HF 633 (LSB 1802YH (1) 91)

HOUSE FILE 633

BY  LATHAM

A BILL FOR

An Act concerning county recorder policies and procedures including the imposition of fees and the establishment of funds, and including transition and effective date provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 331.601A, Code 2025, is amended by adding the following new subsections:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  01.  “Additional parcel identifier” means a capitalized letter or a string of numbers separated by a hyphen used to identify a proposed separate piece of real estate represented on a plat or survey or drawing related to a plat or survey.
   NEW SUBSECTION.  3A.  “Electronic services system” means the organization formed under chapter 28E between the counties to create and implement a statewide electronic county land record management system as required by 2005 Iowa Acts, ch. 179, §101, as amended by 2021 Iowa Acts, ch. 126, §2, and this Act. “Electronic services system” also means the statewide electronic system implemented to accept, manage, and make available records filed with a county recorder.
   NEW SUBSECTION.  7A.  “Parcel identification number” means the unique identification number designated to each piece of real estate referenced in the book of plats kept by the auditor in section 558.63.
    Sec. 2.  Section 331.601A, subsections 3 and 7, Code 2025, are amended to read as follows:
   3.  “Electronic document” means a document or instrument that is received, processed, disseminated, or maintained in an electronic format. The submission of an electronic document through the county land record information electronic services system electronic submission service shall be equivalent to delivery of a document through the United States postal service or by personal delivery at designated offices in each county. Persons who submit electronic documents for recording are responsible for ensuring that the electronic documents comply with all requirements for recording.
   7.  “Page” means a writing, printing, or drawing, other than a plat or survey or a drawing related to a plat or survey, occurring on one side only and covering all or part of such side, and not larger than eight and one-half inches in width and fourteen inches in length.  “Page” also includes a plat of survey, as defined in section 355.1, subsection 9, or a drawing related to a plat of survey occurring on one side only and covering all or part of such side, with a width of not larger than twenty-four inches and a length of not larger than thirty-six inches.
    Sec. 3.  Section 331.603, subsection 5, paragraph a, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   a.  The governing board of the county land record information system shall not enter into an agreement to provide access to electronic documents or records on a batch basis. The county recorder may collect reasonable fees for access to electronic documents and records pursuant to an agreement. The fees shall not exceed the actual cost of providing access to the electronic documents and records. “Actual cost” means only those expenses directly attributable to providing access to electronic documents and records. “Actual cost” shall not include costs such as employment benefits, depreciation, maintenance, electricity, or insurance associated with the administration of the office of the county recorder or the county land record information system.
    Sec. 4.  Section 331.604, Code 2025, is amended by striking the section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
   331.604  Recording and filing fees.
   1.  a.  Except as otherwise provided by state law, including paragraph “b” of this subsection or section 331.605, the recorder shall collect a fee of ten dollars for each page or fraction of a page of an instrument that is physically filed or recorded in the recorder’s office. The maximum recording fee for documents with fifty or more pages is five hundred dollars.
   b.  A county shall not be required to pay a fee to the recorder for filing or recording instruments. However, a county treasurer is required to pay recording fees pursuant to sections 437A.11 and 437B.7.
   2.  The treasurer, on behalf of the recorder, shall establish and maintain a recorder’s technology advancement fund into which all moneys collected pursuant to subsection 3 shall be deposited. Interest earned on moneys deposited in the fund shall be credited to the recorder’s technology advancement fund. The recorder may collaborate with other entities, boards, and agencies to further the purposes of subsection 3.
   3.  From the total fee paid for the recording of a document or instrument pursuant to subsection 1, two dollars shall be transferred to the recorder’s technology advancement fund. Moneys in the recorder’s technology advancement fund must be used for the following purposes:
   a.  Maintaining and improving equipment, software, and systems.
   b.  Preserving and maintaining archived physical and electronic documents and instruments.
   c.  Converting physical documents to electronic documents and, if it is possible to index the documents during the conversion to meet the requirements outlined in sections 331.606 and 558.49, indexing the documents.
   d.  Education and training for advancing technology.
   4.  The treasurer, on behalf of the recorder, shall establish and maintain a recorder’s electronic services system fund into which all moneys collected pursuant to subsection 5 shall be deposited. Interest earned on moneys deposited in the fund shall be credited to the recorder’s electronic services system fund.
