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

SF 2349: Relating to defense subpoenas in criminal cases, and providing penalties

Died when the session ended · The General Assembly adjourned on April 19, 2024. Bills that didn’t pass both chambers died.

What it does

This bill relates to defense subpoenas in criminal cases. 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 a preponderance of the 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

Can’t be estimated

The total fiscal impact of House File 2616 cannot be estimated, but the costs to the SPD are anticipated to be significant. Under the Bill, the amount of attorney time spent on a case is estimated to increase due to the increased numbers of motions, hearings, …

Lobbying · 4 for, 4 against

For: Iowa Attorney General Dept. of Justice; Iowa County Attorneys Association; Iowa Organization for Victim Assistance; Soaring Hearts

Against: American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa (ACLU-IA); Innocence Project; Iowa Association for Justice; Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence

In plain words

  1. February 14, 2024Filed in the Senate
  2. February 14, 2024Approved by the Senate committee
  3. February 27, 2024Cost estimate (fiscal note) posted
  4. February 27, 2024Passed the Senate, 35–14

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/SF2349