Iowa Ordinances (2026)

Anyone moving honeybee colonies, packages, or used equipment with combs into Iowa must apply to the state apiarist for a written entry permit at least sixty days before entry, backed…

Iowa Code Chapter 459 governs animal feeding operations and substantially preempts local control over confinement livestock through the master matrix system administered by the Iowa…

Iowa Code Chapter 717F universally prohibits private ownership of dangerous wild animals including big cats, bears, and most primates. The ban applies statewide regardless of municipal…

Iowa Code Chapter 717B universally criminalizes animal neglect and cruelty, providing the legal framework prosecutors use in animal hoarding cases. The statute applies statewide and…

Iowa sets no statewide ban on backyard wildlife feeding, but Natural Resource Commission rule 571, 106.7(6) makes it unlawful to hunt deer with the aid of bait, grain, salt, mineral…

Iowa Code chapter 453A regulates vape and tobacco retail permits, requires retailer registration, and preempts conflicting local licensing schemes.

Iowa Code 124E and Iowa Admin Code 641 chapter 154 control medical cannabidiol dispensary licensing, location count, and operations. Only state-licensed dispensaries may sell…

Recreational drone use in Iowa is governed primarily by FAA Part 107 and the Recreational Flyers exception, with state limits in Iowa Code 808.15 on government surveillance. Iowa…

Iowa Code 331.301(6) preempts counties and cities from adopting minimum wage rates that exceed the Iowa state minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Iowa Code Chapter 161A makes every landowner statewide responsible for establishing and maintaining erosion control practices that meet their soil and water conservation district's…

Iowa Code 455B and Iowa Admin Code 567 chapters 70 through 72 require state DNR approval for floodplain or floodway development on streams above defined drainage thresholds. The…

Iowa Code chapter 455B authorizes the DNR to administer NPDES stormwater permits statewide. Construction sites disturbing one or more acres need state General Permit No. 2, regardless…

Iowa Code Chapter 359A imposes a statewide statutory duty on adjoining landowners to share construction and maintenance of partition fences upon written request, with disputes resolved…

Iowa legalized consumer fireworks sales and use statewide in 2017, licensing sellers through the State Fire Marshal (Iowa Code 100.19). Cities and counties may restrict use under Iowa…

Iowa DNR regulates open burning statewide under IAC 567 Chapter 23.2, prohibiting burning of trash, plastics, and rubber. Permitted burning includes small recreational fires…

Iowa Code Chapter 101 and the State Fire Marshal's LP-gas rules regulate propane storage, installation, and dispensing universally across the state, adopting NFPA 58 standards. Local…

The state fire marshal may prohibit open burning across any designated area of Iowa during extremely dry conditions that make fire a danger to life or property. Violating an active…

Iowa has allowed permitless concealed carry for adults 21 and older since July 2021, while still issuing optional non-professional permits for reciprocity.

Iowa Code 724.28 broadly preempts cities and counties from regulating firearms, ammunition, components, and accessories more strictly than state law.

Iowa permits open carry of handguns by qualifying adults statewide, though local preemption under Iowa Code 724.28 prevents stricter city rules.

Iowa Code Chapter 137F universally requires state food establishment licenses for mobile food units operating anywhere in Iowa. The state license is a prerequisite for any local food…

Iowa Code 99F.7 gives the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission sole authority to decide the number, location, and type of licensed gambling structures and excursion gambling boats…

Iowa Code chapter 99B bars any nonprofit from running bingo, raffles, games of skill or chance, or a game night until the Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing issues a…

Iowa Code § 99B.45 lets individuals gamble against each other in card and parlor games, including poker, without a state gambling license, but caps it hard: no one may win or lose more…

Iowa restricts sports wagering licenses to operators already licensed to run gambling games at a pari-mutuel racetrack enclosure or an excursion gambling boat. Under Iowa Code section…

Iowa has no general HOA assessment statute, so a planned-community HOA's lien rights come from its recorded declaration plus contract law. For condominiums under the Horizontal…

Iowa's records law for homeowners associations is Iowa Code chapter 499C, added by 2023 Acts, chapter 137. It gives a unit owner or the owner's authorized agent five categories of…

Iowa sets no dollar cap on a homeowners association fine and requires no notice, cure period or hearing before one is imposed. The amount and the process come from your declaration and…

Iowa gives an association a statutory assessment lien only where the community is a condominium under the Horizontal Property Act or a multiple housing cooperative under chapter 499A…

Iowa Code Chapter 137D exempts cottage food, non-time/temperature-controlled foods made at home, from licensing and inspection. Refrigerated or TCS foods instead require a home food…

Iowa Code chapter 237A sets statewide capacity limits, registration thresholds, and standards for child care homes and child development homes. Iowa HHS administers categories A, B…

Iowa is one of the few states that lets a home cook sell meals prepared to order. Iowa Code section 137D.1(4)(b)(2) puts made-to-order food, regularly prepared and promptly served or…

Iowa gives its police an express roadblock statute, chapter 321K, and then confines it. A routine vehicle roadblock may be run only as provided in that section, and the section lists…

Iowa has no statute granting an express right to film police, but it does not need one: Iowa Code section 727.8(3)(a) exempts from the eavesdropping offence any recording made by a…

