ICRI: State of the States: Iowa

The State of the States in Environmental Dispute Resolution:
IOWA

Current Projects:	United States Postal Service	Employment Arbitration	Indiana Dept of Env. Management	Indiana ADR Providers	Shared Neutrals Pilot	U.S. Dept. of Justice
Completed Projects:	U.S. Env. Protection Agency	EDR State of States	Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission	National Institutes of Health	Focus Groups Sessions

Status:
The State of Iowa created a farm mediation service to address agricultural issues in the early 1980s. Today, Iowa also has a court-referred dispute resolution program. However, Iowa has not used ADR extensively in environmental disputes.

Legal Authority:
IOWA CODE ANN. 壯 654A.1–.16, 654B.1–.11, 654C.1–.7 (West 1995 & Supp. 1998) (establishing a farm mediation service and requiring mandatory mediation for certain disputes involving agricultural real estate, care and feeding contracts, agricultural nuisance actions, and agricultural construction activity); IOWA CODE ANN. 壯 679.1–.14 (West 1998) (authorizing the establishment of local dispute resolution centers; providing authority for centers to resolve court-referred, party-referred, or agency-referred disputes; and protecting the confidentiality of communications between the mediator, the parties, and the dispute resolution center staff).

Contact Information:
     Rebecca Colton
     ADR Grant Fund
     Supreme Court of Iowa
     State Capitol
     Des Moines, IA 50319
     Phone: (515) 281-7174
     Fax: (515) 281-3043

Program Summary

Iowa has an informal court-referred dispute resolution program. In addition, the Department of Natural Resources (Department) is required by statute to negotiate informally with alleged violators in air quality and solid waste cases. The Director of the Department also has the general authority to negotiate on behalf of the state in matters related to the reduction of pollution. Recent changes to Iowa’s informal dispute resolution statute ensure the confidentiality of mediation proceedings and grant judges the authority to refer appropriate cases to mediation.

Further Information

Publication

Iowa Attorney General, Miller Aims to Boost Use of Mediation (visited Mar. 22, 1999) http://www.state.ia.us/government/ag/med.htm

Indiana Conflict Resolution Institute
Last updated: June 1999
Comments: ICRI Administrator
Copyright 1999 - Indiana University, Bloomington