SSB 3140 (LSB 5748SC (3) 85)

SENATE FILE _____

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL BY CHAIRPERSON WILHELM)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to certain state and local government activities related to vehicle registrations and levee and drainage districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

DIVISION I

VEHICLE REGISTRATION CREDIT
    Section 1.  Section 321.46, subsection 3, paragraphs a, b, and d, Code 2014, are amended to read as follows:
   a.  The credit shall be claimed within six months from the date the vehicle for which credit is granted was sold, transferred traded, or junked. After six months, all credits shall be disallowed.
   b.  Any credit granted to the owner of a vehicle which has been sold, traded, or junked may only be claimed by that person or that person’s spouse toward the annual registration fee for another vehicle purchased by that person or that person’s spouse, and the credit may not be sold, transferred, or assigned to any other person.
   d.  To claim a credit for the unexpired annual registration fee on a junked vehicle, the county treasurer shall disallow any claim for credit unless the owner or the owner’s spouse presents a junking certificate or other evidence as required by the department to the county treasurer.
    Sec. 2.  Section 321.48, subsection 3, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  In a transaction in which a vehicle is traded to a dealer as defined in chapter 322 or chapter 322C toward the purchase price of another vehicle and each vehicle is owned in whole or in part by the same person or the person’s spouse, the person acquiring the vehicle from the dealer shall be entitled to a credit under section 321.46.
    Sec. 3.  Section 321.52, subsection 3, paragraph c, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   c.  Within the fourteen-day period, the person who was issued the junking certificate and to whom the vehicle was titled or assigned may surrender to the county treasurer the junking certificate, and upon the person’s payment of appropriate fees and taxes and payment of any credit for annual registration fees received by the person for the vehicle under section 321.46, subsection 3, the county treasurer shall issue to the person a certificate of title for the vehicle. After the expiration of the fourteen-day period, a county treasurer shall not issue a certificate of title for a junked vehicle for which a junking certificate is issued. The county treasurer shall cancel the record of the vehicle and forward the certificate of title to the department.
    Sec. 4.  Section 321.126, subsection 1, paragraph f, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:

   If a vehicle is sold or junked, the owner in whose name the vehicle was registered may make claim to the county treasurer or department for a refund of the sold or junked vehicle’s annual registration fee. Also if the owner of a vehicle or the owner’s spouse receives a vehicle registration fee credit under section 321.46, subsection 3, and the credit allowed exceeds the amount of the annual registration fee for the vehicle acquired, the owner or the owner’s spouse may claim a refund for the balance of the credit. The refund is subject to the following limitations:
    Sec. 5.  Section 321.126, subsection 1, paragraph f, subparagraph (1), Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   (1)  If a vehicle registration fee credit has not been received by the owner of the vehicle or the owner’s spouse under section 321.46, subsection 3, the refund shall be computed on the basis of the number of unexpired months remaining in the registration year at the time the vehicle was sold or junked. The refund shall be rounded to the nearest whole dollar. Section 321.127, subsection 1, does not apply.

DIVISION II

TRAILER REGISTRATION
    Sec. 6.  Section 321.105A, subsection 2, paragraph c, subparagraph (6), Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   (6)  Vehicles subject to registration in any state when purchased for rental or registered and titled by a motor vehicle dealer licensed pursuant to chapter 322 for rental use, and held for rental for a period of one hundred twenty days or more and actually rented for periods of sixty days or less by a person regularly engaged in the business of renting vehicles, including but not limited to motor vehicle dealers licensed pursuant to chapter 322 who rent automobiles to users, if the rental of the vehicles is subject to taxation under chapter 423C, or persons who rent trailers to users if the rental of the trailers is subject to taxation under chapter 423.

