# Iowa SF 474: A bill for an act relating to services and support for youth, including treatment, physical assessments, and behavioral health evaluations for youth involved in juvenile delinquency and child in need of assistance proceedings; the licensing and certification of certain residential facilities; the provision of home and community-based services and habilitation services to certain youth by residential programs; administration and supervision of juvenile court services; and the suspension of Hawki eligibility for inmates of public institutions. (Formerly SSB 1120.) Effective date: 07/01/2025. Iowa SF 474, A bill for an act relating to services and support for youth, including treatment, physical assessments, and behavioral health evaluations for youth involved in juvenile delinquency and child in need of assistance proceedings; the licensing and certification of certain residential facilities; the provision of home and community-based services and habilitation services to certain youth by residential programs; administration and supervision of juvenile court services; and the suspension of Hawki eligibility for inmates of public institutions. (Formerly SSB 1120.) Effective date: 07/01/2025., is a 91st General Assembly (2025–2026) Senate bill sponsored by COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES; status signed, last action 2025-05-19 (Signed by Governor.); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-18). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IA-SF474-2025-2026 - As of: 2026-10-18 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Iowa SF 474 - State: Iowa - Session: 91st General Assembly (2025–2026) - Title: A bill for an act relating to services and support for youth, including treatment, physical assessments, and behavioral health evaluations for youth involved in juvenile delinquency and child in need of assistance proceedings; the licensing and certification of certain residential facilities; the provision of home and community-based services and habilitation services to certain youth by residential programs; administration and supervision of juvenile court services; and the suspension of Hawki eligibility for inmates of public institutions. (Formerly SSB 1120.) Effective date: 07/01/2025. - Status: signed - Chamber: Senate - Introduced: 2025-03-03 - Last action: 2025-05-19, Signed by Governor. - Sponsor: COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES - Cosponsors: 0 - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 3 (187 yes, 0 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 17 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Iowa pays for qualifying child assessments: benefit, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, Iowa’s health department must pay for qualifying child-abuse assessments, behavioral health evaluations, or related treatment. Payment applies to services under Iowa Code section 232.71B when the parent, guardian, or custodian consents. No other law can require payment for t… - Stronger treatment protections for youth: benefit, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, children’s psychiatric institutions must provide housing, food, supervision, assessments, treatment, counseling, rehabilitation, and related professional services. These services address serious emotional disturbances, substance use disorders, or both. Treatment for serious… - Minors gain public hospital placement options: benefit, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, courts can place minors in appropriate public hospitals for court-ordered inpatient evaluation or treatment in civil commitment cases. A facility’s chief medical officer must report and recommend a disposition within 15 days, with a copy to the respondent’s lawyer. Minors pl… - Publicly funded abuse tests get follow-up: benefit, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, mandatory reporters can arrange photographs, X-rays, physical assessments, or other tests at public expense to document medical evidence of abuse allegations. Health practitioners can arrange additional medically indicated testing. Those obtaining or performing tests must no… - Youth residential care gets age safeguards: benefit, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, care for people 16 or older in covered residential programs is excluded from the children’s residential facility definition. This applies when Iowa reviews the program under an approved Medicaid home- and community-based services waiver or another Medicaid provision. The cla… - Youth facilities get coordinated safety rules: benefit, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, Iowa agencies must write rules for protective locked settings in youth psychiatric facilities. Related rules cover foster care licensees, detention, shelter care, and children’s residential facilities. These settings prevent people from leaving buildings or grounds for safet… - Parents can owe child welfare costs: cost, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, courts can charge parents some or all of a child’s expenses in child welfare proceedings. Covered costs include care, physical assessments, behavioral health evaluations, treatment, legal costs, and related expenses. The court must examine the child’s or parent’s ability to… - Caregivers can face court-ordered health evaluations: cost, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, a child welfare court can order a caregiver’s physical assessment or behavioral health evaluation. The child must already have been found to need assistance. The court must hold a hearing, and the parent’s, guardian’s, or custodian’s ability to care for the child must be at… - Child-abuse reporters face training deadlines: cost, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, covered child-abuse reporters must complete core reporting training within six months of starting covered employment or self-employment. Covered work includes child assessments, evaluations, and regular attendance, counseling, or treatment of children. Reporters must obtain… - Children’s Hawki coverage pauses during confinement: mixed, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, Iowa must suspend a Hawki-eligible child’s coverage after the first 30 days committed to a public institution. The rule applies when the child is an inmate under federal program rules. The state suspends eligibility rather than ending it, preserving eligibility during the co… - Abuse investigations expand child assessment