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SF95 • 2026

A bill for an act relating to common carriers and including effective date and applicability provisions.

A bill for an act relating to common carriers and including effective date and applicability provisions.

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
TAYLOR, EVANS, SALMON, LOFGREN, GREEN, CAMPBELL, ALONS, GUTH, ROWLEY, WESTRICH and DE WITT
Last action
2025-01-23
Official status
Subcommittee: Webster, Knox, and Sweeney. S.J. 137 .
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

A bill for an act relating to common carriers and including effective date and applicability provisions.

A bill for an act relating to common carriers and including effective date and applicability provisions.

What This Bill Does

  • A bill for an act relating to common carriers and including effective date and applicability provisions.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2025-01-23 Iowa Legislature

    Subcommittee: Webster, Knox, and Sweeney. S.J. 137 .

  2. 2025-01-22 Iowa Legislature

    Introduced, referred to Commerce. S.J. 121 .

Official Summary Text

A bill for an act relating to common carriers and including effective date and applicability provisions.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
Senate

File

95

-

Introduced

SENATE

FILE

95

BY

TAYLOR

,

EVANS

,

SALMON

,

LOFGREN

,

GREEN

,

CAMPBELL

,

ALONS

,

GUTH

,

ROWLEY

,

WESTRICH

,

and

DE

WITT

A

BILL

FOR

An

Act

relating

to

common

carriers

and

including

effective

date

1

and

applicability

provisions.

2

BE

IT

ENACTED

BY

THE

GENERAL

ASSEMBLY

OF

THE

STATE

OF

IOWA:

3

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95

Section

1.

Section

6A.21,

subsection

1,

Code

2025,

is

1

amended

to

read

as

follows:

2

1.

Except

as

otherwise

provided,

for

purposes

of

this

3

chapter

and

chapter

6B

:

4

a.

“Aboveground

merchant

line”

means

“merchant

line”

as

5

defined

in

section

478.6A,

subsection

1

,

excluding

those

6

merchant

lines

that

are

underground.

7

b.

“Agricultural

land”

means

real

property

owned

by

a

person

8

in

tracts

of

ten

acres

or

more

and

not

laid

off

into

lots

of

9

less

than

ten

acres

or

divided

by

streets

and

alleys

into

10

parcels

of

less

than

ten

acres,

and

that

has

been

used

for

11

the

production

of

agricultural

commodities

during

three

out

12

of

the

past

five

years.

Such

use

of

property

includes,

but

13

is

not

limited

to,

the

raising,

harvesting,

handling,

drying,

14

or

storage

of

crops

used

for

feed,

food,

seed,

or

fiber;

the

15

care

or

feeding

of

livestock;

the

handling

or

transportation

16

of

crops

or

livestock;

the

storage,

treatment,

or

disposal

17

of

livestock

manure;

and

the

application

of

fertilizers,

18

soil

conditioners,

pesticides,

and

herbicides

on

crops.

19

Agricultural

land

includes

land

on

which

is

located

farm

20

residences

or

outbuildings

used

for

agricultural

purposes

and

21

land

on

which

is

located

facilities,

structures,

or

equipment

22

for

agricultural

purposes.

Agricultural

land

includes

23

land

taken

out

of

agricultural

production

for

purposes

of

24

environmental

protection

or

preservation.

25

c.

“Common

carrier”

means

a

commercial

enterprise

that

holds

26

itself

out

as

ready

to

engage

in

the

transportation

of

goods

27

or

passengers

for

hire,

as

a

public

employment,

and

not

as

a

28

casual

occupation,

and

that

undertakes

to

carry

for

all

persons

29

indifferently,

within

the

limits

of

the

enterprise’s

capacity

30

and

the

sphere

of

business

required

of

it.

For

a

carrier

31

engaged

in

the

transportation

of

a

hazardous

liquid

to

qualify

32

as

a

common

carrier,

the

carrier

must

establish

by

clear

and

33

convincing

evidence

that

it

will

transport

a

commodity

for

34

one

or

more

shippers

not

affiliated

with

the

carrier

who

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95

will

either

retain

ownership

of

the

commodity

or

sell

the

1

commodity

to

a

party

other

than

the

carrier.

A

common

carrier

2

determination

by

the

federal

energy

regulatory

commission

shall

3

be

controlling

for

purposes

of

this

paragraph.

4

c.

d.

“Private

development

purposes”

means

the

5

construction

of,

or

improvement

related

to,

recreational

6

trails,

recreational

development

paid

for

primarily

with

7

private

funds,

aboveground

merchant

lines,

housing

and

8

residential

development,

or

commercial

or

industrial

enterprise

9

development.

10

d.

e.

“Public

use”

or

“public

purpose”

or

“public

11

improvement”

does

not

include

the

authority

to

condemn

12

agricultural

land

for

private

development

purposes

unless

the

13

owner

of

the

agricultural

land

consents

to

the

condemnation.

14

Sec.

2.

Section

6A.24,

Code

2025,

is

amended

by

adding

the

15

following

new

subsection:

16

NEW

SUBSECTION

.

4.

Notwithstanding

subsection

3,

an

17

acquiring

agency

proposing

to

acquire

property

by

eminent

18

domain

pursuant

to

a

grant

under

chapter

479B

shall

have

the

19

burden

of

establishing

by

clear

and

convincing

evidence

that

20

the

proposed

use

meets

the

definition

of

a

public

use,

public

21

purpose,

or

public

improvement.

22

Sec.

3.

EFFECTIVE

DATE.

This

Act,

being

deemed

of

immediate

23

importance,

takes

effect

upon

enactment.

24

Sec.

4.

APPLICABILITY.

This

Act

applies

to

condemnation

25

proceedings

for

which

the

application

filed

under

section

6B.3

26

is

filed

on

or

after

the

effective

date

of

this

Act.

27

EXPLANATION

28

The

inclusion

of

this

explanation

does

not

constitute

agreement

with

29

the

explanation’s

substance

by

the

members

of

the

general

assembly.

30

This

bill

defines

a

common

carrier

for

purposes

of

Code

31

chapters

6A

(eminent

domain

law)

and

6B

(procedure

under

32

eminent

domain)

as

a

commercial

enterprise

that

transports

33

goods

or

passengers

for

hire

as

a

public

employment.

A

carrier

34

that

transports

hazardous

liquid

only

qualifies

as

a

common

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95

carrier

if

the

carrier

transports

for

one

or

more

shippers

1

that

are

unaffiliated

with

the

carrier

and

will

not

sell

the

2

hazardous

liquid

to

the

carrier.

The

federal

energy

regulatory

3

commission’s

determination

on

whether

a

carrier

qualifies

as

a

4

common

carrier

is

controlling.

5

Under

current

law,

when

a

property

owner

or

an

acquiring

6

agency

seeks

judicial

review

of

an

exercise

of

eminent

domain,

7

an

acquiring

agency

must

prove

by

a

preponderance

of

the

8

evidence

that

the

definition

of

public

use,

public

purpose,

or

9

public

improvement

is

met.

The

bill

provides

that

an

acquiring

10

agency

seeking

to

use

eminent

domain

pursuant

to

a

grant

under

11

Code

chapter

479B

(hazardous

liquid

pipelines

and

storage

12

facilities)

must

prove

by

clear

and

convincing

evidence

that

13

the

exercise

of

eminent

domain

meets

the

definition

of

a

public

14

use,

public

purpose,

or

public

improvement.

15

The

bill

takes

effect

upon

enactment

and

applies

to

16

condemnation

proceedings

for

which

the

application

is

filed

on

17

or

after

the

effective

date

of

the

bill.

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