Bill Text: IA HF2680 | 2023-2024 | 90th General Assembly | Enrolled

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to public safety personnel retirement systems, the taxation of surviving spouse pension benefits, and including retroactive applicability provisions. (Formerly HSB 745.) Effective date: 07/01/2024. Applicability date: 01/01/2024.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Passed) 2024-05-03 - Signed by Governor. H.J. 05/03. [HF2680 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2023-HF2680-Enrolled.html

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House File 2680 - Enrolled
House File 2680
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY PERSONNEL RETIREMENT SYSTEMS, THE
TAXATION OF SURVIVING SPOUSE PENSION BENEFITS, AND INCLUDING
RETROACTIVE APPLICABILITY PROVISIONS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
DIVISION I
CIVIL SERVICE EVALUATIONS —— MUNICIPAL FIRE AND POLICE
RETIREMENT SYSTEM —— CERTAIN BENEFITS
Section 1. Section 400.8, subsection 1, Code 2024, is
amended to read as follows:
1. The commission, when necessary under the rules,
including minimum and maximum age limits, which shall be
prescribed and published in advance by the commission and
posted in the city hall, shall hold examinations for the
purpose of determining the qualifications of applicants
for positions under civil service, other than promotions,
which examinations shall be practical in character and shall
relate to matters which will fairly test the mental and
physical ability of the applicant to discharge the duties of
the position to which the applicant seeks appointment. The
physical examination and mental health evaluation of applicants
for appointment to the positions of police officer , police
matron, or fire fighter shall be held in accordance with
medical protocols established by the board of trustees of the
fire and police retirement system established by section 411.5
and shall be conducted in accordance with the directives of

House File 2680, p. 2
the board of trustees. However, the prohibitions of section
216.6, subsection 1 , paragraph “d” , regarding tests for the
presence of the antibody to the human immunodeficiency virus
shall not apply to such examinations. The board of trustees
may change the medical protocols at any time the board so
determines. In the event of a conflict between the medical
protocols established under this section and the minimum
entrance requirements of the Iowa law enforcement academy under
section 80B.11 , the medical protocols established under this
section shall control. The physical examination and mental
health evaluation of an applicant for the position of police
officer , police matron, or fire fighter shall be conducted
after a conditional offer of employment has been made to the
applicant. An applicant shall not be discriminated against
on the basis of height, weight, sex, or race in determining
physical or mental ability of the applicant. Reasonable rules
relating to strength, agility, and general health of applicants
shall be prescribed. The costs of the physical examination and
the mental health evaluation required under this subsection
shall be paid from the trust and agency fund of the city.
Sec. 2. Section 411.1, Code 2024, is amended by adding the
following new subsection:
NEW SUBSECTION
. 8A. “Cost-sharing” means any coverage
limit, copayment, coinsurance, deductible, or other
out-of-pocket cost obligation related to an injury or disease
incurred while in the performance of duties.
Sec. 3. Section 411.1, subsection 14, Code 2024, is amended
by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the
following:
14. “Member in good standing” means any member in service
who has not been terminated by the employing city of the
member pursuant to section 400.18 or 400.19. Termination
procedures initiated by the chief of police or chief of the
fire department pursuant to section 400.19 shall not become
final or adversely impact a member’s status as a member in
good standing until all appeals provided by an applicable
collective bargaining agreement or by law have been exhausted.
Disciplinary action other than discharge shall not adversely
affect a member’s status as a member in good standing.

