Fiscal Note
Fiscal Services Division
SF 380 – Motor Vehicle Title and Registration, County of Issuance (LSB1245SV.2)
Staff Contact: Maria Wagenhofer (515.281.5270) maria.wagenhofer@legis.iowa.gov
Fiscal Note Version – Revised for new data (Background, Assumptions, and Fiscal Impact)
Description
Senate File 380 allows for any county treasurer, instead of the treasurer of the county where the
primary user of the vehicle is located, to conduct certain transactions, including accepting
applications for and issuing certain certificates of title, accepting applications for and issuing
new registrations, and perfecting security interests. Currently, a person must apply for
registration and certificate of title from the person’s county of residence or from the county
where the primary users of the vehicle are located. The Bill also increases by $10 various fees
required in the registration and titling of vehicles, including establishing a $10 increase in the fee
for new registration. Senate File 380 subsequently increases the amount the county treasurer is
allowed to retain for deposit in the county general fund by $10 from each fee for certificate of
title, perfection of security interest, and new vehicle registration, as seen in Table 1.
Table 1 — County Fee Retention Per Transaction Under Senate File 380
Type of Current Fees Fees Retained
Transaction Retained Under SF 380
Certificate of Title $2.50 $12.50
Perfection of Security Interests $6.00 $16.00
New Registration $1.00 $11.00
Background
2008 Iowa Acts, chapter 1113, increased the application fees paid to a county treasurer for
motor vehicle registration and issuance of certificate of title from $10 to $20, and from $2 to $10
for salvage titles and titles for motor vehicles returned to a manufacturer. The additional $10 or
$8 collected from the collected fees is allocated to the Transportation Moves the Economy in the
21st Century (TIME-21) Fund pursuant to Iowa Code section 321.2(15). The TIME-21 Fund is
currently set to be repealed on June 30, 2028.
A surcharge of $5 is also required for the issuance of a certificate of title pursuant to Iowa Code
section 321.52A.
Iowa Code section 321.152 currently allows counties to retain and deposit fees in their general
funds. The fees that can be retained are as follows:
• 4.0% of the total collection of each annual or semiannual vehicle registration and each
duplicate registration card or plate issued.
• $2.50 from each fee collected for certificates of title.
• 40.0% of all fees collected for certified copies of certificates of title.
• 60.0% of all fees collected for perfection of security interests.
• 25.0% of each penalty collected for improper business-trade truck registration.
• $1 from each fee for new registration.
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• 25.0% of each penalty collected for improper motorsports recreational vehicle registration.
The remaining revenue collected from a certificate of title transaction, including the $5
surcharge per title transaction, is deposited into the Statutory Allocations Fund pursuant to Iowa
Code section 321.145. After statutory distributions, any remaining revenue in the Statutory
Allocations Fund is credited to the Road Use Tax Fund (RUTF).
Table 2 includes the total number of transactions at the county level in FY 2022. The
transactions are listed as they are identified in the Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s)
system.
Table 2 — FY 2022 Initial Registration and Certificate of Title Transactions by Counties
Type of Transaction FY 2022 Transactions
Title and Registration 888,860
Replacement and Corrected Title 61,462
Manufacturer Buy Back Title 89
Salvage Title 42,151
Security Interests 213,427
In addition to the transactions above, the Iowa DOT estimates that DOT locations processed
approximately 2,229 title transactions for commercial vehicles and 2,026 transactions for
perfection of security interests in FY 2022.
Assumptions
• FY 2024 transactions will match FY 2022 transactions.
• All “title and registration” transactions involve payment of both the new title fee and the new
registration fee. As a result, it is assumed there are 888,860 new title transactions and
888,860 new registration transactions.
• Fee revenue from transactions processed by the Iowa DOT is deposited into the RUTF.
• The fee of $20 established in Iowa Code section 321.23(1) is not increased under SF 380.
However, the Bill increases the total amount counties can retain in their general funds for
transactions under Iowa Code section 321.23(1) by $10. As a result, the Bill allows counties
to keep $12.50, while $10 is required to be deposited into the TIME-21 Fund pursuant to
Iowa Code section 321.2(15). This results in a discrepancy between the total fee amount
($20) and the statutory allocations of the fee revenue ($22.50). For the purposes of this
Fiscal Note, it is assumed that the TIME-21 Fund would receive the full $10 and counties
would retain only $10 of the fee under Iowa Code section 321.23(1). Additionally, because
the fee under Iowa Code section 321.23(1) is not increased, the Statutory Allocations Fund
will lose $7.50 per transaction that is currently credited to the fund under Iowa Code section
321.23(1). It is assumed there will be an estimated 800 transactions of this type annually.
• The Iowa DOT has stated it would incur a one-time information technology labor expense of
$48,000, which would be absorbed with existing resources.
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Fiscal Impact
Senate File 380 is estimated to increase fee revenue retained in county general funds by
$20.9 million annually beginning in FY 2024 (Table 3).
Table 3 — Estimated Annual Increase to Counties
Type of Estimated Annual Estimated Annual
Transaction Number of Transactions Increases in Revenue
Certificate of Title 992,562 $ 9,923,620
Security Interests 213,427 2,134,270
New Registration 888,860 8,888,600
Total Increase in Revenue $ 20,946,490
Additionally, SF 380 is estimated to increase net revenue to the RUTF by $37,000 annually,
beginning in FY 2024 (Table 4).
Table 4 — Estimated Annual Net Increase to the RUTF
Type of Estimated Annual Estimated Annual
Transaction Number of Transactions Changes in Revenue
Certificate of Title — Commercial Vehicles 2,229 $ 22,290
Security Interests 2,026 20,260
Titles Under Iowa Code Section 321.23(1) 800 -6,000
Total Increase in Revenue $ 36,550
Sources
Department of Transportation
LSA calculations
/s/ Jennifer Acton
March 22, 2023
Doc ID 1371025
The fiscal note for this Bill was prepared pursuant to Joint Rule 17 and the Iowa Code. Data used in developing this
fiscal note is available from the Fiscal Services Division of the Legislative Services Agency upon request.
www.legis.iowa.gov
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Statutes affected:
Introduced: 321.20, 578A.7, 321.48, 321.29, 321.34, 321.46, 321.42, 321.49, 321.52, 321.50, 321.105, 321.109, 321.122, 321.126