   5.  a.  From the total fee paid for the recording of a document or instrument pursuant to subsection 1, three dollars shall be transferred to the recorder’s electronic services system fund. The recorder’s electronic services system fund must be used for the purposes outlined in section 331.605B, subsection 1.
   b.  By the first day of each month, the treasurer shall transfer the moneys deposited into the recorder’s electronic services system fund to an account in a financial institution designated by the electronic services system.
   6.  The recorder or the electronic services system shall make available any information required by the county auditor or auditor of state concerning the moneys collected from fees under this section and the uses for which such fees are expended.
    Sec. 5.  Section 331.605B, Code 2025, is amended by striking the section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
   331.605B  Electronic services system —— fees collected —— liability.
   1.  The governing board of the electronic services system shall create and implement a statewide electronic county land record management system for the following purposes:
   a.  Enable electronic filing to record documents.
   b.  Provide electronic access to recorded documents to the public.
   c.  Receive electronic payments to process electronic documents for recording.
   d.  Implement security and redaction systems to protect personally identifiable information.
   e.  Integrate with other appropriate real property filing or management systems.
   f.  Establish standards for processing, recording, indexing, accessing, and archiving documents for electronic county land record management systems.
   g.  Develop a notification system to inform a user when electronic filings or records are associated with the user’s name, identified property, or other recorded filing information.
   2.  The electronic services system may collect a fee of not more than three dollars per recorded document to receive and process electronic documents for recording. An additional service charge may be added for credit or debit card payments. The moneys collected from fees to receive and process electronic documents for recording shall be used for the purposes specified in subsection 1. The electronic services system shall collect only statutorily authorized fees for land records management and shall not collect a fee for viewing, accessing, or printing documents in the statewide electronic county land record management system unless specifically authorized by statute. The electronic services system shall not provide access to electronic filings or records on a batch basis.
   3.  Each county shall participate in the electronic services system and shall comply with the policies and procedures established by the governing board of the electronic services system. The board of supervisors of each county, on behalf of each county recorder, may vote to amend the chapter 28E agreement with other counties to provide for the ongoing implementation of the electronic services system as required by 2005 Iowa Acts, ch. 179, §101, as amended by 2021 Iowa Acts, ch. 126, §2, and this Act.
   4.  The electronic services system is a unit of local government for purposes of chapter 670. However, a person who has contracted with the governing board of the electronic services system to carry out the duties of the board is not an employee for purposes of chapter 670.
    Sec. 6.  Section 331.606, subsections 1 and 2, Code 2025, are amended to read as follows:
   1.  a.  In addition to the information required in section 331.606B, subsection 2, section 558.49, and other requirements specified by law, the recorder shall note in the electronic county land record management system the date of filing of each instrument, the number and character, type, or title of the instrument, and the name of each grantor and grantee named in the instrument. In numbering the When assigning reference numbers to documents or instruments, the recorder may start with the number one immediately following the date of annual settlement with the board and continue to number them consecutively until the next annual settlement with the board or the recorder may shall start with number one on the first working day of the calendar year and continue to number the instruments consecutively until the last working day of the calendar year.  Reference numbers shall include only numbers, contain no more than eight digits, and the county two-digit number and four-digit year must precede each reference number. The recorder may also assign a book or page number to the reference number.
   b.  Associated and antecedent recording references shall be indexed with the recorded document.
   c.  A parcel identification number shall be referenced if known and shall not be modified unless the modification is necessary to correct an error.
   d.  A legal description and parsed location information shall be indexed if known. For platted land, the indexed information shall include the lot, block, subdivision name, city or township, and county. For unplatted land, the indexed information shall include the section, township, range, and quarter section. Indexing quarters of a quarter section is recommended but not required.
   e.  Any additional parcel identifier shall be indexed as an additional parcel identifier in the electronic services system.
   2.  The recorder shall also note in the index the exact time hour, minute, and second of the filing recording of each document or instrument.
    Sec. 7.  Section 331.606A, subsections 3 and 4, Code 2025, are amended to read as follows:
   3.  Redaction from electronic documents.  Personally identifiable information that is contained in electronic documents that are displayed for public access on an internet site, or which that are transferred to any person, shall be redacted prior to displaying or transferring the documents. Each recorder that displays electronic documents and the county land record information electronic services system that displays electronic documents on behalf of a county shall implement a system for redacting personally identifiable information. The recorder and the governing board of the county land record information electronic services system shall establish a procedure by which individuals may request that personally identifiable information contained in an electronic document displayed on an internet site be redacted, at no fee to the requesting individual. The requirements of this subsection shall be fully implemented not later than December 31, 2011.
