A bill for an act concerning local government notice requirements on certain actions.

2025-2026 Regular Session

HF 651 would require public notices to be published 10–20 days before events and allow very small cities to post notices in public places instead of newspapers.

Withdrawn.

#citygovernment #localgovernment #notices

Summary — HF 651 (2025) — Local government notice requirements (Withdrawn)

Status and timeline
- Bill: House File 651 — "An act concerning local government notice requirements on certain actions."
- Introduced: February 28, 2025. Withdrawn: April 8, 2025.
- Key floor activity: Amendment H‑1213 adopted (applies conforming edits to align HF 651 with SF 588); Amendment H‑1045 filed (out of order); SF 588 was substituted; bill subsequently withdrawn.

Purpose / intent
- To modify how and when cities and other local governmental bodies must give public notice of hearings, elections, ordinances, and certain official actions. The changes focus on minimum and maximum publication windows, alternatives for very small cities or cities without a newspaper, and specific notice timing for several common municipal procedures.

Key provisions and substantive changes
- General publication window (section 362.3):
- Notices must be published at least once within a window of not less than (text reflects a change from 4 to 10) and not more than 20 days before the event. (Amendment H‑1045 replaces the prior "not less than 4" with "not less than 10" in the code provision; other amendments repeatedly require at least 10 days in specified proceedings.)
- Publication must be in a newspaper published at least weekly with general circulation in the city.
- If a city has population 200 or less, or has no newspaper, publication may be by posting in three public places permanently designated by ordinance.

Specific code sections amended (examples from H‑1213):

Section 24.2A(4)(b)(2): City public hearing notices for specified actions — require 10–20 day publication window; very small cities (≤200) may post instead of publish.
Section 28E.17(3)(a)(1): Joint agreement/bonding proposals — notice published at least ten days prior to hearings; valid petition under §362.4 triggers either abandonment or a special election.
Section 103A.12(2): Withdrawal from state building code — local governing body must hold hearing after at least four but not more than twenty days’ public notice (plus written notice to commissioner); ordinance effective no less than 180 days after adoption.
Sections 368.3, 368.15, 372.4: Discontinuance of cities, committee hearings on incorporation/annexation, and council reductions — hearing notices published per §362.3, with several provisions specifying at least ten days’ notice or two newspaper publications.
Earlier bill text also required minimum notice periods for: resolutions of necessity for public improvements (≥10 days to affected property owners), published notice for civil service commissioner appointments (≥30 days), and minimum 7‑day notices for certain revitalization-plan hearings and zoning/district boundary changes.

Who is affected
- Cities (especially small cities), city councils and clerks, county commissioners of elections, property owners affected by assessments or discontinuances, applicants/nominees (e.g., civil service commissioners), and residents who participate in public hearings or special elections.

Procedural notes / status
- H‑1213 was adopted to conform HF 651 to SF 588; H‑1045 proposed increasing the minimum publication window (from four to ten days in §362.3). The House ultimately substituted SF 588 and withdrew HF 651 on April 8, 2025, so the bill did not become law.