Iowa House Bill HF957

Iowa 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/13/25
• Refer: 3/13/25

Caption

A bill for an act relating to the natural hazard mitigation financing program, the disaster recovery housing assistance program, the disaster recovery new housing program, post-loss assignment of benefits, the licensing and regulation of adjusters, appraisers, and umpires, and the Iowa economic emergency fund, and providing penalties, making appropriations, and including effective date and retroactive applicability provisions.(Formerly HSB 246; See HF 982, HF 1012.)

Summary

HF 957 is a broad disaster-recovery and insurance-regulation bill. It creates a Natural Hazard Mitigation Financing Program administered by the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the Iowa Finance Authority to make loans to eligible public and other qualifying entities for projects that reduce the impacts of natural hazards such as flooding, severe storms, wildfires, drought, earthquakes, and shoreline erosion. The bill authorizes the Iowa Finance Authority to issue bonds or notes to support the program, establishes a dedicated revolving loan fund, and allows the state to receive and administer federal capitalization grants under the federal STORM Act. The bill also revises Iowa’s disaster housing assistance framework. It expands the disaster recovery housing assistance program to provide grants, loans, and forgivable loans to eligible homeowners and grants to renters, removes the requirement that applicants register for the disaster case advocacy program to be considered, and limits administrative costs to 5 percent of the fund. It further creates a tax exclusion for qualifying state disaster recovery new housing grants, retroactive to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2024, and makes related changes to the Iowa economic emergency fund to allow disaster-related appropriations and transfers after a gubernatorial disaster proclamation.

Impact

HF 957 would add new chapters and amend multiple existing code sections governing emergency management, state finance, insurance regulation, and income tax. It creates new statutory authority for state-backed mitigation lending, establishes separate dedicated funds outside the general fund, and authorizes bond financing and federal grant administration. It also changes the tax treatment of certain disaster recovery housing grants, and it directs new appropriations from the Iowa economic emergency fund for disaster-related purposes and for specific FY 2024-2025 deposits into the nuisance property remediation assistance fund and disaster recovery housing assistance fund. In insurance law, the bill creates a detailed licensing and regulatory framework for public adjusters, independent adjusters, appraisers, and umpires, including licensing standards, continuing education, surety bond requirements, conduct rules, disciplinary procedures, civil penalties, and felony penalties for unlicensed or willful violations. It also regulates post-loss assignments of benefits in residential property claims by imposing disclosure, cancellation, timing, and anti-abuse requirements.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests the bill had strong support in committee, with a House Appropriations report passing 25-0. The bill was broad in scope and appears to have been framed as a disaster recovery and consumer protection measure, combining funding tools with insurance-market regulation and homeowner/renter assistance. However, the bill was ultimately withdrawn on April 17, 2025, indicating that despite committee support, it did not advance to enactment in that form.

Contention

The most notable points of contention likely centered on the insurance-regulation provisions, especially the new restrictions on post-loss assignments, public adjuster compensation caps, mandatory contract terms, and the creation of licensing regimes for appraisers and umpires. Those provisions impose significant compliance obligations and penalties on contractors and insurance-related professionals, while also limiting certain practices after catastrophic disasters. Another likely area of debate was the bill’s use of the Iowa economic emergency fund and the creation of new dedicated financing structures outside the general fund, including bond authority and automatic disaster-related appropriations. The bill also changes eligibility and administration of disaster housing aid, which could have raised questions about program access, fiscal exposure, and the balance between consumer protection and industry flexibility.