Local Government Committee – All-Bill Summary 2017

The following bills were passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor.

HF 307 – Waterworks/sewer service franchise
HF 308 – Release of military personnel records
HF 485 – City council members to serve as volunteer firefighters
SF 439 – Recorder’s notices
SF 451 – Electronic pay via county treasurer
SF 481 – Enforcement of immigration laws

HF 307 adds sewers to the list of services for which a city may grant a franchise, and adds sewer services and water works franchises to the list of franchises for which an election is not required unless there is a petition.
[4/3: 49-0 (Bertrand excused)]

 

HF 308 mirrors the federal government relating to military personnel records maintained by a county recorder. The bill allows individuals to request a copy of a confidential record when the event that resulted in the record occurred at least 62 years prior to the request. Previous law required the event to have occurred at least 75 years prior to the request.
[4/6: 49-0 (Bertrand excused)]

 

HF 485 allows city council members to serve as volunteer firefighters in any position or capacity.
[4/4: 50-0]

 

SF 439 allows the original lien, certificate or notice included in a file to be returned to the sender, or disposed of by the County Recorder if the sender does not wish it returned, if there is an official copy of the lien, certificate or notice in the Recorder’s office, maintained in the Recorder’s office as an electronic document, or is recorded, copied or reproduced by any electronic, optical, magnetic, microfilm or other storage method.
[3/15: 49-0 (Horn excused)]

 

SF 451 allows for certain property tax payments and redemptions to the County Treasurer, as well as calculating amounts of interest due, via Internet.
[3/13: 49-0 (Bertrand excused)]

 

SF 481 deals with enforcement of immigration laws. If a county or city public safety officer releases a person who is the subject of an immigration detainer request by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, the local government is liable for damages from any felony committed by the person in Iowa within 10 years following their release. The Republican majority brought up this bill for debate in direct violation of the Joint Rules of the Iowa General Assembly (specifically Rule 20).
[3/12: 32-15-1, party-line (except Allen, Bowman, Ragan voting “yes”; Taylor “present”; D. Johnson “no”; Bertrand, Bisignano excused)]