House File 2680, p. 3
Sec. 4. Section 411.1, Code 2024, is amended by adding the
following new subsection:
NEW SUBSECTION . 15A. “Ordinary disability beneficiary”
means a member retired on an ordinary disability retirement
benefit pursuant to section 411.6, subsection 3, for three
years or less.
Sec. 5. Section 411.6, subsection 5, paragraphs a and b,
Code 2024, are amended to read as follows:
a. Upon application to the system , of a member in good
standing , of an ordinary disability beneficiary, or of the
chief of the police or fire departments, respectively, any
member in good standing or ordinary disability beneficiary
who has become totally and permanently incapacitated for duty
as the natural and proximate result of an injury or disease
incurred in or aggravated by the actual performance of duty
at some definite time and place or arising out of and in the
course of employment , or while acting , pursuant to order,
outside of the city by which the member is regularly employed,
shall be retired by the system , or may have a retirement
for an ordinary disability converted to a retirement for an
accidental disability, if the medical board certifies that
the member or ordinary disability beneficiary is mentally or
physically incapacitated for further performance of duty,
that the incapacity is likely to be permanent, and that the
member should be retired or should have a retirement for an
ordinary disability converted to a retirement for an accidental
disability . However, if a person’s membership in the system
first commenced on or after July 1, 1992, the member or
ordinary disability beneficiary shall not be eligible for
benefits with respect to a disability which would not exist,
but for a medical condition that was known to exist on the
date that membership commenced. A medical condition shall be
deemed to have been known to exist on the date that membership
commenced if the medical condition is reflected in any record
or document completed or obtained in accordance with the
system’s medical protocols pursuant to section 400.8 , or in any
other record or document obtained pursuant to an application
for disability benefits from the system, if such record or
document existed prior to the date membership commenced. A

House File 2680, p. 4
member who is denied a benefit under this subsection , by
reason of a finding by the medical board that the member is
not mentally or physically incapacitated for the further
performance of duty, shall be entitled to be restored to active
service in the same position held immediately prior to the
application for disability benefits.
b. If a member in service or the chief of the police or
fire departments becomes incapacitated for duty as a natural
or proximate result of an injury or disease incurred in or
aggravated by the actual performance of duty at some definite
time or place or arising out of or in the course of the
employment, or while acting, pursuant to order, outside the
city by which the member is regularly employed, the member,
upon being found to be temporarily incapacitated following a
medical examination as directed by the city, is entitled to
receive the member’s full pay and allowances from the city’s
general fund or trust and agency fund until reexamined as
directed by the city and found to be fully recovered or until
the city determines that the member is likely to be permanently
disabled. If the temporary incapacity of a member continues
more than sixty days, or if the city expects the incapacity
to continue more than sixty days, the city shall notify the
system of the temporary incapacity. Upon notification by a
city, the system may refer the matter to the medical board for
review and consultation with the member’s treating physician
during the temporary incapacity. Except as provided by this
paragraph, the board of trustees of the statewide system has no
jurisdiction over these matters until the city determines that
the disability is likely to be permanent.
Sec. 6. Section 411.6, subsection 5, Code 2024, is amended
by adding the following new paragraph:
NEW PARAGRAPH . 0d. To establish that a mental incapacity
occurred as the natural and proximate result of an injury or
disease incurred in or aggravated by the actual performance of
duty or arising out of and in the course of the employment, or
while acting, pursuant to order, outside of the city by which
the member is regularly employed, the member must demonstrate
that the mental incapacity is traceable to a readily
identifiable work event constituting a manifest happening of

House File 2680, p. 5
a sudden traumatic nature from an unexpected cause or unusual
strain in the workplace. Whether an incident is traumatic,
unexpected, or unusual is determined by comparing the incident,
and not the effect on the member, to the experiences of other
police officers or fire fighters in Iowa. A member must be
able to trace their mental injury to a specific event or events
in the workplace to be eligible for accidental disability
benefits.
Sec. 7. Section 411.6, subsection 6, Code 2024, is amended
by adding the following new paragraph:
NEW PARAGRAPH . d. (1) Upon a determination on or after
July 1, 2024, that an ordinary disability beneficiary is
entitled to a retirement for accidental disability, the
beneficiary shall receive an accidental disability retirement
allowance which shall consist of a pension in an amount that is
equal to the greater of sixty percent of the member’s average
final compensation or the retirement allowance that the member
would receive under subsection 2 if the member had attained
fifty-five years of age, or an amount equal to the ordinary
disability retirement allowance previously received by the
beneficiary, whichever is greater.
(2) An accidental disability allowance under this paragraph
shall commence effective the first day of the first month
following the determination that the ordinary disability
beneficiary is entitled to a retirement for accidental
disability.
Sec. 8. Section 411.6, subsection 9, paragraph a,
subparagraph (1), Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
(1) If, upon the receipt of evidence and proof from the
chief of the police or fire department that the death of a
member in service was the natural and proximate result of an
injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by the actual
performance of duty at some definite time and place or arising
out of and in the course of the employment , or while acting ,
pursuant to order, outside of the city by which the member is
regularly employed, the system decides that death was so caused
in the performance of duty, there shall be paid, in lieu of the
ordinary death benefit provided in subsection 8 , an accidental
death benefit as set forth in this subsection .

