House Study Bill 610 - Introduced HOUSE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION BILL BY CHAIRPERSON BEST) A BILL FOR An Act relating to vehicles, including the initial registration 1 and issuance of certificate of title by any county treasurer 2 and the definitions of terms for purposes of motor vehicle 3 franchisers. 4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 5 TLSB 5585YC (3) 90 th/ns

H.F. _____ 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 to 8 the any 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. 17 Sec. 2. Section 321.166, subsection 2, Code 2024, is amended 18 to read as follows: 19 2. Every registration plate or pair of plates shall 20 display a registration plate number which shall consist of 21 alphabetical or numerical characters or a combination thereof 22 and the name of this state, which may be abbreviated. Every 23 registration plate issued by the county treasurer shall 24 display the name of the county, including any plate issued 25 pursuant to section 321.34 , except Pearl Harbor and purple 26 heart registration plates issued prior to January 1, 1997; 27 and collegiate, fire fighter, and medal of honor registration 28 plates ; and registration plates issued pursuant to section 29 321.20, subsection 4 . Special truck registration plates shall 30 display the word “special”. The department may adopt rules to 31 implement this subsection . 32 Sec. 3. Section 322A.1, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2024, 33 is amended to read as follows: 34 When The following words and phrases when used in this 35 -1- LSB 5585YC (3) 90 th/ns 1/ 3

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

H.F. _____ a certificate of title was issued are deemed to refer to the 1 appropriate county under current law. 2 Current law requires registration plates to display the 3 name of the county that issues the plates, unless a specific 4 exception is provided. The bill specifies such an exception 5 for registration plates issued pursuant to the bill. However, 6 natural resources special plates issued pursuant to Code 7 section 321.34(11) must display the name of the county where 8 the vehicle is registered. 9 The bill removes the context clause applicable to defined 10 terms in Code chapter 322A (motor vehicle franchisers). In 11 2022, the Iowa supreme court relied on the context clause 12 included in Code section 322A.1 to apply an alternate 13 definition of “community” than how “community” is defined in 14 Code chapter 322A (Sioux City Truck Sales, Inc. v. Iowa Dept. 15 of Transportation, 975 N.W.2d 333 (Iowa 2022)). The bill 16 provides the same introduction to defined words and phrases to 17 Code chapter 322A as is used for Code chapter 321. 18 -3- LSB 5585YC (3) 90 th/ns 3/ 3