Terms Used In Iowa Code > Chapter 7D - Executive Council

• Administrator: means the administrator of the department of human services assigned, in accordance with section 218. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Advocate: means a mental health advocate. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Agency with jurisdiction: means an agency which has custody of or releases a person serving a sentence or term of confinement or is otherwise in confinement based upon a lawful order or authority, and includes but is not limited to the department of corrections, the department of human services, a judicial district department of correctional services, and the Iowa board of parole. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Agricultural products: means any product of agricultural activity which is tested for moisture content when offered for sale, processing, or storage. See Iowa Code 215A.1
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Antifreeze: shall include all substances and preparations intended for use as the cooling medium, or to be added to the cooling liquid, in the cooling system of internal combustion engines to prevent freezing of the cooling liquid or to lower its freezing point. See Iowa Code 208A.1
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriate secure facility: means a state facility that is designed to confine but not necessarily to treat a sexually violent predator. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assistive device: means any item, piece of equipment, or product system which is purchased, or whose transfer is accepted in this state, and which is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities concerning a major life activity. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Assistive device dealer: means a person who is in the business of selling assistive devices. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Assistive device lessor: means a person who leases assistive devices to consumers, or who holds the lessor's rights, under a written lease. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Auditor: means the county auditor or the auditor's designee. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the Iowa grain indemnity fund board created in section 203D. See Iowa Code 203D.1
• Chemotherapy: means treatment of an individual by use of a drug or substance which cannot legally be delivered or administered to the ultimate user without a physician's prescription or medical order. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Chief medical officer: means the medical director in charge of a public or private hospital, or that individual's physician-designee. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Child: includes but shall not be limited to a stepchild, foster child, or legally adopted child and means a child actually or apparently under eighteen years of age, and a dependent person eighteen years of age or over who is unable to maintain the person's self and is likely to become a public charge. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• clerk: means clerk of the court in which the action or proceeding is brought or is pending; and the words "clerk's office" mean the office of that clerk. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Clerk: means the clerk of the district court. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Collateral costs: means expenses incurred by a consumer in connection with the repair of a nonconformity, including the cost of shipping, sales tax, and of obtaining an alternative assistive device. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Commission: means the Iowa state civil rights commission created by this chapter. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Commissioner: means a member of the commission. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Concurrent resolution: A legislative measure, designated "S. Con. Res." and numbered consecutively upon introduction, generally employed to address the sentiments of both chambers, to deal with issues or matters affecting both houses, such as a concurrent budget resolution, or to create a temporary joint committee. Concurrent resolutions are not submitted to the President/Governor and thus do not have the force of law.
• Consumer: means any one of the following:
   a. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Consumer: means any one of the following:
   a. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Convicted: includes the conviction of a juvenile prosecuted as an adult. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Court: shall mean and include any court upon which jurisdiction has been conferred to determine the liability of persons for the support of dependents. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Court: means the district court in and for any judicial district of the state of Iowa or any judge of the court if the court is not in session at that time. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Delivery: means the transfer of title to and possession of grain by a seller to a grain dealer or to another person in accordance with the agreement of the seller and the grain dealer. See Iowa Code 203.8
• department: means the department of agriculture and land stewardship. See Iowa Code 212.1
• Department: means the department of human services. See Iowa Code 249L.2
• Department: means the Iowa department of agriculture and land stewardship. See Iowa Code 215A.1
• Department: means the department of environmental quality in a reference to a time before July 1, 1983, the department of water, air and waste management in a reference to a time on or after July 1, 1983, and through June 30, 1986, and the department of natural resources on or after July 1, 1986, and includes any officer or agency within that department. See Iowa Code 172D.1
• Dependent: shall mean and include a spouse, child, mother, father, grandparent, or grandchild who is in need of and entitled to support from a person who is declared to be legally liable for such support. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Disability: means the physical or mental condition of a person which constitutes a substantial disability, and the condition of a person with a positive human immunodeficiency virus test result, a diagnosis of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a diagnosis of acquired immune deficiency syndrome-related complex, or any other condition related to acquired immune deficiency syndrome. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Discharge: means an unconditional discharge from the sexually violent predator program. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• discriminatory practice: means those practices specified as unfair or discriminatory in sections 216. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Early termination costs: includes a penalty for prepayment under a finance arrangement. