SF 358 – Concerning Title to Real Estate
SF 406 – Involuntary Commitments
SF 416 – County Projects
HF 112 – Forfeiture of Bail
HF 210 – State Public Defender Practices and Procedures
HF 223 – Licenses for Commercial Use of Explosives
HF 307 – Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
HF 477 – Speed Jamming Devices
HF 530 – Office of Drug Control Policy
HF 591 – Probate Bill Relating to Estates and Trusts
FLOOR ACTION:
SF 358 reconciles two conflicting Code sections relating to title to real estate and provides remedies, currently lacking, for clearing title in certain circumstances. Under current law, if the record indicates that a contract for the sale of real estate or bond for a deed was not fulfilled within certain time limits (ten years after the performance date or 20 years after the date of execution if there is no performance date in the instrument), it is presumed that the buyer abandoned the bond or the contract. This bill updates the language relating to this presumption of abandonment and in addition provides relief for a buyer who actually did fulfill the contract. If a buyer or a buyer’s successor in interest is in possession of the property or has been paying property taxes for the preceding five years, the presumption of abandonment will not apply. The bill also relates to limitations of actions, specifically foreclosures of ancient mortgages, which currently conflicts with the presumption of abandonment in the Code. This section adds language whereby a buyer can clear title by serving a demand upon the seller or seller’s successors in interest, if the buyer, for whatever reason, cannot get the deed in fulfillment of the contract. If the seller does not respond to the demand within the specified time period (45 days after service), the buyer can file an affidavit showing service and compliance with Code, and auditor is to correct the county records relating to the real property. [3/25: 49-0 (Zaun absent)]
SF 406 relates to various aspects of the involuntary commitment process. The bill includes these provisions:
Divisions I and II: These divisions establish an office of mental health advocate in the Department of Human Rights and specify duties for the Administrator of the office of mental health advocate. The Administrator’s duties will include appointing persons to serve as mental health advocates, training and supervising advocates and other staff, and implementing procedures for appointing, dismissing, and supervising advocates. The minimum qualifications for mental health advocates include a bachelor’s degree from an accredited school, college or university in social work, counseling, human services, health, or nursing and one year of experience in the provision of mental health services. License registered nurses who are current with applicable continuing education will meet the minimum qualifications. These divisions also provide for a transition period of one year in order for the Department of Human Rights to organize and create the office of mental health advocate. These divisions also specify how persons who are currently advocates at the county level will transition to being state employees.
Division III: This division sunsets the involuntary commitment process set out in Chapter 222 for persons with an intellectual disability per the work group recommendation. These commitments are really not used anymore, people pursuing guardianships instead. If an involuntary commitment of a person with an intellectual disability is necessary, the process in Chapter 229 can be utilized.
Division IV:
- · This division consolidates the application process for Chapters 125 (substance abuse) and 229 so there will be one application when an interested person goes to a clerk of court office to pursue involuntary commitment. (Stakeholders said that many persons do not know whether the respondent has a substance abuse disorder or is mentally ill and thus don’t know what application to fill out.)
- · This division also provides for a pre-application screening process for all applications pursuant to Chapters 125 and 229. This could divert persons from the involuntary commitment process while at the same time helping them connect with resources that are available for whatever issues they might be having.
- · The bill requires the Department of Human Services to do a study regarding the development of a hospital bed tracking system that will identify available beds for persons suffering from mental illness. [3/25: 48-0 (Anderson, Zaun absent)]
SF 416 brings the dollar amount governing lease-purchase contracts using county general funds in line with the dollar amount for county general obligations bonds. It raises the amount for which county boards of supervisors can authorize lease purchase agreements. Changes in the bill to Code Section 331.441 make certain provisions for county borrowing identical to those that relate to cities. For many years, the definition of city projects that are subject to a referendum has been based on the amount of bonds to be issued, but the definition of similar projects for counties has been based on the total cost of a project. This bill would put county projects on an equal footing with city projects by basing the determination of when a referendum would be required to the “principal amount of bonds” to be issued, rather than the total project cost. The bill, as amended, adds a new definition of “public buildings” which would be considered an essential county purpose. It adds county buildings that house the judicial branch up to a certain dollar amount based on the population of the county and the percentage of space occupied by the judicial branch. [3/25: 40-9 (Andersen, Behn, Bertrand, Chelgren, Dix, Feenstra, Houser, Smith, Sorenson “no”; Zaun absent)]
HF 307 transfers the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division from the Department of Public
Defense and makes it a separate Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The Governor will appoint the director of the new department. [3/26: 48-0 (Hatch, Zaun absent)]
HF 591 relates to trusts and estates. The bill includes these provisions:
- · Creates a new default rule in the Code when a residuary devise fails. Current law says a failed residuary bequest goes to intestate heirs. This new Code section says if there is more than one residuary beneficiary, the failed devise goes to the remaining residuary beneficiaries, not the intestate heirs.
