Bills › 91st General Assembly

HF 899Died when the session ended · March 27, 2025

Relating to indecent exposure, including the unlawful electronic transmission of sexually explicit visual material, and providing penalties

Sponsored by the House Public Safety Committee, Rep. Bill Gustoff (R)

Topics:Crime & corrections

Same legislation: HF 43

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Official bill page Lobbyist declarations One-pager to print

Where it is now

Done: IntroducedJanuary 14, 2025
Done: SubcommitteeJanuary 15, 2025
Done: House committeeMarch 5, 2025
Done: Passes the HouseMarch 27, 202593–0
Stopped: Senate committeeDied when the General Assembly ended
Next: Passes the Senate
Next: To the Governor
Next: Signed into law

Died when the session ended The 2026 session adjourned on May 3, 2026, the General Assembly’s last regular session. Bills that didn’t pass both chambers died. What’s a funnel?

What’s in it

AI summary Adults who intentionally send unwanted sexually explicit pictures or videos through electronic devices could face new criminal charges. This law applies if the person sending the material knows or should know that the recipient did not ask for it. If convicted of this serious misdemeanor, a person could face up to one year in jail and a fine.¹

Read the official explanation

This bill relates to indecent exposure, including the unlawful electronic transmission of sexually explicit visual material. The bill provides that a person who is 18 years of age or older commits a serious misdemeanor if the person knowingly sends a picture or video, which the person knows or reasonably should know is unsolicited and unwanted by the recipient, by electronic means depicting any of the following: any person’s genitals or pubic area; any person engaging in a sex act, as defined in Code section 702.17; or the covered genitals of a male person that are in a discernibly turgid state. A serious misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $430 but not more than $2,560.

Why it matters. Adults who knowingly send unsolicited and unwanted sexually explicit pictures or videos by electronic means would face a new serious misdemeanor charge. This offense is punishable by up to one year in confinement and a fine between $430 and $2,560. The fiscal impact on the state's General Fund, including costs for the Judicial Branch, the Indigent Defense Fund, and the Department of Corrections, cannot be estimated.²

Full bill text³

Senate subcommittee

Named April 1, 2025. It hasn’t reported yet.

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

2 written public comments to its subcommittee: January 22, 2025 (2) · on the Legislature’s site

Fiscal note

Can’t be estimated Compare with other bills

AI summary This bill creates a new criminal offense for adults who knowingly send unsolicited and unwanted sexually explicit pictures or videos by electronic means. Because this is a new offense, the fiscal impact on the state's General Fund, including costs for the Judicial Branch, the Indigent Defense Fund, and the Department of Corrections, cannot be estimated.⁴

Read the fiscal note

Description

House File 899 relates to indecent exposure, including the unsolicited electronic transmission of sexually explicit visual material.

Under the Bill, a person who is 18 years of age or older commits a serious misdemeanor if the person knowingly sends a picture or video containing sexually explicit material, which the person knows or reasonably should know is unsolicited and unwanted by the recipient, by electronic means.

Background

A serious misdemeanor is punishable by no more than one year of confinement and a fine of at least $430 but not more than $2,560.

Assumptions

The following will not change over the projection period: charge, conviction, and sentencing patterns and trends; prisoner length of stay (LOS); revocation rates; plea bargaining; and other criminal justice system policies and practices.
A delay of six months is assumed from the effective date of this Bill to the date of first entry of affected offenders into the correctional system.
Marginal costs for county jails cannot be estimated due to a lack of data. For purposes of this analysis, the marginal cost for county jails is assumed to be $50 per day.

Correctional Impact

House File 899 creates a new criminal offense, and the correctional impact cannot be estimated due to a lack of existing conviction data. Figure 1 shows estimates for sentencing to State prison, parole, probation, or Community-Based Corrections (CBC) residential facilities; LOS in months under those supervisions; and supervision marginal costs per day for serious misdemeanors. Refer to the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) memo addressed to the General Assembly, Cost Estimates Used for Correctional Impact Statements, dated January 13, 2025, for information related to the correctional system.

Figure 1 — Sentencing Estimates and Length of Stay (LOS) in MonthsConviction Offense Class

Percent

Ordered to

State Prison

FY 2024 Avg

LOS in

Prison (All Releases)

Marginal

Cost Per

Day Prison

Percent

Ordered to

Probation

FY24 Field

Avg LOS on

Probation

Avg Cost

Per Day on

Probation

Marginal

Cost Per

Day CBC

Marginal

Cost Per

Day Jail

FY24 Field

Avg LOS on

Parole

Marginal

Cost Per

Day Parole

Serious Misdemeanor 2.4% N/A $24.51 53.4% 18.8 $7.68 $18.37 $50.00 N/A $7.68

Minority Impact

House File 899 creates a new criminal offense. As a result, the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP) of the Department of Management (DOM) cannot use existing data to estimate the minority impact of the Bill. Refer to the LSA memo addressed to the General Assembly, Minority Impact Statements, dated January 13, 2025, for information related to minorities in the criminal justice system.

Fiscal Impact

House File 899 creates a new criminal offense, and the fiscal impact is unknown. Figure 2 shows the average State cost per offense for a serious misdemeanor. The estimated impact to the General Fund includes operating costs incurred by the Judicial Branch, the Indigent Defense Fund, and the Department of Corrections (DOC).

Figure 2 — Average State Cost Per Offense

Offense Class Average Class

Serious Misdemeanor $420 to $5,000

Sources

Department of Corrections
Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP), Department of Management (DOM)

Unsolicited Obscene Images, Criminal Penalty · March 20, 2025

Reading a fiscal note⁵

Iowa Code it changes

Amends§709.9

How the Code works⁶

Lobbying

4 for · 1 against · 6 undecided · Who →

Family tree

91st General Assembly

HF 43Renumbered HF 899Passed a chamberfrom HF 43

Similar bills

SF 342 Establishing the criminal offense of unlawful electronic transmission of sexually explicit…
91st General Assembly · In committee
Nearly identical

Matched by wording or an identical title.

Notes

The summary is written by an AI model from the official explanation. It can miss details; the explanation and the bill are what count. ↩
Written by an AI model from the official explanation and fiscal note only, for bills that passed a chamber, drew heavy lobbying or carry a large cost. It doesn’t weigh whether the bill is a good idea. ↩
The explanation is printed with the bill as introduced and written by the Legislative Services Agency, the Legislature’s nonpartisan staff. Amendments adopted later aren’t reflected in it. ↩
Written by an AI model from the newest fiscal note. It can miss details; the note itself is what counts. ↩
Fiscal notes are nonpartisan cost estimates from the Legislative Services Agency’s Fiscal Services Division. The newest is listed first. ↩
Code sections are read from the bill as introduced. Each links to every bill touching that chapter of the Iowa Code. ↩