House File 2672 - Introduced



                                    HOUSE FILE       
                                    BY  COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES

                                    (SUCCESSOR TO HF 2452)


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

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to payment of attorney fees in termination of
  2    parental rights proceedings, providing an effective date, and
  3    providing for retroactive applicability.
  4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  5 TLSB 6222HV 81
  6 pf/cf/24

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 600A.6B, subsections 1 and 2, Code
  1  2 Supplement 2005, are amended to read as follows:
  1  3    1.  A person filing a petition for termination of parental
  1  4 rights under this chapter or the person on whose behalf the
  1  5 petition is filed shall be responsible for the payment of
  1  6 reasonable attorney fees for counsel appointed pursuant to
  1  7 section 600A.6A unless the person filing the petition is a
  1  8 private child=placing agency as defined in section 238.2 or
  1  9 unless the court determines that the person filing the
  1 10 petition or the person on whose behalf the petition is filed
  1 11 is indigent.
  1 12    2.  If the person filing the petition or the person on
  1 13 whose behalf the petition is filed is indigent or unless the
  1 14 person filing the petition is a private child=placing agency
  1 15 as defined in section 238.2, the appointed attorney shall be
  1 16 paid reasonable attorney fees as determined by the state
  1 17 public defender.
  1 18    Sec. 2.  EFFECTIVE DATE AND RETROACTIVE APPLICABILITY.
  1 19 This Act, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect
  1 20 upon enactment and is retroactively applicable to March 12,
  1 21 2004.
  1 22                           EXPLANATION
  1 23    This bill relates to the responsibility for payment of
  1 24 counsel appointed in termination of parental rights
  1 25 proceedings under Code chapter 600A.  The bill provides that
  1 26 if the person filing the petition for termination of parental
  1 27 rights is a private child placing agency, the private child
  1 28 placing agency is exempt from responsibility for the payment
  1 29 of appointed counsel and the appointed attorney will be paid
  1 30 reasonable attorney fees as determined by the state public
  1 31 defender.
  1 32    The bill takes effect upon enactment, and is retroactively
  1 33 applicable to March 12, 2004, which is the date the Iowa
  1 34 supreme court decision in In re S.A.J.B., 679 N.W.2d 645 (Iowa
  1 35 2004), was filed.  In that case the Iowa supreme court held,
  2  1 on equal protection grounds, that if an indigent parent has
  2  2 the right to counsel at public expense in involuntary
  2  3 termination of parental rights proceedings under Code chapter
  2  4 232, the same right should be afforded such parents in
  2  5 proceedings brought under Code chapter 600A.
  2  6 LSB 6222HV 81
  2  7 pf:nh/cf/24