House File 2680, p. 6
Sec. 9. Section 411.6, subsection 16, Code 2024, is amended
by adding the following new paragraph:
NEW PARAGRAPH . d. A person otherwise eligible to receive
an ordinary or accidental disability retirement benefit under
this chapter shall not be eligible to receive such a benefit
if the person is subsequently removed, discharged, demoted,
or suspended pursuant to section 400.18 or 400.19, or other
comparable process. Upon determination of ineligibility
pursuant to this paragraph, the person’s entitlement to a
disability benefit under this chapter shall terminate and any
disability retirement allowance received by such a person must
be returned to the system together with interest earned on the
disability retirement allowance calculated at a rate determined
by the system. However, the determination of ineligibility
as provided under this paragraph may be waived for good cause
as determined by the board. The burden of establishing good
cause is on the person who received the disability retirement
allowance.
Sec. 10. Section 411.8, subsection 1, paragraph f,
subparagraph (8), Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
(8) Beginning July 1, 1996, and each fiscal year thereafter,
an amount equal to the member’s contribution rate times each
member’s compensation shall be paid to the fund from the
earnable compensation of the member. For the purposes of this
subparagraph, the member’s contribution rate shall be nine and
thirty-five hundredths percent or, beginning July 1 until June
30 , 2009, nine and four-tenths percent until June 30, 2024,
and, beginning July 1, 2024, nine and fifty-five hundredths
percent . However, the system shall increase the member’s
contribution rate as necessary to cover any increase in cost
to the system resulting from statutory changes which are
enacted by any session of the general assembly meeting after
January 1, 1991, if the increase cannot be absorbed within
the contribution rates otherwise established pursuant to this
paragraph, but subject to a maximum employee contribution rate
of eleven and three-tenths percent or, beginning July 1, 2009,
eleven and thirty-five hundredths percent. The contribution
rate increases specified in 1994 Iowa Acts, ch. 1183, pursuant
to this chapter and chapter 97A shall be the only member

House File 2680, p. 7
contribution rate increases for these systems resulting from
the statutory changes enacted in 1994 Iowa Acts, ch. 1183, and
shall apply only to the fiscal periods specified in 1994 Iowa
Acts, ch. 1183. After the employee contribution reaches eleven
and three-tenths percent or eleven and thirty-five hundredths
percent, as applicable, sixty percent of the additional cost
of such statutory changes shall be paid by employers under
paragraph “c” and forty percent of the additional cost shall be
paid by employees under this paragraph.
Sec. 11. Section 411.15, Code 2024, is amended to read as
follows:
411.15 Hospitalization and medical attention.
1. a. Cities shall provide hospital, nursing, and physical
or mental medical attention for the members of the police and
fire departments of the cities, when injured while in the
performance of their duties as members of such department , and
or for injuries and diseases arising out of and in the course
of the employment.
b. Cities shall continue to provide hospital, nursing, and
physical or mental medical attention for injuries or diseases
incurred while in the performance of their duties or arising
out of and in the course of the employment for members or
beneficiaries receiving a retirement allowance under section
411.6 , subsection 6 .
c. Disease under this subsection shall mean heart disease
or any disease of the lungs or respiratory tract and shall be
presumed to have been contracted while on active duty as a
result of strain or the inhalation of noxious fumes, poison, or
gases. Disease under this subsection shall also mean cancer
or infectious disease, both as defined in section 411.1, and
shall be presumed to have been contracted while on active duty
as a result of that duty.
2. a. Cities may fund the cost of the hospital, nursing,
and physical or mental medical attention required by this
section through the purchase of insurance, including by
processing claims concerning cancer, heart, and lung or
respiratory issues described in section 411.6, subsection 5,
paragraph “c” , through their group health insurance plan as
long as the member is not responsible for any cost-sharing; by

