All Roll Calls
Yes: 175 • No: 0
IowaSF 249791st General Assembly (2025–2026)SenateWALLET
A bill for an act providing for an assignment of assets for the benefit of creditors, exempting the related tax on the transfer of real estate, and including effective date provisions. (Formerly SF 2213.) Effective date: 01/01/2027.
Sponsored By: COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
Signed by Governor
ways and means
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
9 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 8 mixed.
Qualifying property assignments avoid transfer tax
Beginning January 1, 2027, Iowa exempts qualifying property assignments from its real estate transfer tax. The exemption covers transfers from an assignor to an assignee under the new Iowa assignment law. It does not establish an exemption for later sales to buyers. Savings depend on the covered transfer; the law states no fixed savings amount.
Creditors get notices and filing deadlines
Beginning January 1, 2027, known creditors get notice within 30 days after an assignment takes effect, unless they waive notice. Assignees must also reasonably seek unknown creditors and set one claim deadline no later than 120 days after the assignment starts. Claims generally require contact details, amounts, collateral information, supporting records, and a signature under penalty of perjury. Filing supports the claim’s validity, accepts court jurisdiction, and transfers related improper-transfer lawsuit rights to the assignee. Proper, undisputed claims must be allowed; some claims need no filing, and reasonable grounds can excuse late filing. After the deadline, claim lists are available with privacy safeguards, or a creditor class receives notice that it gets no payment.
Disputed creditor claims get payment reserves
Beginning January 1, 2027, assignees must reserve each disputed claim’s estimated payout dollar for dollar. They must start a court case before final distribution to reject an unresolved disputed claim; otherwise, it must be allowed. A claim later allowed on reconsideration gets a proportional catch-up payment before further payments to equal- or lower-ranking creditors. Reimbursement or contribution claims are rejected to the extent the underlying claim is rejected, liability remains uncertain, or the claimant asserts another creditor’s rights. Such claims that become fixed after the assignment starts are treated as fixed before it started.
Good-faith buyers gain asset purchase protections
Beginning January 1, 2027, buyers who pay for assignment assets receive the assignee’s rights in those assets. Sales remove the assignee’s lien and liens ranked below it, not every existing lien. Good-faith buyers keep these protections even when the assignee fails to follow assignment law or a court proceeding. Buyers lacking good faith remain subject to applicable rights and liens.
Payment order protects qualifying worker wages
Beginning January 1, 2027, protected secured creditors receive their collateral’s value first, less expenses benefiting them that they consented to. Next come administration costs, post-assignment taxes, rent, business-equipment lease payments, and wind-up costs, followed by federal-priority claims. Wage, salary, and commission claims follow for earnings within 180 days before the earlier of assignment or business closure. Their priority is capped at the greater applicable federal bankruptcy or nonbankruptcy-law amount; other priority debts and general unsecured debts follow. Equal-ranking claims share shortages proportionately, and interim payments require reserves for disputes and expected expenses. Eligible late claims receive remaining assets only after higher claims are fully paid; specified investment-related claims rank behind senior or equal claims, or with common equity.
Creditors gain cross-state asset recovery tools
Beginning January 1, 2027, Iowa recognizes another state’s assignment on an issue when Iowa law produces substantially similar results. Special rules address out-of-state wage and government claims. Courts can appoint an eligible out-of-state assignee or nominee to manage assigned assets in Iowa. After notice, people holding those assets must turn them over, except creditors with related liens or rights to offset debts.
Creditors gain oversight of asset managers
Beginning January 1, 2027, assignors and assignees are not personally liable for each other’s acts. Assignees remain liable for breaches of duties to creditors, with protections for good-faith reliance on records and carefully chosen experts. Contracts cannot excuse bad faith or reckless indifference; representatives’ protections do not cover gross negligence or willful misconduct. Creditors or assignors with reasonable grounds can seek court removal, and the court appoints a replacement when no eligible named successor serves. Unpaid creditors with allowed claims receive a final accounting; discharge requires asset distribution and completion of remaining duties. Contracts generally cannot remove statutory duties, but can add duties, set standards and time periods that are not clearly unreasonable, and provide limited liability protections.
Independent managers handle assets for creditors
Beginning January 1, 2027, assignees must be independent, without disqualifying creditor, insider, affiliate, or financial ties. Exceptions include their agreed fees and noncontrolling public-company holdings; prior services alone do not disqualify them. Both parties must sign an agreement listing assets, payment terms, fees, and a sworn statement assigning all assets. Assignees must act in creditors’ interests, keep separate accounts, follow tax requirements, disclose fee changes, and report at least every six months. Unless the agreement limits their powers, they can run or close businesses, sell assets, borrow, hire professionals, and settle claims. They can recover certain improper transfers within federal-law limits, while administration costs come from available assets not pledged to creditors.
New asset repayment rules for Iowans
Beginning January 1, 2027, Iowa replaces its old asset-assignment law with a new process for paying creditors. It covers individuals whose main home is in Iowa, Iowa-based or Iowa-governed organizations, and specified related organizations. Generally, all assets transfer to a manager called an assignee, except protected individual property and other excluded interests. The transfer takes effect when the last required party signs, unless a later date is set; organizations also transfer later-acquired assets. Assignors must preserve and turn over assets, provide verified asset, employee, and creditor lists, and help complete transfers. Assignees must file personal-property financing records and record real estate assignments where the property is located.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
Affiliation unavailable
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 5/3/2026
Passed Senate
Yes: 45 • No: 0
House vote • 5/2/2026
Passed House
Yes: 86 • No: 0
Senate vote • 4/20/2026
Passed Senate
Yes: 44 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Signed by Governor.
6/2/2026SenateReported correctly enrolled, signed by President and Speaker, and sent to Governor.
5/18/2026SenateImmediate message.
5/3/2026SenatePassed Senate, yeas 45, nays 0.
5/3/2026SenateSenate concurred with S-5257.
5/3/2026SenateMessage from Senate.
5/2/2026HouseMessage from House, with amendment S-5257.
5/2/2026SenateImmediate message.
5/2/2026HouseExplanation of vote.
5/2/2026HousePassed House, yeas 86, nays 0.
5/2/2026HouseAmendment H-8473 filed, adopted.
5/2/2026HousePlaced on Ways and Means calendar.
5/1/2026HouseCommittee vote: Yeas, 24. Nays, 0. Excused, 1.
5/1/2026HouseCommittee report, recommending passage.
5/1/2026HouseSubcommittee: Gustoff, Jacoby and Jones.
5/1/2026HouseRead first time, referred to Ways and Means.
4/21/2026HouseMessage from Senate.
4/20/2026HouseImmediate message.
4/20/2026SenatePassed Senate, yeas 44, nays 0.
4/20/2026SenateCommittee report, approving bill.
4/15/2026SenateIntroduced, placed on Ways and Means calendar.
4/15/2026Senate
Bill Text
As Introduced
Enrolled
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