Relating to the membership of district judicial nominating commissions

Official bill page Lobbyist declarations One-pager to print

Where it is now

Done: IntroducedFebruary 20, 2025
Done: SubcommitteeFebruary 25, 2025
Done: Senate committeeMarch 6, 2025
Done: Passes the SenateMarch 17, 202531–15
Stopped: House committeeDied when the General Assembly ended
Next: Passes the House
Next: To the Governor
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 the membership of district judicial nominating commissions. Under current law, the governor appoints five eligible electors of each judicial district to each 11-person commission. The bill increases the number of electors appointed by the governor to six. Under current law, the most senior judge in the district serves as a commissioner and as the chairperson of that particular district judicial nominating commission. The bill removes the judge from the commission and from being chairperson and requires the members of each district judicial nominating commission to elect a chairperson from their own number.

Read the full explanation

District judicial nominating commissions are responsible for screening applicants and selecting nominees for district court judicial vacancies. There is a nominating commission for each of Iowa’s judicial election subdistricts. District judicial nominating commissions provide the governor with a slate of two nominees from which to make an appointment to the district court.

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

House subcommittee

Named March 25, 2025. On April 2, 2025 it recommended passage.

Three legislators hear a bill first and recommend what the committee should do; it’s the best time to weigh in. How to take part

Iowa Code it changes

Amends§46.3 §46.5 §46.6

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

Lobbying

5 for · 12 against · 4 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.

Tried before

SF 171Passed a chamber90th GA

91st General Assembly

SF 407Passed a chamber

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

Tried before

This idea has been filed in an earlier General Assembly. None became law, though one got through a chamber.

SF 171 Relating to the membership of district judicial nominating commissions
90th General Assembly · Passed Senate · same title
Passed a chamber

Matched by the wording of each bill’s explanation, or an identical title. Companion bills and renumbered versions of this bill aren’t listed; they’re the same bill.