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90th General Assembly · Funnel one-pager · Monday, November 9, 2026

HF 644: Relating to criminal law including depositions, conditional guilty pleas, prosecution witnesses who are minors, and juror qualifications, and including effective date provisions

Signed into law

What it does

This bill relates to criminal law including defense subpoenas, depositions, conditional guilty pleas, prosecution witnesses who are minors, and juror qualifications. DIVISION I —— DEFENSE SUBPOENAS. The bill provides that a criminal defendant or counsel acting on the defendant’s behalf shall not issue any subpoena for documents or other evidence except upon application to the court. An application shall not be granted unless a defendant proves by clear and convincing evidence there is a compelling need for the evidence sought and that such evidence is material, necessary, exculpatory, and admissible at trial; and the evidence sought does not include the private information of a crime victim or any other person except for the defendant’s own private information.

Sponsors

Judiciary committee

Cost

See the fiscal note

Division I is not estimated to have a fiscal impact. Division II — Conditional Guilty Pleas Description Division II provides that a conditional guilty plea that reserves an issue for appeal must only be entered with the consent of the prosecuting attorney and …

Lobbying · 3 for, 2 against

For: Blank Childrens Hospital; Iowa Attorney General Dept. of Justice; Iowa County Attorneys Association

Against: Iowa Association for Justice; The Innocence Project

In plain words

  1. March 7, 2023Filed in the House
  2. March 20, 2023Cost estimate (fiscal note) posted
  3. March 22, 2023Passed the House, 95–0
  4. March 23, 2023Arrived in the Senate
  5. March 27, 2023Cost estimate (fiscal note) posted
  6. April 25, 2023Took the place of SF 523 on the Senate floor (the same legislation)
  7. April 25, 2023Passed the Senate, 49–0
  8. April 27, 2023Cost estimate (fiscal note) posted
  9. May 1, 2023Passed the House, 94–0
  10. May 9, 2023Sent to the Governor
  11. May 26, 2023Signed into law

From public records at legis.iowa.gov, compiled by Funnel (iowafunnel.com), an independent, nonpartisan site. Current as of Monday, November 9, 2026. https://iowafunnel.com/bills/90/HF644