All bills passed by the Legislature and sent to the Governor for her signature during the 2018 session.
SF 481 – “Sanctuary city” ban
SF 2226 – Groundwater hazard statements with county recorder
SF 2227 – County resolution publication
SF 2291 – Assessor notices
HF 2258 – Flood mitigation funds
HF 2340 – Fence law changes
HF 2371 – Exempting state/municipalities liability honeybees on public property
HF 2372 – County supervisor district plans
HF 2379 – Municipal utility retirement systems
SF 481 deals with enforcement of immigration laws. The bill holds county or city public safety officers liable for unconstitutional detention pursuant to ICE detainer requests with financial penalties for noncompliance.
SF 2226 relates to formatting requirements for groundwater hazard statements filed with a county recording office.
SF 2227 allows a county auditor to print a summary of all resolutions instead of the complete text of resolutions adopted by the board of supervisors. Currently, the entire text of the resolution must be printed.
SF 2291 gives counties and property owners another option for providing assessor notices. If an assessor is required or authorized by Iowa Code to send an assessment, notice or other information by mail, they may instead provide the information electronically. Private information and addresses are protected in the bill.
HF 2258 allows the flood mitigation fund to reimburse costs of approved projects incurred after project approval. Local governments may use these funds to reimburse other city funds to pay for projects. Currently, government entities can seek approval for flood protection projects and the use of certain sales tax increments from the fund.
HF 2340 expands governing provisions for constructing or maintaining fences on the property boundary between adjoining landowners.
HF 2371 exempts state and municipal property from liability for honeybee hives purposely placed on public property, as long as the hive owner and the state acted in good faith.
HF 2372 makes changes to the redistricting process for county boards of supervisors:
- A districting plan can only be changed after six years and only by a special election.
- County districts must be drawn using the Legislative Services Agency, similar to the Legislature’s redistricting process.
- A supermajority vote by residents is required for counties to return to plan three.
HF 2379 allows only new municipal utility employees covered by IPERS to continue in their IPERS coverage. This was reviewed and approved by IPERS staff and legal counsel.