Ask your Representative and Senator to sponsor six sections.
A bill reaches the Iowa Legislature only when a Representative or Senator agrees to sponsor it. Find yours, ask them to introduce the six-section draft, and hand them a short packet.
Not legal advice. This page is about a proposed change in the law. It is not advice about any order, any case, or any person. If you are subject to an order, follow it, and talk to a lawyer licensed in Iowa. An order already signed stays in force until the court that issued it changes it.
What a sponsor does
A sponsor introduces the bill, asks for a subcommittee hearing, and carries the language through committee and the floor. We ask them to introduce the six cheapest-first sections in the model bill. We do not ask for repeal of chapters 236 or 664A, and we do not ask them to reopen § 236.6 or House File 523. Existing orders stay in force until the issuing court changes them.
1. Find your legislator
Enter your address at legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find. The Legislature's page returns your Representative and your Senator with the contact details they publish. Use those. This site does not collect, store, or forward messages.
2. Ask them to sponsor
Copy the text below into the legislator's contact form or into your own email. Fill in the brackets. The ask is sponsorship of the six-section bill — not a vague “support.” One message, in your own words where you can, is worth more than a form letter sent twice.
Dear [Representative or Senator] [Last name],
I live in [city or town], in your district. I am writing to ask you to sponsor — to introduce and carry — a short bill on Iowa's protective orders: Iowa Code chapter 664A (criminal no-contact orders) and chapter 236 (civil protective orders).
Please consider sponsoring the six sections below. Each one is a safeguard courts already use when they uphold emergency orders:
1. An appeal from an order is not moot when the order expires, if the order still carries consequences.
2. Written findings before any criminal no-contact order longer than one year.
3. An evidentiary hearing within 14 days when the defendant asks for one, with the State showing the order is still needed.
4. A 30-day limit on the pretrial criminal order unless that hearing, or the defendant's agreement, extends it.
5. A candor requirement on petitions, with a fee remedy for a knowing material omission.
6. An annual public report, by county, on orders entered and what happened in the following twelve months.
The bill leaves in place final orders entered after a hearing and the 72-hour emergency orders expanded by House File 523. Draft language and sources are at foursafeguards.org/bill.
[Optional] If you sit on Judiciary, or can refer this to a Judiciary colleague, procedure bills that amend chapters 664A and 236 often start there — see foursafeguards.org/sponsors for the public committee roster.
I would welcome a chance to talk with you or your staff. Thank you for your service.
Respectfully,
[Your name]
[Street address, city, ZIP]
[Phone or email]
3. Hand them a packet
Print the one-page memo below, or print the longer sponsor ask kit (about two Letter pages), or the subcommittee oral outline and leave-behind. Hand any of them to a Representative, a Senator, or a legislative assistant. The print version of this page drops everything except the memo.
Four Safeguards · foursafeguards.org · November 2026 · Draft for discussion · Not legal advice
Four safeguards for Iowa's protective and no-contact orders
The problem
Iowa Code § 664A.3 requires a magistrate to enter a criminal no-contact order at the first appearance. The order can last the life of the case and then up to five years under § 664A.5. There is no hearing on the order itself, no fixed end before judgment, no required written reasons for the five-year order, and no candor duty on the person who asks for it. Violation carries a mandatory seven consecutive days in jail under § 664A.7, with arrest required under § 664A.6. Chapter 236, the civil order, sets a hearing 5 to 15 days out but gives a winning respondent no fee remedy, and an appeal from an expired order was dismissed as moot in O'Brien v. Young (Iowa Ct. App., Dec. 17, 2025).
The four safeguards courts already require
A verified, specific claim of imminent harm before the order issues.
A fixed short duration, not the life of the case.
A prompt evidentiary hearing, with the State carrying the burden on a criminal order.
Candor by the applicant, with a real remedy when candor fails.
The six sections, cheapest first
Non-mootness. An appeal from an order under ch. 236 or ch. 664A is not moot on expiration where collateral consequences exist.
Written findings of specific facts before any § 664A.5 order exceeding one year.
Hearing within 14 days on the defendant's request; the State proves continued necessity by a preponderance.
Fixed end. The pretrial § 664A.3 order expires at 30 days unless extended after that hearing or by agreement.
Candor. The petition recites prior orders, pending proceedings, and custody matters; fees under Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.413 for a knowing material omission.
Annual public report by the Judicial Branch and the Department of Public Safety: orders entered, extended, dismissed, reversed; contempt findings; repeat assault within twelve months; by county.
The measurement gap
Iowa publishes no outcome series for either chapter. The national evidence is small and split. Holt and colleagues, JAMA 2002: permanent orders, less police-reported physical violence over twelve months, relative risk 0.2 (95% CI 0.1–0.8); temporary orders, more police-reported psychological abuse, relative risk 4.9 (95% CI 2.8–8.6). Dowling and colleagues, Australian Institute of Criminology 2018, four studies pooled: odds ratio 0.59 (95% CI 0.47–0.73), which the authors call small. None of these numbers is about Iowa's mandatory criminal order.
What the bill leaves alone
Final orders after a hearing. The assault predicate. The 72-hour emergency order in § 236.6 as expanded by House File 523, effective July 1, 2026. Arrest for a violation that is then proved willful. Orders already entered, which remain in force until the issuing court changes them.
Draft bill text: foursafeguards.org/bill · Authorities with verification flags: foursafeguards.org/cases · Full memo: foursafeguards.org/research
4. Before you pay anyone a retainer
You do not need paid help to ask your own Representative and Senator to sponsor the bill. If you later retain drafting or Capitol help, run a written conflict check first, confirm registration on the Legislature’s lobbyist search, and ask for a one-page memo of the section they will actually file before you pay a session retainer. Do not hire a victim-services coalition to repeal or narrow its own statute.
What this page does not do
This site does not run a mailing list and does not collect email addresses for later campaigns. Every message to a legislator goes from you through the channel the Legislature publishes. For the site’s own channels: leave a public comment on the six sections (aggregate totals are published), or send a correction or feedback note. The session path is on the timeline. If the mailing-list rule changes, the changelog will say so.