Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 321.556 (2026)

Notice and hearing — findings and order

✓ current as of July 2026
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1. If, upon review of the record of convictions of any person, the department determines that the person appears to be a habitual offender, the department shall immediately notify the person in writing and afford the licensee an opportunity for a hearing. Notwithstanding chapter 17A, the notice shall meet the requirements of section 321.16 and shall be served in the manner provided in that section. Service of notice on any nonresident of this state may be made in the same manner as provided in sections 321.498 through 321.506. A peace officer stopping a person for whom a notice has been issued under this section may personally serve the notice upon forms approved by the department to satisfy the notice requirements of this section. A peace officer may confiscate the driver’s license of a person if the license has been revoked or has been suspended subsequent to a hearing and the person has not forwarded the driver’s license to the department as required. 2. The hearing shall be conducted as provided in section 17A.12 before the department in the county where the alleged events occurred, unless the director and the person agree that the hearing may be held in some other county, or the hearing may be held by telephone conference at the discretion of the agency conducting the hearing. The hearing shall be recorded and its scope shall be limited to the issue of whether the person notified is a habitual offender. 3. An abstract certified by the director of transportation may be admitted as evidence as provided in section 622.43, at the hearing, and shall be prima facie evidence that the person named in the abstract was duly convicted by the court in which the conviction or holding was made of each offense shown by the abstract. If the person named in the abstract denies conviction of any of the relevant convictions contained in the abstract, the person shall have the burden of proving that the conviction is untrue. For purposes of this subsection, a conviction is relevant if it is for one of the offenses listed in section 321.555. 4. If the department finds that the person is not the same person named in the abstract, or otherwise concludes that the person is not a habitual offender as provided in section 321.555, the department shall issue a decision dismissing the proceedings. If the department’s findings and conclusions are that the person is a habitual offender, the department shall issue an order prohibiting the person from operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this state for the period specified in section 321.560. If a person is found to be a habitual offender, the person shall surrender all licenses or permits to operate a motor vehicle in this state to the department. A person who is found to be a habitual offender may be assessed a fee by the department to cover the costs of the habitual offender proceedings. Fees assessed shall be paid before the person may be issued a license or permit to operate a motor vehicle in this state. [C75, 77, 79, 81, §321.556] 95 Acts, ch 143, §2; 98 Acts, ch 1073, §9; 2000 Acts, ch 1133, §13; 2001 Acts, ch 32, §46 Referred to in §321.555, 321.562\n\n 321.557 through 321.559 Reserved.

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Notes of Decisions
Cited in 19 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1978–2021 · leading case: State of Iowa v. Deshaun Marvin Lamar Williams, 910 N.W.2d 586 (Iowa 2018).
State of Iowa v. Deshaun Marvin Lamar Williams, 910 N.W.2d 586 (Iowa 2018). · cites it 22× “11 See Iowa Code § 321.556 . Once the IDOT determines a person is a habitual offender after initial notice and hearing, “the department shall issue an order prohibiting the person from operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this state for the period specified in section…”
State v. Peterson, 347 N.W.2d 398 (Iowa 1984). · cites it 4× “" Iowa Code § 321.556 (1983). Fundamentally, then, the commencement of administrative proceedings under sections 321.”
State v. Clark, 608 N.W.2d 5 (Iowa 2000). · cites it 6× “The matters were tried on September 2, 1998, whereupon the district court held the DOT procedure for adjudicating habitual offenders did not comply with the notice requirements of Iowa Code section 321.556 (1997). The district court thus dismissed the two counts of driving while…”
Iowa Dep't of Transp. v. Iowa Dist. Court for Poweshiek Cnty., 530 N.W.2d 725 (Iowa 1995). · cites it 6× “Iowa Code § 321.556 . The county attorney is then charged with filing a petition against the person named in the abstract.”
Bockelman v. State, Dep't of Transp., 366 N.W.2d 550 (Iowa 1985). · cites it 6× “When a person appears to be an habitual offender, section 321.556 states that the Director of Transportation “shall certify certain abstracts to the appropriate county attorney in order that he may file a petition and obtain a court order for the surrender of such driver’s…”
State v. Landals, 465 N.W.2d 660 (Iowa 1991). · cites it 4× “See Iowa Code § 321.556 . Landals never alleged she was not the person named in the abstract of conviction record.”
State v. Baudler, 349 N.W.2d 493 (Iowa 1984). · cites it 4× “See Iowa Code § 321.556 ; Iowa R.App.P. 14(f)(5) (“Ordinarily the burden of proof on an issue is upon the party who would suffer loss if the issue were not established.”
State v. Moret, 486 N.W.2d 589 (Iowa 1992). · cites it 2× “Iowa Code §§ 321.556 -.558. The abstract showed that Moret had been convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI) on three separate occasions in South Dakota.”
State v. Nichols, 264 N.W.2d 765 (Iowa 1978). · cites it 2× “Section 321.556 provides so far as material here that the commissioner of public safety shall certify abstracts of the convictions of a person who appears to be an habitual offender to the county attorney of the county where the person resides, and the county attorney shall…”
State, Dep't of Transp. v. Marvin, 307 N.W.2d 10 (Iowa 1981). “The statute (§ 321.556) directs the county attorney to file a petition asking the court to determine if defendant was a habitual offender.”
State v. Brauer, 540 N.W.2d 442 (Iowa 1995). · cites it 5× “§ 321.556. Attached to the petition was an abstract of convictions showing that Jeffrey Alan Brauer had been convicted of OWI on August 18, 1989, a second OWI on September 15, 1989, and driving under suspension on July 18, 1994.”
State v. Walker, 473 N.W.2d 221 (Iowa Ct. App. 1991). · cites it 2× “See Iowa Code § 321.556 . Landals, 465 N.W.2d at 662 .”
— Iowa Code § 321.556(1) — 1 case
State of Iowa v. Deshaun Marvin Lamar Williams, 910 N.W.2d 586 (Iowa 2018). “11 See Iowa Code § 321.556 . Once the IDOT determines a person is a habitual offender after initial notice and hearing, “the department shall issue an order prohibiting the person from operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this state for the period specified in section…”
— Iowa Code § 321.556(4) — 4 cases
State of Iowa v. Deshaun Marvin Lamar Williams, 910 N.W.2d 586 (Iowa 2018). “11 See Iowa Code § 321.556 . Once the IDOT determines a person is a habitual offender after initial notice and hearing, “the department shall issue an order prohibiting the person from operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this state for the period specified in section…”
State v. Clark, 608 N.W.2d 5 (Iowa 2000). “The matters were tried on September 2, 1998, whereupon the district court held the DOT procedure for adjudicating habitual offenders did not comply with the notice requirements of Iowa Code section 321.556 (1997). The district court thus dismissed the two counts of driving while…”
State of Iowa v. Deshaun Williams (Iowa Ct. App. 2017).
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.