Iowa House Bill HSB319

Iowa 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/18/25
• Refer: 3/18/25

Caption

A bill for an act relating to the disposition of collected criminal case fines and establishing a victim restitution fund.(See HF 1007.)

Summary

HSB319 changes how criminal case fines collected for violations occurring within a county are distributed. Under current law, those fines are split 91% to the state court administrator and 9% to the county general fund. The bill would revise that split to 85% for the state court administrator, 8% for the county treasurer’s general fund, and 7% to a newly created victim restitution fund. The bill also creates the victim restitution fund as a separate fund in the state treasury. Money in the fund would be administered by the Department of Justice and used for restitution-related purposes under existing law, including pecuniary damages restitution and restitution in cases involving the death of a victim. The bill specifies that money remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year would not revert, but would stay available for future use.

Impact

HSB319 would amend Iowa Code section 602.8106 to redirect a portion of criminal fines away from the state court administrator and county general funds and into a dedicated victim restitution fund. It would also add a new section 915.96 establishing that fund, defining its permitted uses, and exempting it from normal fiscal-year reversion rules. The practical effect is to create a continuing revenue source for victim restitution payments while modestly reducing the shares previously allocated to the court system and counties.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests the bill was received favorably, with the House Committee on Appropriations reporting it 24-0. No committee transcript is available, but the unanimous committee vote indicates broad support at that stage. The bill’s purpose—supporting victim restitution—appears likely to have been viewed positively by members.

Contention

The main policy tradeoff in the bill is fiscal: it reduces the percentage of criminal fine revenue going to the state court administrator and county general funds in order to finance the new restitution fund. Any concern would likely come from state or county budget interests that lose a share of fine revenue, while victim advocates and restitution stakeholders would likely support the dedicated funding stream. Because no transcript is available, there is no recorded debate in the provided materials beyond this allocation shift.