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Bills › 91st General Assembly

HF 403Died when the session ended · February 13, 2025

Relating to testimony by certain witnesses by two-way closed-circuit equipment

Sponsored by Rep. Austin Baeth (D), Rep. Sean Bagniewski (D), Rep. Ken Croken (D), Rep. Daniel Gosa (D), Rep. Bob Kressig (D), Rep. Mary Lee Madison (D), Rep. Rick L. Olson (D), Rep. Aime Wichtendahl (D)

Topics:Courts & civil law

Same legislation: SF 66

Write your legislators about it

Also covers SF 66.

Official bill pageLobbyist declarationsOne-pager to print

Where it is now

  1. Done: IntroducedJanuary 16, 2025
  2. Stopped: SubcommitteeDied when the General Assembly ended
  3. Next: House committeeFunnel: by February 20, 2026
  4. Next: Passes the House
  5. Next: Senate committeeFunnel: by March 20, 2026
  6. Next: Passes the Senate
  7. Next: To the Governor
  8. Next: Signed into law

Died when the session ended The General Assembly adjourned on October 2, 2026. Bills that didn’t pass both chambers died. What’s a funnel?

What’s in it

This bill relates to testimony by certain witnesses by two-way closed-circuit equipment. The bill provides that upon its own motion or upon motion of any party, a court may protect a minor up to years of age from trauma caused by testifying in the physical presence of the defendant where it would impair the minor’s ability to communicate, by ordering that the testimony of the minor be taken in a room other than the courtroom and be televised by two-way closed-circuit equipment for viewing in the courtroom.

Read the full explanation

Current law does not specify that the closed-circuit equipment be two-way. Upon a finding of necessity, the court may also allow the testimony of a victim or witness with a mental illness, an intellectual disability, or other developmental disability to be taken by two-way closed-circuit equipment regardless of the age of the victim or witness.

From the explanation printed with the bill as introduced, written by the Legislative Services Agency. Amendments adopted later aren’t reflected. Full bill text

Iowa Code it changes

Amends§915.38

Read from the bill as introduced. Each links to every bill touching that chapter of the Iowa Code. How the Code works

Lobbying

6 for · 0 against · 3 undecided · Who →

Family tree

Where this legislation came from and where it went: earlier tries, the versions it moved through this Assembly, and later bills built on it.

91st General Assembly

SF 66Cleared committeeSenate companionHF 403Cleared committeeHouse companion

Earlier and later bills are matched by wording or an identical title; check the text to be sure it’s the same idea.