   4.  Dissemination of documents.  Persons who have contracted with a county recorder or the governing board of the county land record information electronic services system to redact personally identifiable information from electronic documents pursuant to subsection 3 shall not sell, transfer, or otherwise disseminate the electronic documents in an unaltered or redacted form, except as provided for in the contract.
    Sec. 8.  Section 331.606A, subsection 7, Code 2025, is amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
   7.  Redaction of names.  Upon request by a peace officer, as defined in section 801.4, civilian employee of a law enforcement agency, or state or federal judicial officer or state or federal prosecutor, the county assessor or the county assessor’s staff, or the county recorder or the county recorder’s staff, shall redact the requestor’s name contained in electronic documents that are displayed for public access through an internet site. Upon request by a former peace officer, as defined in section 801.4, or a former civilian employee of a law enforcement agency, the county assessor or the county assessor’s staff, or the county recorder or the county recorder’s staff, may redact, upon the presentation of evidence that a compelling safety interest is served by doing so, the requestor’s name contained in electronic documents that are displayed for public access through an internet site. This subsection does not apply to a requestor holding or seeking public office. The county assessor and the county recorder shall implement a process without charging a fee to facilitate requests pursuant to this subsection.
    Sec. 9.  Section 331.606B, subsection 1, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  Except as otherwise provided in subsection 7, the county recorder shall refuse any document or instrument presented for recording To ensure that recorded documents are legible and contain all required information in order to facilitate a permanent record that can be properly archived and indexed, a recorder may decline to record a document or instrument that does not meet the following requirements:
   a.  Each document or instrument shall consist of one or more individual pages not permanently bound or in a continuous form. The For purposes of this paragraph, “continuous form” means individual one-sided pages. A physical document or instrument presented for filing shall not have any attachment be permanently bound, stapled, taped, or otherwise affixed to any page except as necessary to comply with statutory requirements and must contain text or graphics on only one side. However, the The individual pages of a document or instrument may be stapled clipped together for presentation for recording. A document or instrument containing a label that is firmly attached with a bar code or return address may be accepted for recording.
   b.  All preprinted text shall must be legible and the font at least eight ten point in size and no more than twenty characters and spaces per inch, except that the font may be eight point in size if the document is a plat or survey. All other text typed or computer generated, including but not limited to all names of parties to an agreement, shall be at least ten point in size and no more than sixteen characters and spaces per inch. If a document or instrument, other than a plat or survey or a drawing related to a plat or survey, presented for recording contains type smaller than eight point type for the preprinted text and ten point type for all other text, the document or instrument shall be accompanied by an exact typewritten or printed copy that meets the requirements of this section.
   c.  Each document shall be of sufficient legibility to produce a clear reproduction. If a A document or instrument, other than a plat or survey or a drawing related to a plat or survey, that is not fully or partially sufficiently legible to produce a clear reproduction, the document or instrument shall be accompanied by an exact typewritten or printed copy that meets the type size requirements of paragraph “b” and shall a legible copy of the full or partial page, which will be recorded contemporaneously as additional pages of the document or instrument.
   d.  Each A physical document or instrument, other than a plat or survey or a drawing related to a plat or survey, shall must be on standard white paper of not less than twenty-pound weight without watermarks or other visible inclusions markings. All text within the document or instrument shall be of sufficient color and clarity to ensure that the text is readable when reproduced from the record.
   e.  All signatures on a document or instrument shall be in black or dark blue ink and of sufficient color and clarity to ensure that the signatures are readable discernible when the document or instrument is reproduced from the record. The corresponding name shall must be typed, printed, or stamped beneath the original signature. The typing or printing of a name or the application of an embossed or inked stamp shall not cover or otherwise materially interfere with any part of the document or instrument except where when provided by law. Failure to print or type signatures as provided in this paragraph does not invalidate the document or instrument.
   f.  The first page of each document or instrument, other than a plat or survey or a drawing related to a plat or survey, shall have a top margin of at least three inches of vertical space from left to right which shall be reserved one-half of one inch. If the document or instrument does not include a cover page, then there must be a blank rectangular space with the dimensions of three and three-fourths inches in width and two and one-half inches in height adjacent to the margin on the first page and designated for the recorder’s use. All other margins on the document or instrument shall be a minimum of three-fourths of one inch. Nonessential information including but not limited to form numbers, page numbers, or customer notations may be placed in a margin except the top margin. The recorder shall not incur any liability for not showing a seal or information that extends beyond the margin of the permanent archival record.
   g.  Each A document or instrument presented for recording shall meet the requirements of section 331.606A, subsection 2

not include personally identifiable information unless redacted in accordance with section 331.606A, subsection 3.