- · Makes changes to the self-proving will affidavit to conform to the requirements set out in the Code for witnesses signing the will.
- · Makes changes to the Code section relating to the petition for probate of a will. These additions allow for a hearing prior to a will being admitted to probate in instances when the named executor is dead, for example, or the person who has the will not produce it.
- · Contains conforming changes to reflect the changes in the self-proving will affidavit in section 2 of the bill. If a will is not self-proving, then post-death, the witnesses sign an affidavit attesting that they witnessed the testator signing the bill. This section brings consistency to the forms signed by the witnesses prior to the death of the testator and after the death of the testator.
- · Adds clarifying language regarding what constitutes the gross value of the estate that is to be contained in the affidavit when an estate is less than $25,000 and the property is distributed through an affidavit rather than probate.
- · Allows an attorney who is appointed to represent a proposed ward in a conservatorship to have access to health information of the proposed ward. Last year’s probate bill contained similar language for guardianships, but inadvertently did not reference conservatorships.
- · This section limits actions against trustees who provided an accounting to the beneficiaries prior to the adoption of the Trust Code. The date was inadvertently changed in a previous bill.
- · Relates to the administration of small estates and includes a technical change that reflects the change in Section 3 relating to petitions after the death of a person who had a will. [3/26: 48-0 (Hatch, Zaun absent)]
COMMITTEE ACTION:
HF 112 extends the time period the court may set aside a judgment (forfeited bail) against a surety when a defendant fails to appear in court. Under the bill, if a defendant fails to appear in court, the judgment against the surety may be set aside by the court if a defendant voluntarily surrenders to the sheriff or the surety delivers the defendant to the court within 90 days of the entry of the judgment. Current law provides up to 60 days. [3/27: short form (Sorenson excused)]
HF 210 relates to the practices and procedures of the State Public Defender. The bill:
- · Permits contract attorneys with the State Public Defender (SPD) to file reports of time spent on cases with the Court when the Public Defender is unable to report the amount billed for a specific case to the clerk. Some attorneys have special contracts with the Public Defender and are paid a monthly rate to handle a set of cases.
- · Allows the Court to consider the geographic proximity of an attorney’s office to the courthouse and the client when appointing an attorney to represent an indigent defendant.
- · Authorizes the State Public Defender to adopt rules implementing uniform standard procedures for the process of appointing counsel and uniforms for appointment.
- · Permits the State Public Defender to define by rule the dates of service relating to when a claim from a contract attorney must be submitted.
- · Clarifies that the State Public Defender’s Office will be appointed to represent indigent defendants for parole violations.
- · The Committee recommends an amendment deleting a section of the bill which would have specified that a defendant is required to repay attorneys’ fees when the case is dismissed. [3/27: short form]
HF 223 changes the current period of licensure for the commercial use of explosives from one year to
three years. In addition, the bill provides that prior to the issuance of an initial license or a renewed license, the applicant is subject to a National Criminal History Check through the FBI and shall provide fingerprints to the Department of Public Safety for the criminal history check. In addition, applicants for user’s permits, which are issued by sheriffs and chiefs of police, will also be subject to a criminal history check. Sheriffs and chiefs of police have discretion when issuing users permits. [3/27: short form (Sorenson excused)]
HF 477 updates Iowa’s law prohibiting the use of radar jamming devices. The bill expands the current
law to apply to a broader range of devices that interfere with radar speed meters and laser speed meters. Under the bill, “speed detection jamming devices” will be illegal to sell, operate, or possess. A speed detection jamming device would be essentially be any device that is intended to interfere with, disrupt, or scramble the radar of laser that is used by a peace officer to measure the speed of motor vehicles. [3/27: short form (Zaun “no”; Sorenson excused)]
HF 530 revises the meeting requirement for the Iowa Drug Policy Advisory Council by reducing the minimum meeting requirement from quarterly to semiannually. In addition, the bill repeals the Pseudoephedrine Advisory Council, which was created in 2009 to advise Office of Drug Control Policy regarding the implementation of a system to monitor sales of pseudoephedrine. [3/27: short form]