access: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, confidential access during a child-abuse assessment can include interviews, observation, or a physical assessment. During a preliminary investigation, a court can authorize inpatient or outpatient physical or behavioral health assessments without first holding a hearing. Thi… - Child welfare assessments gain court safeguards: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, child welfare courts can order physical or behavioral health assessments after a petition and hearing establish need. Outpatient care must be used when possible; inpatient assessments require necessity and cannot exceed 30 days. Before adjudication, inpatient assessment also… - Emergency child removals trigger assessment rules: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, a licensed medical practitioner must physically assess a child within 24 hours of removal or keeping without a court order. This does not apply if the child returns home within those 24 hours. Emergency court assessment orders require a removal order, too little time for a p… - Youth courts expand assessments and treatment: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, courts must check for possible behavioral health treatment needs after an alleged second delinquent act or second excluded violation. A finding of suspected need requires referral; courts can order approved assessments, recommended treatment, and caregiver education in the c… - Juvenile court staffing gets central oversight: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, Iowa’s juvenile court services director appoints each district’s chief officer after consulting district judges. Chief officers and staff work under the director’s supervision and direction. The director approves juvenile court officer appointments and authorizes staff posit… - Youth psychiatric facilities face licensing changes: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, children’s psychiatric institutions need both residential-facility and psychiatric licenses, plus a substance use license when providing those services. Applicants must identify whether they plan to treat serious emotional disturbances, substance use disorders, or both. Iowa… - Youth treatment beds face revised limits: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, Iowa can approve converting existing psychiatric treatment beds into specialized substance use treatment beds. The combined limit is 430 beds, unless the health department director approves more for good cause. Institutions licensed before July 1, 1999, lose an exception all… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-29 | Senate | Passed Senate | pass | 48 | 0 | | | 2025-04-22 | House | Passed House | pass | 92 | 0 | | | 2025-04-16 | Senate | Passed Senate | pass | 47 | 0 | | ## Actions (20) - 2025-05-19: Signed by Governor. (Senate) - 2025-05-19: Reported correctly enrolled, signed by President and Speaker, and sent to Governor. (Senate) - 2025-04-30: Message from Senate. (House) - 2025-04-29: Immediate message. (Senate) - 2025-04-29: Passed Senate, yeas 48, nays 0. (Senate) - 2025-04-29: Senate concurred with S-3125. (Senate) - 2025-04-23: Message from House, with amendment S-3125. (Senate) - 2025-04-22: Immediate message. (House) - 2025-04-22: Passed House, yeas 92, nays 0. (House) - 2025-04-22: Amendment H-1266 filed, adopted. (House) - 2025-04-22: Substituted for HF 984. (House) - 2025-04-17: Read first time, passed on file. (House) - 2025-04-17: Message from Senate. (House) - 2025-04-16: Immediate message. (Senate) - 2025-04-16: Passed Senate, yeas 47, nays 0. (Senate) - 2025-04-16: Amendment S-3098 adopted. (Senate) - 2025-04-14: Amendment S-3098 filed. (Senate) - 2025-04-03: Placed on calendar under unfinished business. (Senate) - 2025-03-03: Committee report, approving bill. (Senate) - 2025-03-03: Introduced, placed on calendar. (Senate) ## Bill text - As Introduced: [PDF](https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/LGI/91/SF474.pdf) - Enrolled: [PDF](https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/LGE/91/SF474.pdf) ## Related bills - HF 2801: A bill for an act modifying the major economic growth attraction program, and including effective date provisions. (Formerly HSB 785.) Effective date: 10/02/20… (signed) - SF 2472: A bill for an act relating to state and local government taxes, fees, financial authority, and budgets, by modifying property assessment provisions, divisions… (signed) - HF 2601: A bill for an act relating to campaign finance, including participation in ballot issue campaigns by foreign nationals and investigations of election misconduc… (signed) - SF 2399: A bill for an act relating to bail and bond amounts and conditions. (Formerly SSB 3162.) Effective date: 07/01/2026. (signed) - SF 2471: A bill for an act relating to fees for lifetime fur harvester licenses. (Formerly SF 2317, SSB 3121.) Effective date: 07/01/2026. (signed) - SF 2299: A bill for an act relating to the district-to-community college sharing or concurrent enrollment program. (Formerly SF 2176.) Vetoed 6-2-26. (vetoed) ## Sources - [As Introduced (PDF)](https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/LGI/91/SF474.pdf) - [Enrolled (PDF)](https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/LGE/91/SF474.pdf) ## Related - [HF 2801: A bill for an act modifying the major economic growth attraction program, and i…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IA-HF2801-2025-2026) - [SF 2472: A bill for an act relating to state and local government taxes, fees, financial…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IA-SF2472-2025-2026) - [HF 2601: A bill for an act relating to campaign finance, including participation in ball…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IA-HF2601-2025-2026) - [SF 2399: A bill for an act relating to bail and bond amounts and conditions. (Formerly S…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IA-SF2399-2025-2026) - [SF 2471: A bill for an act relating to fees for lifetime fur harvester licenses. (Former…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IA-SF2471-2025-2026) - [SF 2299: A bill for an act relating to the district-to-community college sharing or conc…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IA-SF2299-2025-2026) - [Iowa bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/iowa/bills) - [Iowa state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/iowa) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IA-SF474-2025-2026 (as of 2026-10-18).