321M.9 - FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.
321M.9 FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. 1. Fees to counties. Notwithstanding any other provision in the Code to the contrary, the county treasurer of a county authorized to issue driver's licenses under this chapter shall retain for deposit in the county general fund seven dollars of fees received for each issuance or renewal of driver's licenses and nonoperator's identification cards, but shall not retain any moneys for the issuance of any persons with disabilities identification devices. The five dollar processing fee charged by a county treasurer for collection of a civil penalty under section 321.218A, 321A.32A, or 321J.17 shall be retained for deposit in the county general fund. The county treasurer shall remit the balance of fees and all civil penalties to the department. 2. Digitized photolicensing equipment. a. The department shall pay for all digitized photolicensing equipment, including that used by the department and authorized for use by issuing counties under this subsection. Moneys from the road use tax fund shall be used, subject to appropriation by the general assembly, for payment of costs associated with the purchase or lease of digitized photolicensing equipment. b. An issuing county shall be entitled to one set of digitized photolicensing equipment, unless the county was served at multiple sites by the department, in which case the county shall be entitled to two sets of digitized photolicensing equipment. 3. Other equipment. The department shall pay for all other equipment needed by a county to participate in county issuance, comparable to the equipment provided for issuance activities by a department itinerant team, with the exception of the following: a. Office furniture. b. Computer hardware needed to access department computer databases, facsimile machines used to transmit documents between the department and the county, and similar office equipment of a general nature that is not dedicated solely or primarily to the issuance process. 4. Periodic fee adjustment. The auditor of state, in consultation with the state department of transportation and the Iowa county treasurers association, shall conduct a study of the fiscal impact of the county driver's license issuance program and report its findings and recommendations to the general assembly prior to January 1, 2006, and repeat the study and reporting every four years thereafter. The auditor of state's costs for conducting the study shall be paid by the department. The study shall include a comparison of the cumulative costs to issue driver's licenses and nonoperator's identification cards under both the state department of transportation program and the county issuance program. The study shall be based on those issuance activities that are common to both programs. Prior to the study period, the auditor of state shall meet with the department and the county treasurers association to determine the study methodology to ensure appropriate accounting for time and cost during the study. The findings and recommendations submitted by the auditor of state shall be considered by the general assembly in adjusting the amount of the fees retained by the county treasurers for issuance of driver's licenses and nonoperator's identification cards.
Section History: Recent Form 98 Acts, ch 1073, §12; 98 Acts, ch 1143, §9, 26; 2002 Acts, ch 1032, §8; 2003 Acts, ch 8, §21; 2004 Acts, ch 1139, § 1, 2; 2005 Acts, ch 54, §8, 12; 2008 Acts, ch 1018, §26, 31