Iowa House Bill HF381

Iowa 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/13/25
• Engrossed: 3/11/25
• Enrolled: 4/24/25
• Passed: 4/25/25

Caption

A bill for an act relating to statutory corrections which may adjust language to reflect current practices, insert earlier omissions, delete redundancies and inaccuracies, resolve inconsistencies and conflicts, remove ambiguities, and provide for Code editor directives. (Formerly HSB 115.) Effective date: 07/01/2025.

Summary

House File 381 is a broad technical corrections bill that makes dozens of non-substantive edits across the Iowa Code. The measure updates wording to reflect current practice, fixes cross-references, removes redundancies and ambiguities, clarifies definitions, and makes conforming changes in many subject areas, including state government administration, ethics reporting, licensing and professional regulation, health care, education, utilities, local government, environmental law, and criminal and civil procedure. It also includes a repeal of one provision in chapter 509A and a code editor directive to standardize references to the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Although the bill is framed as a corrections measure, several provisions have practical effects. It clarifies agency data-sharing and performance reporting duties, adjusts ethics and campaign disclosure reporting language, updates alcohol distribution and gift restrictions, refines hospital and rural emergency hospital review procedures, and revises rules affecting interpreters, midwives, disability accommodations, unemployment benefits, pipeline damages, and municipal utility and urban renewal provisions. The bill’s overall purpose is to align statutory text with current administrative and legal practice rather than to create a new policy program.

Impact

HF 381 amends a wide range of existing statutes without making major policy changes, but it does affect how agencies, boards, regulated businesses, and courts interpret and apply the law. It revises language in chapters governing state operations, professional licensing, ethics, health care, education, utilities, local government, and natural resources, and it repeals section 509A.11 while directing a statewide terminology update for references to the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The bill takes effect July 1, 2025.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have been broadly noncontroversial. It passed the House 91-0 and the Senate 46-0, indicating unanimous support in both chambers. The lack of recorded committee transcripts or dissent suggests it was viewed as a routine cleanup and conforming legislation package rather than a contested policy proposal.

Contention

There is little visible contention in the available record, likely because the bill is primarily technical. Any points of potential interest are limited to the practical consequences of specific corrections, such as changes to ethics reporting, agency data requirements, alcohol and lottery-related restrictions, health licensing and hospital procedures, and local government or utility provisions. However, no opposition or debate is reflected in the voting history provided, and the bill’s unanimous passage suggests these issues were not politically divisive in this form.