    Sec. 10.  Section 331.606B, subsection 2, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   Each document or instrument, other than a plat or survey or a drawing related to a plat or survey, that is presented for recording shall contain the following information on the first page below the three-inch margin or on a cover page:
    Sec. 11.  Section 331.606B, subsection 2, paragraphs a, d, and i, Code 2025, are amended to read as follows:
   a.  The name, address, and either the telephone number or email address of the individual who prepared the document, or the contact information for an individual familiar with the document or instrument who is able to address questions from the recorder.
   d.  The title or type of the document or instrument.
   i.  A document or instrument number for statutory requirements Associated and antecedent recording references, if applicable.
    Sec. 12.  Section 331.606B, subsection 3, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  A cover page meeting the requirements of section 331.606B, subsection 1, may be included with the document or instrument and will be recorded contemporaneously as an additional page of the document or instrument.  If insufficient space exists on the first page or the cover page for all of the information described in subsection 2, the person presenting the document for recording must identify on the first page or the cover page a page reference of for the document or instrument where the required information is located shall be noted on the first page can be located.
    Sec. 13.  Section 331.606B, subsection 4, Code 2025, is amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
   4.  A recording of a document or instrument evidencing a transaction for the conveyance or assignment of property, transactions related to the property’s financing, or a release of a legal or financial obligation on the property applies solely to the parties identified and participating in the recorded transaction and not any other party concerning any other transaction.
    Sec. 14.  Section 331.606B, subsection 6, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   6.  A physical document or instrument rejected declined for recording by a recorder shall be returned to the preparer or presenter accompanied by an explanation of the reason for rejection declining the document or instrument and any information necessary to correct the defect.  A person who files an electronic document or instrument declined for recording by a recorder shall be notified by the recorder that the document or instrument has been declined, the reason the document or instrument has been declined, and any information necessary to correct the defect. If the recording fee for an electronic document or instrument was calculated and processed incorrectly, the person who filed the document or instrument shall be notified of the error and the reason for the fee adjustment by the recorder.
    Sec. 15.  Section 331.606B, subsection 7, Code 2025, is amended by striking the subsection.
    Sec. 16.  NEW SECTION.  331.612  Recording of surveys.
   1.  Notwithstanding section 331.606B, the following document or document formatting standards shall apply to surveys submitted by licensed professional land surveyors for recording:
   a.  All text must be legible and the font at least eight point in size.
   b.  All text font, signatures, and drawings must have sufficient weight, contrast, and darkness to produce a clear reproduction.
   c.  A survey presented to a recorder or submitted electronically through the electronic services system must be on standard white paper with a width of not larger than twenty-four inches and a length of not larger than thirty-six inches without watermarks or other visible markings. A larger survey document that is scanned or digitized must be legible and maintain the original scale of the document in order to be accepted.
   d.  The survey must contain an index legend as outlined in subsection 2.
   e.  A survey must provide a cover page or a blank rectangular space on the first page with the dimensions of three and three-fourths inches in width and two and one-half inches in height designated for the recorder’s use.
   2.  A survey must contain an index legend consisting of a compact table or a grid with lines that provides the following information:
   a.  County name.
   b.  A legal description and parsed location information. For platted land, the indexed information shall include the lot, block, subdivision name, city or township, and county. For unplatted land, the indexed information shall include the section, township, range, and quarter section. Indexing quarters of a quarter section is recommended but not required.
   c.  The parcel identification number and additional parcel identifier, if applicable.
   d.  Proprietor’s name.
   e.  Requester’s name.
   f.  Associated reference numbers for previously recorded surveys.
   g.  The surveyor’s name, address, and phone number or email address.
   h.  Information necessary for the county recorder to return the survey document.
   i.  If the survey document is a monument preservation certificate, the name of the government entity requesting the certification in accordance with section 355.6A.
