HF 2246 (LSB 5900YH (8) 83)

HOUSE FILE 2246

BY  MERTZ

A BILL FOR

An Act providing for restorations and repairs of damages to drainage or levee district improvements.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 468.149, Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   468.149  Obstructing or damaging improvements.
   1.  Any A person or persons who without legal authority willfully damages an improvement, including by diverting, obstructing, impeding, or filling up, without legal authority, any ditch, drain, or watercourse or breaking down or injuring any levee or the bank of any settling basin, established, constructed, and maintained under any provision of law, or obstructing, who without legal authority willfully obstructs or engaging engages in travel or agricultural practices upon the improvement or rights of way of a levee or drainage district which the governing body thereof has, by resolution, determined to be injurious to such improvement or to interfere with its proper preservation, operation or maintenance, and has prohibited, shall be deemed is guilty of a serious misdemeanor and any such unlawful. In addition, the person’s act as above described is hereby declared to be a nuisance and may be abated as such.
   2.  Said The governing body shall also have the power to repair of the levee or drainage district may make restorations for repairs to any ditch, drain or watercourse, or any levee or bank of any settling basin improvement damaged or obstructed by any a person or persons in violation of the resolution of said governing body, after three days’ as described in subsection 1. The governing body shall first provide the person notice to such person or persons to make such repair, in the event that there is a failure to do so, and the expense thereof of the necessary restorations or repairs. The person shall make the restorations or repairs within forty-five days after the governing body delivers the notice. The person shall also provide a written certification from a licensed engineer to the governing body as it requires to ensure that the restorations or repairs were done in conformity with applicable drainage standards. If the person fails to make the restorations or repairs as required in this subsection, the governing body may make the restorations or repairs. In that case, the person is liable for the reasonable costs incurred by the governing body in making the restorations or repairs. In addition, the person is also liable for any attorney fees and engineering fees incurred by the governing body as a result of the person’s conduct. The amount shall be assessed to such person or persons and shall be certified and, placed on the tax books, and collected with interest and penalties after due, in the same manner as other property taxes.
EXPLANATION
   This bill applies when a person damages a levee or drainage district improvement. Currently, the person causing the damage is liable for making a repair after being provided three days’ notice by the district’s governing body (e.g., the county board of supervisors). After that, the governing body may make the repairs and assess the person the costs collectable as other property taxes. Under the bill, a person must make restorations or repairs as required by the governing body, within 45 days after the governing body delivers the notice and provide proof to the governing body from a licensed engineer that the repairs or restorations were made in conformance with drainage standards. The person is liable for the costs incurred by the governing body in making the restorations or repairs. In addition, the person is also liable for any attorney fees and engineering fees incurred by the governing body as a result of the person’s conduct.