Iowa checks public workers, license applicants, and voter records

The Board of Educational Examiners requires license applicants and some current practitioners to show they are legally allowed to work in the United States. This applies to initial license applicants, applicants renewing a license, and practitioners who do not have regular renewal requirements. The board must accept either a document showing both identity and work authorization, or separate documents showing each. The rules apply to initial and renewal applications submitted on or after this division’s effective date. Other covered practitioners provide proof every five years.

An Iowa employer must not hire or keep employing a worker when it knows the worker used someone else’s Social Security number on employment paperwork. The employer rule covers a person who employs workers for wages in Iowa. An employer that violates the rule faces a $10,000 civil penalty. For a fourth or later violation, it must stop operations at that location until the majority owner and all managers there complete state compliance training. The text also makes it an offense to knowingly provide another person’s Social Security number to get work or something of value, or for an employer to knowingly provide a potential employee with a fraudulent number to hire that person.

Listed public employers must check newly hired workers through E-Verify, and licensing boards must check professional license applicants through SAVE. Some results must be sent to federal immigration agencies after an appeal, if one applies. Covered employers include state agencies, the legislature, cities, counties, school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter and innovation zone schools, and public colleges. SAVE checks cover professional license applicants. Covered people may challenge incorrect results with supporting documents within ten calendar days. For challenges under section 10A.114, the department must decide within seven calendar days. Verification duties are suspended if federal access to either system ends or the system stops operating or receiving funding. They resume automatically when access returns. E-Verify checks cover newly hired employees, and SAVE checks cover professional license applicants. The duties pause when the federal systems are unavailable and resume when access returns.

The state registrar checks voter citizenship records through a federal system and tells county registration officials the results. Officials mark unverified records as unconfirmed and notify those voters. The checks cover all registered voters. A person who is unlawfully present under federal law is not eligible to register. The notice must explain how to cancel registration, provide citizenship proof, or contact federal officials to correct inaccurate information. A registration is canceled if the voter does not provide proof within 90 days after receiving notice. The registrar checks newly registered voters monthly and all registered voters annually. The 90-day period starts when a voter receives notice.

Before trial, a court must detain a defendant without bail on a forcible felony charge if it finds probable cause and the prosecutor or court moves for detention, unless the defendant rebuts the presumption that release would not protect others. A separate presumption applies to certain defendants found unlawfully present. These rules concern defendants awaiting trial. The separate presumption covers a defendant found to be unlawfully present who is charged with an indictable offense. For a forcible felony, the defendant may rebut the presumption by showing that release conditions can reasonably protect others. For an indictable offense, the court must find probable cause and find by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant is unlawfully present before the prosecutor or court must move for detention; the defendant may show that release conditions will secure a return to trial.