493—12.6(13B,815) Attorney fee limitations.
	12.6(1) Adult cases. The state public defender establishes attorney fee limitations for the number of hours of combined attorney time and paralegal time that may be claimed for the following categories of adult cases:

Class A felonies	258	 	
Class B felonies	56	 	
Class C felonies	30	 	
Class D felonies	20	 	
Aggravated misdemeanors	20	 	
Serious misdemeanors	10	 	
Simple misdemeanors	5	 	
Simple misdemeanor appeals to district court	5	 	
Contempt/show cause proceedings	5	 	
Proceedings under Iowa Code chapter 229A	167	 	
Probation/parole violation	5	 	
Extradition	5	 	
Postconviction relief—the greater of 17 hours or one-half of the fee limitation for the conviction from which relief is sought.	 	
Nothing in this subrule is intended to in any manner diminish, increase, or modify the state public defender’s authority to review any and all claims for services as authorized by the Iowa Code.
The fee limitations are applied separately to each case, as that term is defined in rule 493—7.1(13B,815). If more than one charge is included within a case, the charge with the higher fee limitation will apply to the entire case.
For example, in an adult criminal proceeding, if an attorney were appointed to represent a client charged with four counts of forgery arising at four separate times, and if the client were charged in four separate trial informations, the fee limitations for each charge would apply separately. If all four charges were contained in one trial information, the fee limitation would be 30 hours even if there were more than one separate occurrence. Similarly, if the attorney were appointed to represent a person charged with a drug offense and failure to possess a tax stamp, the fee limitation would be the limitation for the offense with the higher limitation, not the total of the limitations. As a further example, multiple probation revocation proceedings pending at the same time, involving the same client, and arising from the same transaction or occurrence are still a single “case” for purposes of this rule, and the five-hour fee limitation applies.
If the Iowa Code section listed on the claim form defines multiple levels of crimes and the claimant does not list the specific level of crime on the claim form, the state public defender will use the least serious level of crime in reviewing the claim.
For example, Iowa Code section 321J.2 defines crimes ranging from a serious misdemeanor to a Class D felony. If the attorney does not designate the subsection defining the level of the crime, the state public defender will deem the charge to be a serious misdemeanor.
	12.6(2) Juvenile cases. The state public defender establishes attorney fee limitations for the number of hours of attorney time that may be claimed for the following categories of juvenile and adoption cases:

Delinquency (through disposition)	20	
Child in need of assistance (CINA) (through disposition)	20	
Termination of parental rights (TPR) (through disposition)	30	
Juvenile court review and other postdispositional court hearings	8	
Judicial bypass hearings	3	
Juvenile commitment hearings	3	
Juvenile petition on appeal	10	
Motion for further review after petition on appeal	5	
Representation of adopting party in adoption following Iowa
	Code chapter 232, termination of parental rights	5	
Nothing in this subrule is intended to in any manner diminish, increase, or modify the state public defender’s authority to review any and all claims for services as authorized by the Iowa Code.
The fee limitations are applied separately to each case, as that term is defined in rule 493—7.1(13B,815).
For example, in a juvenile proceeding in which the attorney represents a parent whose four children are the subject of four child in need of assistance petitions, if the court handles all four petitions at the same time or the incident that gave rise to the child in need of assistance action is essentially the same for each child, the fee limitation for the attorney representing the parent is 20 hours for all four proceedings, not 20 hours for each one.
For a child in need of assistance case that becomes a termination of parental rights case, the fee limitations shall apply to each case separately. For example, the attorney could claim up to 20 hours for the child in need of assistance case and up to 30 hours for the termination of parental rights case.
In a delinquency case, if the child has multiple petitions alleging delinquency and the court handles the petitions at the same time, the fee limitation for the proceeding is the fee limitation for one delinquency.
In a juvenile case in which a petition on appeal is filed, the appointed trial attorney does not need to obtain a new appointment order to pursue a petition on appeal. The claim, through the filing of a petition on appeal, must be submitted on a Juvenile form. If an appellate court orders full briefing, the attorney fee claim for services subsequent to an order requiring full briefing must be submitted on an Appellate form and is subject to the rules governing appeals.
	12.6(3) Appellate cases. Except as otherwise provided in this rule with respect to simple misdemeanor appeals to the district court and juvenile petitions on appeal, there is no fee limitation established for appellate cases. Nothing in this subrule is intended to in any manner diminish, increase, or modify the state public defender’s authority to review any and all claims for services as authorized by the Iowa Code.
	12.6(4) Claims in excess of fee limitations. A claim in excess of the attorney fee limitations will not be paid unless the attorney seeks and obtains authorization from the appointing court to exceed the attorney fee limitations prior to exceeding the attorney fee limitations. If authorization is granted, payment in excess of the attorney fee limitations shall be made only for services performed after the date of submission of the request for authorization.
	12.6(5) Retroactivity of authorization. Authorization to exceed the attorney fee limitations shall be effective only as to services performed after a request for authorization to exceed the attorney fee limitations is filed with the court unless the court enters an order before submission of the claim to the state public defender specifically authorizing a late filing of the application and finding that good cause exists excusing the attorney’s failure to file the application prior to the attorney’s exceeding the attorney fee limitations. “Good cause” as used in this subrule means a sound, effective and truthful reason. “Good cause” is more than an excuse, plea, apology, extenuation, or some justification. Inadvertence or oversight does not constitute good cause. Retroactive court orders entered after the date of the state public defender’s action on a claim are void. See Iowa Code section 13B.4(4).
[ARC 9293B, IAB 12/29/10, effective 12/7/10; ARC 9447B, IAB 4/6/11, effective 5/11/11; ARC 1512C, IAB 6/25/14, effective 7/30/14; ARC 4872C, IAB 1/15/20, effective 3/1/20; ARC 6055C, IAB 11/17/21, effective 12/22/21; ARC 6799C, IAB 1/11/23, effective 2/15/23]