    Sec. 17.  Section 354.18, subsection 2, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  The recorder shall examine each plat of survey and subdivision plat to determine whether the plat is clearly legible and whether the approval by the applicable governing body and the other attachments required by this chapter are presented with the plat. The recorder shall also keep a reproducible physical or electronic copy of the plat from which legible copies can be made. The When a physical plat is presented for recording, the recorder may specify the material and the size of the plat, accepted for recording as long as the document is not less than eight and one-half inches in width by eleven inches, that will be accepted for recording in order to comply with this section in height.  The recorder must accept a plat or subdivision plat meeting the requirements of section 355.7, 355.7A, or 355.8, respectively, submitted electronically through the electronic services system. The recorder shall not record a subdivision plat that violates this chapter.
    Sec. 18.  Section 355.6A, subsection 4, paragraphs a and b, Code 2025, are amended to read as follows:
   a.  The monument preservation certificate shall be filed with the county recorder pursuant to section 331.606B, subsection 5, no later than thirty days after the certificate is signed by the surveyor. 
   b.  The county recorder shall index the monument preservation certificate according to the township, range, section number, and quarter section on in which the monument is located within. If the monument is located within an official plat, the county recorder shall also index the certificate alphabetically by the official plat name. 
    Sec. 19.  Section 355.6A, subsection 4, paragraph c, Code 2025, is amended by striking the paragraph.
    Sec. 20.  Section 355.12, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   355.12  Indexing of survey documents by recorder.
   The recorder shall index survey documents and United States public land corner certificates submitted in accordance with section 331.612, subsection 2, paragraph “b”, by township, range, and section number. If the survey is in a recorded subdivision, the recorder shall also index the document alphabetically by subdivision name.
    Sec. 21.  Section 670.2, subsection 2, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  For the purposes of this chapter, “employee” includes a person who performs services for a municipality whether or not the person is compensated for the services, unless the services are performed only as an incident to the person’s attendance at a municipality function.  “Employee” does not include contractors employed by the governing board of the electronic services system to provide services in accordance with section 331.605B.
    Sec. 22.  2005 Iowa Acts, chapter 179, section 101, subsection 1, as amended by 2021 Iowa Acts, chapter 126, section 2, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  The board of supervisors of each county, on behalf of each county recorder, shall execute a chapter 28E agreement with the other counties for the implementation of the county land record information electronic services system to create and implement a statewide electronic county land record management system.
    Sec. 23.  TRANSITION.  Any moneys remaining in each county’s county recorder’s records management fund, as described in section 331.604, subsection 2, paragraph “a”, Code 2025, as of the effective date of this Act shall be transferred to the respective county’s recorder’s technology advancement fund, as described in section 331.604, subsection 2, as amended by this Act. Any moneys remaining in each county’s county recorder’s electronic transaction fund, as described in section 331.604, subsection 3, paragraph “c”, Code 2025, as of the effective date of this Act shall be transferred to the respective county’s recorder’s electronic services system fund, as described in section 331.604, subsection 4, as amended by this Act. Any moneys remaining in the local government electronic transaction fund, as described in section 331.604, subsection 3, paragraph “d”, Code 2025, after the effective date of this Act are appropriated to the treasurer of state to be used by the treasurer of state to assist the governing board of the electronic services system in accomplishing the purposes stated in section 331.605B, subsection 1, as amended by this Act.
    Sec. 24.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  The following takes effect January 1, 2026:
   The portion of the section of this Act amending section 331.606, subsection 1.
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 required document criteria to file documents and instruments with county recorders, fees paid for recording documents, funds created for recorders and the electronic services system and associated authorization for spending moneys in those funds for certain purposes, the creation of the electronic services system, organized by an agreement pursuant to Code chapter 28E (28E agreement), and the electronic filing system used to accept, manage, and make available county recorder filings electronically. Under current law, county recorders are required to execute a 28E agreement with other counties to implement a county land record information system in accordance with 2005 Iowa Acts, chapter 179, section 101, subsection 1, as amended by 2021 Iowa Acts, chapter 126, section 2. The bill amends this provision to require county recorders to enter into a 28E agreement to create and implement the electronic services system, a statewide electronic county land record management system. The bill defines “electronic services system” as the organization formed under the 28E agreement. The electronic services system is also the name of the actual electronic system implemented to accept, manage, and make available records filed with a county recorder.