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Early termination savings: means any expense or obligation that an assistive device lessor avoids as a result of both the termination of a written lease before the termination date set forth in the lease and the return of an assistive device to a manufacturer which shall include an interest charge that the assistive device lessor would have paid to finance the assistive device or, if the assistive device lessor does not finance the assistive device, the difference between the total payments remaining for the period of the lease term remaining after the early termination and the present value of those remaining payments at the date of the early termination. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Employee: means any person employed by an employer. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Employer: means the state of Iowa or any political subdivision, board, commission, department, institution, or school district thereof, and every other person employing employees within the state. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Employment agency: means any person undertaking to procure employees or opportunities to work for any other person or any person holding itself to be equipped to do so. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Energy conservation measure: means installation or modification of an installation in a building which is primarily intended to reduce energy consumption or allow the use of an alternative energy source, which may contain integral control and measurement devices. See Iowa Code 7D.34
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Familial status: means one or more individuals under the age of eighteen domiciled with one of the following:
   (1) A parent or another person having legal custody of the individual or individuals. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Fund: means the grain depositors and sellers indemnity fund created in section 203D. See Iowa Code 203D.1
• Gender identity: means a gender-related identity of a person, regardless of the person's assigned sex at birth. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Grain: means the same as defined in section 203. See Iowa Code 203D.1
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Hospital: means either a public hospital or a private hospital. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Institution: means a birthing hospital. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Intellectual disability: means a diagnosis of intellectual disability or intellectual developmental disorder, global developmental delay, or unspecified intellectual disability or intellectual developmental disorder which diagnosis shall be made only when the onset of the person's condition was during the developmental period and based on an assessment of the person's intellectual functioning and level of adaptive skills. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Internet: means the federated international system that is composed of allied electronic communication networks linked by telecommunication channels, that uses standardized protocols, and that facilitates electronic communication services, including but not limited to use of the world wide web; the transmission of electronic mail or messages; the transfer of files and data or other electronic information; and the transmission of voice, image, and video. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Internet site: means a specific location on the internet that is determined by internet protocol numbers, by a domain name, or by both, including but not limited to domain names that use the designations ". See Iowa Code 4.1
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Labor organization: means any organization which exists for the purpose in whole or in part of collective bargaining, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms, or conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid or protection in connection with employment. See Iowa Code 216.2
• lawful enforcement: includes but is not limited to the following:
   (1) Contacting or interviewing any tenant of an elder group home in private at any reasonable hour and without advance notice. See Iowa Code 231B.10
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• lessee: means a nonresident alien, foreign business, or foreign government, or an agent, trustee, or fiduciary acting on behalf of the nonresident alien, foreign business, or foreign government, or any other trade or business which is under the lessee's common control as provided in 26 U. See Iowa Code 9I.3
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensed physician: means an individual licensed under the provisions of chapter 148 to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Livestock: includes but is not limited to an animal classified as an ostrich, rhea, or emu. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Loaner: means an assistive device, provided free of charge to the consumer, for use by the consumer, that need not be new or be identical to, or have functional capabilities equal to or greater than, those of the original assistive device, but that meets all of the following conditions:
   a. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Magistrate: means the same as defined in section 801. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Maintenance: means the provision of shelter, food, water, or a nutritional formulation as required pursuant to chapter 717. See Iowa Code 169C.1
• Major life activity: includes functions such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, or working. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• Manufacturer: means a person who manufactures or assembles assistive devices and agents of that person, including an importer, a distributor, a factory branch, distributor branch, and any warrantors of the assistive device, but does not include an assistive device dealer or assistive device lessor. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Mental abnormality: means a congenital or acquired condition affecting the emotional or volitional capacity of a person and predisposing that person to commit sexually violent offenses to a degree which would constitute a menace to the health and safety of others. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Mental health and disability services region: means a mental health and disability services region formed in accordance with section 331. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Mental health professional: means the same as defined in section 228. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Mental illness: means every type of mental disease or mental disorder, except that it does not refer to an intellectual disability as defined in section 4. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
• Mistrial: An invalid trial, caused by fundamental error. When a mistrial is declared, the trial must start again from the selection of the jury.