Iowa is not a stop and identify state. No provision of the Iowa Code requires a person detained on suspicion to give a name, and the closest section, Iowa Code 719.1A, criminalizes…

Iowa has never legalized adult-use cannabis, and it has no statute about consenting to a vehicle search. The one search-limiting provision in the Iowa Code is section 124E.12(9), which…

Iowa Code chapter 317 puts a statutory duty on every landowner and tenant to cut, burn, or otherwise destroy noxious weeds under Section 317.10, following the destruction program the…

Iowa Code section 321.247 gives no statewide right to drive a golf cart on the road. Incorporated areas may, upon approval of their governing body, allow golf carts on city streets…

Iowa Code 657.11 grants animal feeding operations broad immunity from public and private nuisance suits, including noise and odor claims, preempting local ordinances that would…

Iowa Code sections 321.89 through 321.91 set the statewide framework for declaring, removing, and disposing of abandoned vehicles. Cities and counties enforce the law but cannot…

Iowa Code section 364.12 universally authorizes cities to require abutting property owners to remove snow, ice, and accumulations from sidewalks. The statute creates statewide tort…

Iowa Code Sec. 562A.27(2) lets a landlord terminate after 3 days' written notice for nonpayment of rent. For other material lease breaches, Sec. 562A.27(1) requires a 7-day notice with…

Iowa Code Sec. 562A.15 requires landlords to keep rental units fit and habitable, comply with codes affecting health and safety, maintain common areas and major systems, and supply…

Under Iowa Code Sec. 562A.19, a landlord must give the tenant at least 24 hours' notice before entering and may enter only at reasonable times, except in an emergency. Tenants may not…

Iowa Code Sec. 562A.9(4) caps late fees by rent amount. If monthly rent is $700 or less, a lease may not charge over $12 per day or $60 per month total. If rent is more than $700, the…

Iowa Code Sec. 562A.34 lets either party end a month-to-month tenancy with at least 30 days' written notice before the periodic rental date, a week-to-week tenancy with at least 10…

Iowa preempts local rent control. Iowa Code 364.3(9) bars any city from adopting or enforcing an ordinance that limits the amount of rent charged for leasing private residential or…

Iowa Code 364.3(5) restricts how cities regulate rental manufactured or mobile homes: a city cannot impose registration, licensing, or safety standards on them unless the same…

Iowa caps a security deposit at two months' rent. Under Iowa Code 562A.12, a landlord must return the deposit, or a written statement of deductions, within 30 days after the tenancy…

Iowa requires 10 years of open, hostile, exclusive, and continuous possession under a claim of right or color of title to claim title by adverse possession, drawing on the 10-year…

Iowa Code 335.2 exempts most farm structures and uses from county zoning regulations, preserving broad rights to operate agricultural land.

Iowa Code 657.11 protects qualifying animal feeding operations and farms from most nuisance suits unless plaintiffs prove specified statutory exceptions.

Iowa imposes a flat 5% state excise tax on the sales price of every short-term rental, collected from the guest by the host or platform like Airbnb and remitted to the Department of…

Iowa Code 68A.405 and 68A.406 set uniform statewide rules for political sign attribution statements, placement, and size thresholds; these requirements apply regardless of city…

Iowa Code 364.3(3)(c) (cities) and 331.301(6) (counties) preempt local governments from regulating consumer merchandise containers, including plastic bags, foam containers, cups, and…

Iowa has no statute that voids a homeowners association covenant banning solar panels. The only covenant provision in Iowa's solar chapter, Iowa Code section 564A.8, does nothing more…

Iowa Code section 476.49 requires rate-regulated electric utilities to offer net metering to customer-owned solar up to one megawatt AC that produces no more than 110 percent of annual…

Every public or commercial swimming pool in Iowa must be enclosed by a fence, wall, or building at least 4 feet high, with no gap wide enough to pass a 4-inch sphere and gates that are…

Iowa Code 453A.6 sets the minimum age to purchase or possess tobacco, alternative nicotine, and vapor products at 21 in alignment with federal law.

Iowa Code Chapter 455D bans yard waste, lead-acid batteries, waste oil, and certain electronics from landfills statewide. The Iowa Beverage Containers Control Law (455C) imposes a…

Iowa answers add-on lighting with numbers rather than generalities. Iowa Code section 321.403 allows no more than three auxiliary driving lamps, mounted on the front between 12 and 42…

Iowa never enumerates what may be stuck to a windshield. Chapter 321 mentions the windshield in only four places, and none of them is a list of permitted items, so a dash cam is judged…

Iowa Code section 321.275(4) does four things in one paragraph. It bans a motorcycle or motorized bicycle from being operated between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows…

Iowa Code section 321.37(3) makes it unlawful for a vehicle owner to place any frame around or over the registration plate which does not permit full view of all numerals and letters…

The word detector does not appear anywhere in Iowa Code chapter 321. What Iowa outlaws is the speed detection jamming device, defined in Iowa Code section 321.232(4)(a) as equipment…

Iowa Code section 321.442 starts from a flat ban: no tire moved on a highway may carry a block, stud, flange, cleat or spike of any material other than rubber projecting beyond the…

Iowa Code section 321.438(2) bans operating a vehicle whose front windshield, front side windows or front sidewings are excessively dark or reflective, and it leaves the number to the…