House Study Bill 70

                                       HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON
                                            LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL BY
                                            CHAIRPERSON VAN ENGELENHOVEN)


    Passed House, Date                Passed Senate,  Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to motor vehicle parking violations, and
  2    providing a penalty.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  4 TLSB 1940HC 80
  5 jm/sh/8

PAG LIN

  1  1    Section 1.  Section 321.236, subsection 1, paragraph a,
  1  2 Code 2003, is amended to read as follows:
  1  3    a.  May be charged and collected upon a simple notice of a
  1  4 fine payable to the city clerk or clerk of the district court,
  1  5 if authorized by ordinance.  The fine shall not exceed five
  1  6 dollars except for snow route parking violations in which case
  1  7 the fine shall not exceed twenty=five dollars for each
  1  8 violation charged under a simple notice of a fine shall be
  1  9 established by ordinance.  The fine may be increased up to ten
  1 10 by five dollars if the parking violation is not paid within
  1 11 thirty days of the date upon which the violation occurred, if
  1 12 authorized by ordinance.  Violations of section 321L.4,
  1 13 subsection 2, may be charged and collected upon a simple
  1 14 notice of a one hundred dollar fine payable to the city clerk
  1 15 or clerk of the district court, if authorized by ordinance.
  1 16 No costs or other charges shall be assessed.  All fines
  1 17 collected by a city pursuant to this paragraph shall be
  1 18 retained by the city and all fines collected by a county
  1 19 pursuant to this paragraph shall be retained by the county.
  1 20    Sec. 2.  Section 805.8A, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code
  1 21 2003, is amended to read as follows:
  1 22    a.  For parking violations under sections 321.236, 321.239,
  1 23 321.358, 321.360, and 321.361, the scheduled fine is five
  1 24 dollars, except if the local authority has established the
  1 25 fine by ordinance pursuant to section 321.236, subsection 1.
  1 26 The scheduled fine for a parking violation of pursuant to
  1 27 section 321.236 increases in an amount up to ten by five
  1 28 dollars, as authorized by ordinance pursuant to section
  1 29 321.236, subsection 1, paragraph "a", if the parking violation
  1 30 is not paid within thirty days of the date upon which the
  1 31 violation occurred.  For purposes of calculating the unsecured
  1 32 appearance bond required under section 805.6, the scheduled
  1 33 fine shall be five dollars, or if the amount of the fine is
  1 34 greater than five dollars the unsecured appearance bond shall
  1 35 be the amount of the fine established by the local authority
  2  1 pursuant to section 321.236, subsection 1.  However,
  2  2 violations charged by a city or county upon simple notice of a
  2  3 fine instead of a uniform citation and complaint as permitted
  2  4 by section 321.236, subsection 1, paragraph "a", are not
  2  5 scheduled violations, and this section shall not apply to any
  2  6 offense charged in that manner.  For a parking violation under
  2  7 section 321.362 or 461A.38, the scheduled fine is ten dollars.
  2  8                           EXPLANATION
  2  9    This bill relates to motor vehicle parking violations.
  2 10    The bill provides that a local authority may establish the
  2 11 parking violation fine for each violation that occurs.
  2 12 Current law establishes the maximum parking fine at $5.
  2 13    The bill provides that if a parking violation is not paid
  2 14 within 30 days, the fine amount increases by $5.  Under
  2 15 current law the fine amount increases by $10.
  2 16    The bill equalizes the amount of an unsecured appearance
  2 17 bond for a parking violation to the amount of the parking
  2 18 violation fine established by the local authority.  An
  2 19 unsecured appearance bond permits the court to enter a
  2 20 conviction and render judgment against the defendant for the
  2 21 amount of the bond in satisfaction of the penalty plus court
  2 22 costs, if the defendant fails to appear in court for trial.
  2 23 LSB 1940HC 80
  2 24 jm/sh/8