an interest in the vehicle on an application for registration and certificate of title are modified.

The Act updates procedures applicable to IDOT and county treasurers for processing security interests in motor vehicles in order to accommodate electronic transactions. Redundant amendments enacted in 2003 Iowa Acts, Chapter 8, which were to become effective on July 1, 2004, are repealed and replaced in this Act, and the repeal of Code Section 321.50, subsection 6, relating to the deadline for delivery of a certificate of title to the county treasurer to record a security interest, is delayed until January 1, 2005. Code provisions requiring the notation and recording of security interests in motor vehicles are amended to specify that delivery constitutes perfection of a security interest. If the delivery of the security interest is by electronic means, the time of delivery is to be recorded along with the date on all subsequent documents and records. Requirements for an application for a security interest are amended to include the federal identification number or social security number of the secured party. The Act authorizes IDOT to issue a certificate of title for a vehicle with an unreleased security interest upon presentation of satisfactory evidence that a security interest has been extinguished and the holder of the security interest cannot be located.

Current law providing for the issuance of refunds by IDOT or a county treasurer is amended to prohibit the refund of fees collected for a replacement title.

As a result of the transition to electronic recordkeeping by IDOT, several Code provisions are amended to strike the requirement that the current registration receipt be surrendered along with current registration plates upon receipt of special registration plates.

The Act allows stolen vehicle reports from the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System to be included in the state's file of stolen or embezzled vehicles and allows for electronic notification of recovered vehicles.

The Act allows IDOT to publish certain documents electronically, including pamphlets of statutes and rules furnished to county treasurers, drunk driving educational materials, and rules and regulations relating to motor vehicle dealers, manufacturers and distributors. In addition, forms may be supplied to county treasurers electronically, and county treasurers may submit forms and reports, including monthly statements of fees and penalties, to IDOT electronically. A current statement of motor vehicle retail list prices and weights is to be maintained by IDOT, rather than updated annually, and may be distributed electronically.

The Act requires IDOT to adopt rules to provide for the waiver of late penalties for overdue motor vehicle registrations for owners who are in the military service of the United States and are activated and relocated on or after September 11, 2001. This provision takes effect March 29, 2004.

The Act amends commercial driver licensing provisions to stipulate that an applicant for a hazardous material endorsement on a commercial driver's license must comply with application and security threat assessment requirements established in federal law. IDOT is required to revoke or deny the endorsement if the applicant has not complied with the federal security threat assessment standards. This provision takes effect March 29, 2004.

The Act strikes requirements that a copy of the registration receipt be provided by an applicant for a registration fee credit or refund. In addition, the Act allows a qualified fleet owner, to be defined by IDOT in rules, to certify the destruction of registration plates for motor vehicles subject to proportional registration that are removed from the fleet, rather than return the plates to the department when applying for a refund. These provisions take effect March 29, 2004.

The Act amends the definition of "electric personal assistive mobility device" to clarify that devices such as wheelchairs which are needed by a person with a disability are not within the purview of Iowa statutes regulating electric personal assistive mobility devices on sidewalks and bikeways and prohibiting their use on highways. This provision takes effect March 29, 2004.

HOUSE FILE 2433 - Issuance of Driver's Licenses and Nonoperator Cards - Fees Retained by Counties (full text of bill)

BY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION. This Act increases the portion of the fee retained by a county treasurer for the issuance or renewal of driver's licenses and nonoperator's identification cards from $5 to $7 per transaction. A temporary increase in the portion retained from $3.75 to $5 was effective on July 1, 2003, and due to expire on July 1, 2005. The Act repeals that expiration provision.

The Act requires the Auditor of State, in consultation with the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Iowa County Treasurers Association, to conduct a study of the fiscal impact of the county driver's license issuance program and report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by January 1, 2006. The study shall be paid for by IDOT and shall compare costs for the issuance of driver's licenses and nonoperator's identification cards by both the county treasurers and IDOT. The study shall be repeated every four years, and the findings and recommendations of the Auditor of State shall be considered by the General Assembly in adjusting the portion of the fee retained by county treasurers.