   Several sections of Code chapter 331, subchapter V, part 3, pertaining to the county recorder are amended to specify certain requirements for documents or instruments submitted to a county recorder for filing either in person or electronically. Many of these requirements pertain to required recording references, indexing, formatting, text, margin sizes, and document size limitations with an emphasis on legibility. References to the county land record information system are removed throughout Code chapter 331 and replaced with “electronic services system”. 
   Under current law, in addition to the $5 county recorders collect for each page of a document or instrument filed in the county recorder’s office, $1 is collected for the county recorder’s records management fund, and $1 is collected for the county recorder’s electronic transaction fund. The bill changes the fees to a flat fee of $10 for each page filed or recorded in the recorder’s office, with a maximum recording fee of $500 for 50 or more pages filed. From the total fee of $10 per page of a document or instrument filed with a recorder, $2 is transferred to the recorder’s technology advancement fund and $3 is transferred to the recorder’s electronic services system fund.
   The bill eliminates the county recorder’s records management funds and creates recorder’s technology advancement funds to be used for the following purposes: maintaining and improving equipment, software, and systems; preserving and maintaining archived physical and electronic documents or instruments; converting physical documents to electronic documents; and education and training for advancing technology. The bill eliminates the county recorder’s electronic transaction funds and creates recorder’s electronic services funds. By the first day of each month, the treasurer shall transfer the moneys deposited into the recorder’s electronic services system fund to an account in a financial institution designated by the governing board of the electronic services system to be used as outlined in new Code section 331.605B for the following purposes: to enable electronic filing for recording documents; to provide electronic access to recorded public documents; to receive electronic payments to process electronic documents for recording; to implement security and redaction systems to protect personally identifiable information; to integrate with other appropriate real property filing or management systems; to establish standards for processing, recording, indexing, accessing, and archiving documents for electronic county land record management systems; and to develop a notification system for users when electronic filings or records are associated with the user’s name, property, or other recorded filing information. The recorder or the electronic services system shall make available any information required by the county auditor or auditor of state concerning the moneys collected from fees and the uses for which such fees are expended.
   The county treasurer must transfer moneys remaining in the county recorder’s records management fund to the recorder’s technology advancement fund and moneys remaining in the county recorder’s electronic transaction fund to the recorder’s electronic services fund on the effective date of the bill. The bill provides that any moneys remaining in the local government electronic transaction fund after the effective date of the bill are appropriated to the treasurer of state to be used by the treasurer of state to assist the governing board of the electronic services system in accomplishing the purposes stated in Code section 331.605B(1).
    The electronic services system may collect a fee of not more than $3 per recorded document, along with any service charges associated with a credit or debit card payment, to receive and process a document or instrument. Moneys collected from these fees by the electronic services system must be used for the same purposes as the recorder’s electronic services fund. The electronic services system cannot charge a fee for viewing, accessing, or printing records and cannot provide access to records on a batch basis.
   The bill limits tort liability of government subdivisions by excluding contractors hired by the governing board of the electronic services systems from government employees.
   The bill creates a process for a county recorder to decline acceptance of a physical or electronic document and to provide information to the filer to correct the defect. A recorder’s ability to collect an additional recording fee of $10 per document to accept nonconforming documents is eliminated.
   The information required to be included by a recorder who is filing and indexing documents or instruments into the electronic county land record management system is outlined and includes how reference numbers must be determined and applied to filings each calendar year, the use of only numeric references containing no more than eight digits preceded by a county two-digit code and four-digit year, and indexing requirements for certain recorded documents associated with the recording. Additionally, the following shall be indexed if known: a parcel identification number; a legal description and parsed location information including platted and unplatted information; and any additional parcel identifiers used by a recorder. The indexing and recording requirements outlined in the bill take effect January 1, 2026. Additionally, a recorder must note in the index the exact hour, minute, and second a document or instrument is recorded.
   The bill provides for the recording of surveys in new Code section 331.612. Specific text sizing and formatting along with page sizing, index legend requirements, and other required information for surveys, plats, subdivision plats, and monument preservation certificates, with an emphasis on legibility, are provided. The recorder must accept a plat or subdivision plat that meets the requirements outlined in Code section 355.7, 355.7A, or 355.8 submitted electronically through the electronic services system. The bill also provides for the use of cover pages when submitting the information required in Code section 331.606B(2) and outlines the location on the first page where the information must be provided when filing a document with the county recorder along with providing guidelines for including designated space for a county recorder’s use.