House File 2678 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 2678 BY COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS (SUCCESSOR TO HF 2607) (SUCCESSOR TO HSB 610) A BILL FOR An Act relating to vehicles, including the initial registration 1 and issuance of certificate of title by certain county 2 treasurers and the definitions of terms for purposes of 3 motor vehicle franchisers, and providing fees. 4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 5 TLSB 5585HZ (3) 90 th/ns

H.F. 2678 Section 1. Section 321.20, subsection 4, Code 2024, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 4. Notwithstanding this section or any other provision of 3 law to the contrary, if the program required by subsection 4 2 is not implemented by July 1, 2019, an owner of a vehicle 5 subject to registration or a lessor of a vehicle pursuant to 6 chapter 321F that is subject to registration and has a gross 7 vehicle weight of less than ten thousand pounds, may apply 8 to the county treasurer of a county contiguous to the county 9 designated for the owner under subsection 1 for the initial 10 registration and issuance of a certificate of title. However, 11 any reference in this chapter to the county where a vehicle 12 is registered or the county where a certificate of title was 13 issued shall be deemed to refer to the applicable county 14 described in subsection 1, regardless of which county treasurer 15 received application for and issued the initial registration 16 and certificate of title under this subsection. The fee for 17 submitting an application under this subsection is one dollar, 18 which is in addition to any other fee provided by law. 19 Sec. 2. Section 321.166, subsection 2, Code 2024, is amended 20 to read as follows: 21 2. Every registration plate or pair of plates shall display 22 a registration plate number which shall consist of alphabetical 23 or numerical characters or a combination thereof and the name 24 of this state, which may be abbreviated. Every registration 25 plate issued by the county treasurer shall display the name 26 of the county, including any plate issued pursuant to section 27 321.34 , except Pearl Harbor and purple heart registration 28 plates issued prior to January 1, 1997; and collegiate, 29 fire fighter, and medal of honor registration plates ; and 30 regular registration plates issued pursuant to section 31 321.20, subsection 4 . Special truck registration plates shall 32 display the word “special”. The department may adopt rules to 33 implement this subsection . 34 Sec. 3. Section 322A.1, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2024, 35 -1- LSB 5585HZ (3) 90 th/ns 1/ 3

H.F. 2678 is amended to read as follows: 1 When The following words and phrases when used in this 2 chapter shall , unless the context otherwise requires for 3 the purpose of this chapter, have the meanings respectively 4 ascribed to them : 5 EXPLANATION 6 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 7 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 8 Under current law, a person must generally apply for vehicle 9 registration and issuance of certificate of title to the county 10 treasurer where the person resides or where the primary users 11 of the vehicle are located. However, in 2016, the general 12 assembly required the department of transportation (DOT) to 13 develop and implement, by January 1, 2018, a program to allow 14 for electronic applications, titling, registering, and funds 15 transfers for vehicles subject to registration (program) in 16 order to improve the efficiency and timeliness of the processes 17 and to reduce costs for all parties involved. At the same 18 time, the general assembly conditionally authorized an owner 19 of a vehicle subject to registration to apply to the county 20 treasurer of a county contiguous to the county designated for 21 the owner if the DOT had not yet implemented the program by 22 January 1, 2018. In 2018, the general assembly amended the 23 program implementation date to July 1, 2019. 24 This bill authorizes a lessor of a vehicle pursuant to Code 25 chapter 321F (leasing and renting of vehicles), if such vehicle 26 is subject to registration and has a gross vehicle weight of 27 less than 10,000 pounds, to apply for initial registration 28 and issuance of certificate of title in a contiguous county. 29 The bill does not make corresponding changes. Instead, for 30 all registration and certificate of title actions provided or 31 required in Code chapter 321 (motor vehicles and law of the 32 road) other than initial registrations and certificates of 33 title issued in a contiguous county, references to the county 34 where a vehicle is registered or the county where a certificate 35 -2- LSB 5585HZ (3) 90 th/ns 2/ 3

H.F. 2678 of title was issued are deemed to refer to the appropriate 1 county under current law. The bill requires an applicant for 2 initial registration and issuance of certificate of title to 3 pay a $1 application fee if the application is submitted in a 4 contiguous county. The fee is in addition to any other fee 5 provided by law. 6 Current law requires registration plates to display the 7 name of the county that issues the plates, unless a specific 8 exception is provided. The bill specifies such an exception 9 for regular registration plates issued pursuant to the bill. 10 The bill removes the context clause applicable to defined 11 terms in Code chapter 322A (motor vehicle franchisers). In 12 2022, the Iowa supreme court relied on the context clause 13 included in Code section 322A.1 to apply an alternate 14 definition of “community” than how “community” is defined in 15 Code chapter 322A (Sioux City Truck Sales, Inc. v. Iowa Dept. 16 of Transportation, 975 N.W.2d 333 (Iowa 2022)). The bill 17 provides the same introduction to defined words and phrases to 18 Code chapter 322A as is used for Code chapter 321. 19 -3- LSB 5585HZ (3) 90 th/ns 3/ 3