House File 398 - Enrolled House File 398 AN ACT RELATING TO THE DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, THE BOARD OF CORRECTIONS, SUPERINTENDENTS, AND DISTRICT DIRECTORS. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: Section 1. Section 904.108, subsection 1, paragraphs h, k, and l, Code 2025, are amended to read as follows: h. Prepare a budget for the department, subject to the approval advice and recommendations of the board, and other reports as required by law. k. Adopt rules , subject to the approval advice and recommendations of the board, pertaining to the internal management of institutions and agencies under the directors charge and necessary to carry out the duties and powers outlined in this section . l. Adopt rules, policies, and procedures, subject to the approval advice and recommendations of the board, pertaining to community-based correctional programs, and the supervision of parole and work release. Sec. 2. Section 904.108, subsection 2, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: 2. The director, with the express approval advice and recommendations of the board, may establish for any inmate sentenced pursuant to section 902.3 a furlough program under which inmates sentenced to and confined in any institution under the jurisdiction of the department may be temporarily
House File 398, p. 2 released. A furlough for a period not to exceed fourteen days may be granted when an immediate member of an inmates family is seriously ill or has died, when an inmate is to be interviewed by a prospective employer, or when an inmate is authorized to participate in a training program not available within the institution. Furloughs for a period not to exceed fourteen days may also be granted in order to allow inmates to participate in programs or activities that serve rehabilitative objectives. Sec. 3. Section 904.110, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: 904.110 Official seal. The department shall have an official seal with the words Iowa Department of Corrections and other an engraved design as the board prescribes . Every commission, order, or other paper of an official nature executed by the department may be attested with the seal. Sec. 4. Section 904.114, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: 904.114 Travel expenses. The director, staff members, assistants, and employees, in addition to salary, shall receive their necessary traveling expenses by the nearest practicable route, when engaged in the performance of official business. Permission shall not be granted to any person to travel to another state except by approval of the board director or the directors designee . Sec. 5. Section 904.207, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: 904.207 Violator facility. The director may establish a violator facility as a freestanding facility, or designate a portion of an existing correctional facility for the purpose. A violator facility is for the temporary confinement of offenders who have violated conditions of release under work release or parole as defined in section 906.1 , or probation granted as a result of suspension of a sentence to the custody of the director of the department of corrections. If a violator facility is established, the director shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A , subject to the approval advice and recommendations of the
House File 398, p. 3 board, to implement this section . Sec. 6. Section 904.301, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: 904.301 Appointment of superintendents. 1. The director shall appoint, subject to the approval advice and recommendations of the board, the superintendents of the institutions provided for in section 904.102 . 2. The superintendent has the immediate custody and control, subject to the orders and policies of the director, of all property used in connection with the institution except as otherwise provided by statute. The tenure of office of a superintendent shall be at the pleasure of the appointing authority but a superintendent may be removed for inability or refusal to properly perform the duties of the office. Removal shall occur only after an opportunity is given the person to be heard before the board and the director and upon preferred written charges. The removal when made is final. Sec. 7. Section 904.301A, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: 904.301A Appointment of directors. 1. The director shall appoint, subject to the approval advice and recommendations of the board, a district director for each district department established in section 904.104A . 2. The district director has the immediate custody and control, subject to the orders and policies of the director, of all property used in connection with the district department except as otherwise provided by statute. The tenure of office of a district director shall be at the pleasure of the appointing authority but a district director may be removed for inability or refusal to properly perform the duties of the office. Sec. 8. Section 904.317, subsection 1, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: 1. The director, subject to the approval advice and recommendations of the board, may secure options to purchase real estate and acquire and sell real estate for the proper uses of the institutions. Real estate shall be acquired and sold upon terms and conditions the director recommends subject to the approval advice and recommendations of the board. Upon
House File 398, p. 4 sale of the real estate, the proceeds shall be deposited in a corrections capital reinvestment fund, which is established in the state treasury under the purview of the department. There is appropriated from the fund to the department the proceeds, which may be used to purchase other real estate or for capital improvements upon property under the directors supervision. Notwithstanding section 8.33 , moneys in the fund that remain unencumbered or unobligated at the close of a fiscal year shall not revert but shall remain available for expenditure for the purposes designated. Notwithstanding section 12C.7, subsection 2 , interest or earnings on moneys in the fund shall be credited to the fund. Sec. 9. Section 904.508, subsection 1, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: 1. The superintendent of each institution shall receive and care for any property an inmate may possess on the inmates person upon entering the institution, and on the discharge of the inmate, return the property to the inmate or the inmates legal representatives, unless the property has been previously disposed of according to the inmates written designation or policies prescribed by the board . The superintendent may place an inmates money at interest, keeping an account of the money and returning the remaining money upon discharge. ______________________________ PAT GRASSLEY Speaker of the House ______________________________ AMY SINCLAIR President of the Senate I hereby certify that this bill originated in the House and is known as House File 398, Ninety-first General Assembly. ______________________________ MEGHAN NELSON Chief Clerk of the House Approved _______________, 2025 ______________________________ KIM REYNOLDS Governor