DIVISION III

LEVEE AND DRAINAGE DISTRICTS
    Sec. 7.  Section 331.552, subsection 35, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   35.  a.  Destroy special assessment records required by section 445.11 within the county system after ten years have elapsed from the end of the fiscal year in which the special assessment was paid in full. The county treasurer shall also destroy the resolution of necessity, plat, and schedule of assessments required by section 384.51 after ten years have elapsed from the end of the fiscal year in which the entire schedule was paid in full. This subsection applies to documents described in this subsection that are in existence before, on, or after July 1, 2003.
   b.  Destroy assessment records required by chapter 468 within the county system after ten years have elapsed from the end of the fiscal year in which the assessment was paid in full. The county treasurer shall also destroy the accompanying documents including any resolutions, plats, or schedule of assessments after ten years have elapsed from the end of the fiscal year in which the entire schedule was paid in full. This subsection applies to documents described in this subsection that are in existence before, on, or after July 1, 2014.
    Sec. 8.  Section 468.50, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   468.50  Levy —— interest.

   When the board has finally determined the matter of assessments of benefits and apportionment, the board shall levy the assessments as fixed by it upon the lands within the district, but an assessment on a tract, parcel, or lot within the district which is computed at less than five dollars shall be fixed at the sum of five dollars. All assessments shall be levied at that time as a tax and shall bear interest at a rate determined by the board notwithstanding chapter 74A from that date, payable annually, except as provided as to cash payments within a specified time.
    Sec. 9.  Section 468.82, subsection 1, Code 2014, is amended by striking the subsection.
    Sec. 10.  Section 468.82, subsection 2, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  The board, at the time of making the levy, shall fix a time within which all assessments in excess of one hundred dollars may be paid in cash, and before any bonds are issued, publish notice in an official newspaper in the county where the district is located, of such time. After the expiration of such time, no assessments may be paid except in the manner and at the times fixed by the board in the resolution authorizing the issue of the bonds.
    Sec. 11.  Section 468.544, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   468.544  Requirements of notice.

   Said notice shall be directed to each person whose name appears upon the transfer books in the auditor’s office as owner of lands within said drainage district upon which said drainage assessments are unpaid, naming the owner, and also to the person or persons in actual occupancy of any of said tracts of land without naming them, and shall state the amount of unpaid assessments upon each forty-acre tract of land or less, and that all of said unpaid assessments, installment or installments thereof as proposed to be extended, may be paid in cash on or before the time fixed for said hearing, and that after the expiration of such time no assessments may be paid except in the manner and at the times fixed by the board in the resolution authorizing the issuance of said drainage refunding bonds.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with

the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill relates to certain state and local government activities related to vehicle registrations and levee and drainage districts.
   Under current law, an annual registration fee credit granted to the owner of a vehicle that has been sold, traded, or junked may only be claimed by that person. Division I of the bill provides that a vehicle registration credit may also be claimed by the owner’s spouse. The bill makes corresponding changes to other provisions of law to reflect the authorization of the owner’s spouse to claim the vehicle registration credit.
   Current Code section 321.105A(3)(c) establishes exemptions from the fee for new registration of a vehicle. Division II of the bill exempts vehicles subject to registration in any state when purchased for rental by persons who rent vehicles that are trailers to users, and if the rental of the trailers is subject to taxation under Code chapter 423.
   Division III of the bill authorizes the county treasurer to destroy assessment records required by Code chapter 468 within the county system after 10 years have elapsed from the end of the fiscal year in which the assessment was paid in full. The bill also directs the county treasurer to destroy the accompanying documents including any resolutions, plats, or schedule of assessments after 10 years have elapsed from the end of the fiscal year in which the entire schedule was paid in full. The county treasurer’s authority to destroy the records and accompanying documents applies to those records and documents that are in existence before, on, or after July 1, 2014.
   The bill strikes a provision in Code section 468.82 requiring that all levee and drainage district assessments of $20 and less be paid in cash. The bill also strikes the words “in cash” from a provision that allows the board of supervisors to fix a time within which all assessments in excess of $100 may be paid. The bill makes corresponding changes to other provisions of Code chapter 468.