The Iowa House Oversight Committee, including State Representative Charley Thomson of Charles City, has launched an investigation of the misallocation of $23 million in court fines.
Court officials first noticed the problem in late 2020 and the computer programming to distribute court fines wasn’t fixed until late last year. It meant money was incorrectly deposited in the state’s General Fund and victim services programs, the Iowa DOT, county sheriffs and others got less than they were due for five years.
Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison faulted court officials for waiting until late last year to notify lawmakers.
State Court Administrator Bob Gast testified at an Oversight Committee hearing that they brought in a national consulting group to diagnose the problem and didn’t anticipate it would take so long to figure out the extent of the errors. Gast said there was no “malfeasance” behind the errors.
Thomson, a lawyer, said he had doubts about the judicial branch’s response on sharing certain emails and communications about the errors, and the timelines it would take to receive this information.
Thomson added, “I’ve practiced for 38 years and I know malarkey when I see it, and I know malarkey discovery responses when I see them.”
Representative Judd Lawler of Tiffin said he doubts the computer programming was that difficult to correct and he asked court officials why they haven’t presented lawmakers with a plan to make up for the $23 million worth of funding errors.
Gast said, “The Judicial Branch takes full responsibility for these errors” and Court officials say they are developing a plan and will present it to legislators for the 2026 session.
