HF 2013 (LSB 5041YH (2) 91)

HOUSE FILE 2013

BY  MEGGERS

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to county attorneys, including workplace requirements, prohibited actions, and duties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 331.752, Code 2026, is amended to read as follows:
   331.752  Full-time or part-time attorney.
   1.  The board may provide that the county attorney is a full-time or part-time county officer in the manner provided in this section. A full-time The county attorney shall refrain from the private practice of law.  The county attorney shall work in the office provided by the county.
   2.  The board may provide, by resolution, that the county attorney shall be a full-time county officer. The resolution shall include an effective date which shall not be less than sixty days from the date of adoption. However, if the county attorney or county attorney-elect objects to the full-time status, the effective date of the change to a full-time status shall be delayed until January 1 of the year following the next general election at which a county attorney is elected. The board shall not adopt a resolution changing the status of the county attorney between March 1 and the date of the general election of the year in which the county attorney is regularly elected as provided in section 39.17.
   3.  The board may change the status of a full-time county attorney to a part-time county attorney by following the same procedures as provided in subsection 2. If the incumbent county attorney objects to the change in status, the change shall be delayed until January 1 following the next election of a county attorney.
   4.  A resolution changing the full-time or part-time status of a county attorney may take effect at any time before the sixty days expire upon agreement of the board of supervisors and the affected county attorney or county attorney-elect.
   5.  The resolution changing the status of a county attorney shall state the initial annual salary to be paid to the county attorney when the full-time or part-time status is effective. The annual salary specified in the resolution shall remain effective until changed as provided in section 331.907. Except in counties having a population of more than two hundred thousand, the annual salary of a full-time county attorney shall be an amount which is between forty-five percent and one hundred percent of the annual salary received by a district court judge.
    Sec. 2.  Section 331.755, subsection 1, Code 2026, is amended by adding the following new paragraph:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  d.  Dismiss more than twenty-five percent of cases filed and brought for prosecution.
    Sec. 3.  Section 331.756, Code 2026, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  25.  Publish in a newspaper of general circulation in the county the following information for each case dismissed:
   a.  All charges filed for the case prior to dismissal.
   b.  Why the case was dismissed.
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 county attorneys, including workplace requirements, prohibited actions, and duties.
   Under current law, a county attorney may be full-time or part-time. The bill requires all county attorneys be full-time and specifies that the county attorney must work in the office provided by the county.
   The bill prohibits the county attorney from dismissing more than 25 percent of cases filed and brought for prosecution. In addition, the bill requires the county attorney to publish in a newspaper of general circulation in the county the following information for each case dismissed: (1) all charges filed for the case prior to dismissal; and (2) why the case was dismissed.