Fiscal Note
Fiscal Services Division
HF 2678 – Motor Vehicle Registration (LSB5585HZ.1)
Staff Contact: Garry Martin (515.281.4611) garry.martin@legis.iowa.gov
Fiscal Note Version – As amended and passed by the House
Description
House File 2678 allows an owner of a vehicle subject to registration and a lessor of a vehicle
pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 321F that is subject to registration and has a gross vehicle
weight of less than 10,000 pounds to apply to a county treasurer in a contiguous county for the
initial vehicle registration and issuance of a certificate of title. The Bill allows county treasurers
to issue regular registration plates that do not contain a county name when a vehicle is
registered initially in a contiguous county. The Bill requires an applicant for initial registration
and issuance of certificate of title to pay an additional $1 application fee if the application is
submitted in a contiguous county.
Sections 1 and 2 of the Bill take effect July 1, 2025.
Background
Under current law, a person must generally apply for vehicle registration and issuance of
certificate of title to the county treasurer where the person resides or where the primary user of
the vehicle is located. However, in 2016, the General Assembly required the Department of
Transportation (DOT) to develop and implement a program to allow for electronic application,
titling, registering, and fund transfers for vehicles subject to registration. At the same time, the
General Assembly conditionally authorized an owner of a vehicle subject to registration to apply
to a contiguous county treasurer if the electronic program was not yet implemented by July 1,
2019. This conditional authorization was not limited to initial issuance of a vehicle registration
and certificate of title.
Current law requires registration plates to display the name of the county that issues the plates
unless a specific exception is provided.
Iowa Code section 321.152 allows county treasurers to retain for deposit in the county general
fund 4.0% of the total collection for each annual registration issued.
Assumptions
• The DOT will incur a one-time information technology (IT) programming cost for the Archon
Registration and Titling System (ARTS) and the Electronic Registration and Titling System
(ERTS) to ensure issuance of an initial title and registration is the only transaction that can
be performed by a county treasurer in a contiguous county.
• ARTS and ERTS will also need to be programmed to implement the new application fee and
“blank county name” plate option for a regular license plate that currently requires a county
name. The work will be performed by outside contractors.
• There were 117,231 contiguous county transactions that occurred in FY 2023.
• Of the fees collected, 96.0% will be deposited into the Road Use Tax Fund (RUTF), and
4.0% will remain with the counties.
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Fiscal Impact
House File 2678 is estimated to increase revenues to the RUTF by $113,000 and to increase
revenues to the county general funds by $5,000 in FY 2025. Additionally, there will be a one-
time IT cost to the DOT of approximately $147,000 in FY 2025 for programming and testing
costs.
Source
Department of Transportation
/s/ Jennifer Acton
April 11, 2024
Doc ID 1448844
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, 321.166, 321.34
Reprinted: 321.20, 321.166, 321.34