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

SF 573: Relating to merchant line franchise petition requirements and levee and drainage districts, and including retroactive applicability provisions

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 merchant line franchise petition requirements and levee and drainage districts. The bill defines “culvert” to include a drain, tile, or tile line in Code chapter 468, relating to levee and drainage districts. The bill specifies that if a proposed aboveground merchant line involving the use of eminent domain fails to be approved by the Iowa utilities board within three years following the submission of the franchise’s petition, the board shall reject the petition. Current law does not restrict this provision to aboveground merchant lines. The section of the bill amending Code section 478.6A applies retroactively to a petition for a franchise submitted on or after September 1, 2020.

Sponsors

Ways and Means committee

Cost

No fiscal note

Lobbying · 3 for, 9 against

For: Iowa Drainage District Association; Iowa State Association of County Supervisors; SOO Green HVDC Link ProjectCo, LLC

Against: BNSF Railway Co.; Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad; Burlington Junction Railway; CN Rail; Davenport Industrial Railroad; Iowa Interstate Railroad; Iowa Utilities Commission; Patriot Rail (Keokuk Junction Railway); Union Pacific Railroad

In plain words

  1. April 24, 2023Filed in the Senate
  2. April 24, 2023Approved by the Senate committee
  3. April 26, 2023Withdrawn

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/SF573