Hunter
04/20/25
Iowa Judicial Branch officials will ask state lawmakers to simplify the state’s process of collecting and distributing court fees after it was discovered the system recently misdirected millions to the wrong entities, while legislators demanded proof there was no fraud.
The Gazette reports the Iowa House Oversight Committee held a two-hour hearing Wednesday at the Iowa Capitol with officials from the state Judicial branch. They discussed the erroneous distribution of court fees that resulted in three state funds being shorted millions each over a four year period.
Fines, fees and penalties paid to Iowa Courts are distributed to funds for victim compensation, emergency services, road infrastructure, county attorneys and the state’s general fund. Clerks of courts use a coding system to distribute the funds, but coding errors sent more than $27.5 million to the state’s general fund instead of to some of those other state funds and programs. A commissioned report found no fraud, but that state law changes in 2020 and 2021 led to the confusion causing the coding errors. None of the reviews conducted by the courts or independent agencies have found evidence of malfeasance.
Judicial Branch officials said they plan next year to propose legislation that would simplify the requirements in the state’s system for court fees collection and distribution.