House File 2680, p. 8
self-insuring the obligation , ; or through payment of moneys
into a local government risk pool established for the purpose
of covering the costs associated with the requirements of this
section . However, the cost of the hospital, nursing, and
physical or mental medical attention required by this section
shall not be funded through an employee-paid health insurance
policy , except as otherwise specified in this subsection.
Cancers, heart disease, and lung or respiratory diseases
described in section 411.6, subsection 5, paragraph “c” , shall
not be deemed work-related for purposes of coverage through the
employer’s group health insurance plan .
b. A member or beneficiary shall not be required to pay the
cost of the hospital, nursing, and physical or mental medical
attention required by this section, including but not limited
to any costs or premiums associated with any insurance policy
providing coverage for the hospital, nursing, and physical or
mental medical attention.
c. The cost of the hospital, nursing, and physical or mental
medical attention required by this section shall be paid from
moneys held in a trust and agency fund established pursuant to
section 384.6 , or out of the appropriation for the department
to which the injured person belongs or belonged; provided that
any amounts received by the injured person from any other
source for such specific purposes, shall be deducted from the
amount paid by the city under the provisions of this section .
3. a. For purposes of this subsection, “date of the
occurrence of the injury or disease” means the date that the
member or beneficiary knew or should have known that the injury
or disease was work-related.
b. To be provided the cost of the hospital, nursing, and
physical or mental medical attention required by this section,
the city or the city’s representative shall have actual
knowledge of the occurrence of an injury or disease or be
provided notice of the occurrence of an injury or disease on
behalf of a member or beneficiary within ninety days from the
date of the occurrence of the injury or disease.
c. (1) Except as provided in subparagraph (2), an action to
require the city to provide the cost of hospital, nursing, and
physical or mental medical attention required by this section

House File 2680, p. 9
shall not be maintained unless the action is commenced before
the later of any of the following:
(a) Two years from the date of the occurrence of the injury
or disease.
(b) Two years from the date the city denies a claim to
provide hospital, nursing, and physical or mental medical
attention required by this section.
(2) A city shall not be responsible for any claim or action
for a newly discovered work-related injury arising under this
chapter which is filed after three years from the last date of
employment of the member.
DIVISION II
INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX EXEMPTION —— SURVIVING SPOUSE —— PENSIONS
Sec. 12. Section 422.7, subsection 19, paragraph a, Code
2024, is amended to read as follows:
a. Subtract, to the extent included, the total amount
received from a governmental or other pension or retirement
plan, including defined benefit or defined contribution plans,
annuities, individual retirement accounts, plans maintained or
contributed to by an employer, or maintained or contributed
to by a self-employed person as an employer, and deferred
compensation plans or any earnings attributable to the deferred
compensation plans received by a person who is disabled, or is
fifty-five any of the following:
(1) Disabled.
(2) Fifty-five years of age or older , or is the .
(3) The surviving spouse of an individual or is a survivor
having an insurable interest in an individual who would have
qualified for the exemption under this subsection for the tax
year.
Sec. 13. Section 422.7, subsection 19, paragraph c, Code
2024, is amended to read as follows:
c. (1) A taxpayer who is not disabled or fifty-five years
of age or older and who receives a pension or retirement pay
amount provided pursuant to section 97B.49B or 97B.49C, or
chapter 97A, 410, or 411 as a surviving spouse or as a survivor
with an insurable interest in an individual who would have
qualified for the exemption for the tax year may only exclude
the amount received from a the pension or retirement plan

House File 2680, p. 10
in the tax year as a result of the death of the decedent ,
regardless of whether the decedent would have qualified for the
exemption in the tax year .
(2) A taxpayer who is not disabled or fifty-five years of
age or older and who receives other pension or retirement pay
not specified in subparagraph (1) as a surviving spouse or as a
survivor with an insurable interest in an individual who would
have qualified for the exemption for the tax year may only
exclude the amount received from a pension or retirement plan
in the tax year as a result of the death of the decedent.
Sec. 14. RETROACTIVE APPLICABILITY. This division of this
Act applies retroactively to January 1, 2024, for tax years
beginning on or after that date.
______________________________ ______________________________
PAT GRASSLEY AMY SINCLAIR
Speaker of the House President of the Senate
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the House and
is known as House File 2680, Ninetieth General Assembly.
______________________________
MEGHAN NELSON
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved _______________, 2024 ______________________________
KIM REYNOLDS
Governor