• month: means a calendar month, and the word "year" and the abbreviation "A. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Nonconformity: means any defect, malfunction, or condition which substantially impairs the use, value, or safety of an assistive device or any of its component parts, but does not include a condition, defect, or malfunction that is the result of abuse, neglect, or unauthorized modification or alteration of the assistive device by the consumer. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Nursing facility: means a licensed nursing facility as defined in section 135C. See Iowa Code 249L.2
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: shall mean the person holding record title to real estate to include both legal and equitable interests under recorded real estate contracts. See Iowa Code 172D.1
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Party: means a petitioner, a respondent, or a person who intervenes in a proceeding instituted under this chapter. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Patient: means a person who has been hospitalized or ordered hospitalized to receive treatment pursuant to section 229. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Payment: means the actual payment or tender of payment by a grain dealer to a seller of the agreed purchase price, or in the case of disputes as to sales of grain, the undisputed portion of the purchase price without reduction for any separate claim of the grain dealer against the seller. See Iowa Code 203.8
• person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Person: shall include individuals, partnerships, corporations, companies, and associations. See Iowa Code 208A.1
• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, cooperative association, or two or more persons having a joint or common interest in the same venture and shall include the United States, the state, or any subdivision of either. See Iowa Code 215A.1
• Person: means one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, receivers, and the state of Iowa and all political subdivisions and agencies thereof. See Iowa Code 216.2
• persons with mental illness: include persons with psychosis, persons who are severely depressed, and persons with any type of mental disease or mental disorder, except that mental illness does not refer to intellectual disability, or to insanity, diminished responsibility, or mental incompetency as defined and used in the Iowa criminal code or in the rules of criminal procedure, Iowa court rules. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Petitioner: includes each dependent person for whom support is sought in a proceeding instituted pursuant to this chapter or a mother or putative father of a dependent. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Predatory: means acts directed toward a person with whom a relationship has been established or promoted for the primary purpose of victimization. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Presently confined: means incarceration or detention in a correctional facility, a rehabilitation camp, a residential facility, a county jail, a halfway house, or any other comparable facility, including but not limited to placement at such a facility as a condition of probation, parole, or special sentence following conviction for a sexually violent offense. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Private hospital: means any hospital or institution not directly supported by public funds, or a part thereof, which is equipped and staffed to provide inpatient care to persons with mental illness. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner: means an individual currently licensed as a registered nurse under chapter 152 or 152E who holds a national certification in psychiatric mental health care and who is licensed by the board of nursing as an advanced registered nurse practitioner. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Public accommodation: includes each state and local government unit or tax-supported district of whatever kind, nature, or class that offers services, facilities, benefits, grants or goods to the public, gratuitously or otherwise. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Public hospital: means :
   a. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Purchased grain: means grain entered in the company-owned paid position as evidenced on the grain dealer's daily position record. See Iowa Code 203D.1
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real property: include lands, tenements, hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Reasonable attempt to repair: means any of the following occurring within the terms of an express warranty applicable to a new assistive device or within one year after first delivery of the assistive device to a consumer, whichever is sooner:
   a. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Recent overt act: means any act that has either caused harm of a sexually violent nature or creates a reasonable apprehension of such harm. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Region: means a mental health and disability services region formed in accordance with section 331. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Regional administrator: means the regional administrator of a mental health and disability services region, as defined in section 331. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Respondent: includes each person against whom a proceeding is instituted pursuant to this chapter. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Respondent: means any person against whom an application has been filed under section 229. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• road: include public bridges, and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" "common road" and "state road". See Iowa Code 4.1
• Rule: includes "regulation". See Iowa Code 4.1
• Safekeeper: means a person who is confined in an appropriate secure facility pursuant to this chapter but who is not subject to an order of commitment pursuant to this chapter. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• seal: shall include an impression upon the paper alone, or upon wax, a wafer affixed to the paper, or an official stamp of a notarial officer as provided in chapter 9B. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Secretary: means the secretary of agriculture. See Iowa Code 215A.1
• Seller: means a person who sells grain which the person has produced or caused to be produced to a licensed grain dealer, but excludes a person who executes a credit-sale contract as a seller as provided in section 203. See Iowa Code 203D.1
• Serious emotional injury: is a n injury which does not necessarily exhibit any physical characteristics, but which can be recognized and diagnosed by a licensed physician or other mental health professional and which can be causally connected with the act or omission of a person who is, or is alleged to be, mentally ill. See Iowa Code 229.1
• serious mental impairment: describes the condition of a person with mental illness and because of that illness lacks sufficient judgment to make responsible decisions with respect to the person's hospitalization or treatment, and who because of that illness meets any of the following criteria:
   a. See Iowa Code 229.1
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sexual orientation: means actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality. See Iowa Code 216.2
• Sexually motivated: means that one of the purposes for commission of a crime is the purpose of sexual gratification of the perpetrator of the crime. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Sexually violent offense: means :
   a. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Sexually violent predator: means a person who has been convicted of or charged with a sexually violent offense and who suffers from a mental abnormality which makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts constituting sexually violent offenses, if not confined in a secure facility. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
• State agency: means a board, department, commission or authority of or acting on behalf of the state having the power to enter into contracts with or without the approval of the executive council to acquire property in its own name or in the name of the state. See Iowa Code 7D.34
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Transitional release: means a conditional release from a secure facility operated by the department of human services with the conditions of such release set by the court or the department of human services. See Iowa Code 229A.2
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• undertaking: means a promise or security in any form. See Iowa Code 4.1
• United States: includes all the states. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• week: means seven consecutive days. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1