# Civil penalty.

**Citation:** Iowa Code § 479.31  
**Type / status:** regulation / current  
**Agency:** Iowa General Assembly, Legislative Services Agency  
**Effective:** Not stated  
**Published:** 2025-12-22

1. A person who violates this chapter or any rule or order issued pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to a civil penalty levied by the commission in accordance with 49 C.F.R. penalties collected pursuant to this section shall be forwarded by the chief operating officer of the commission to the

## Document text

1. A person who violates this chapter or any rule or order issued pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to a civil penalty levied by the commission in accordance with 49 C.F.R. penalties collected pursuant to this section shall be forwarded by the chief operating officer of the commission to the treasurer of state to be credited to the general fund of the state and appropriated to the department of health and human services for purposes of the low income home energy assistance program and the weatherization assistance program.

2. Any civil penalty may be compromised by the commission. In determining the amount of the penalty, or the amount agreed upon in compromise, the appropriateness of the penalty to the size of the business of the person charged, the gravity of the violation, and the good faith of the person charged in attempting to achieve compliance, after notification of a violation, shall be considered. The amount of the penalty, when finally determined, or the amount agreed upon in compromise, may be deducted from any sums owed by the state to the person charged, or may be recovered in a civil action.

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/479.pdf>
- Source ID: `ia-legislature-pipeline-safety`
- SHA-256: `c8601da1a5d48e31b08646a92a8441a597f0fa339c4f43b4492d804dd79aebf8`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T08:17:15.771Z
- Exported: 2026-08-24T18:33:41.134Z
- Document slug: `ia-code-479-31`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "jurisdiction": "US-IA",
  "codeEdition": "2026 Iowa Code",
  "exactScope": "This bounded corpus contains every current rule in 199 IAC chapters 10 and 19, the two chapters identified by the Iowa Utilities Commission pipeline-safety page, plus 15 selected Iowa Code sections that directly establish gas-utility applicability, inspection and rulemaking authority, enforcement, penalties, and acceptance of federal pipeline-safety aid. It does not claim all Iowa pipeline law or all of Iowa Code chapters 476 and 479.",
  "excludedScope": "Excluded are hazardous-liquid safety (which the IUC says remains exclusively with PHMSA), hazardous-liquid permitting in 199 IAC chapter 13 and Iowa Code chapter 479B, damage prevention and one-call law, agricultural restoration chapter 9, railroad-crossing chapter 42, general procedure and filing chapters, permits/orders/forms, privately owned propane service, and federal or private incorporated text. Former 199 IAC chapter 12 is inventoried as repealed and is not searchable.",
  "applicabilityCaveat": "Applicability depends on IUC jurisdiction, public-utility or pipeline-company status, intrastate versus interstate status, the gas and facility involved, customer count, rate regulation, exemptions, federal preemption, waivers, permits, tariffs, and Commission orders. Iowa inspects interstate gas operators only as PHMSA's agent; federal authorities retain enforcement. Chapter 19 is limited to rate-regulated gas utilities except where another law or order extends a duty.",
  "incorporationCaveat": "The rules incorporate or reference 49 CFR Parts 191, 192, 193, and 199; ASME B31.8-2022; NFPA 59-2024, NFPA 54-2024, and NFPA 501A-2021; other Iowa rules and statutes; federal forms and interpretations; and utility tariffs. The connector records citations but does not reproduce incorporated federal or private material, decide which edition controls beyond the state text, or grant rights in private standards.",
  "publicationCaveat": "The current IAC chapter listings dated August 5, 2026 are used to prove chapter and rule inventory; their official PDF and DOCX-formatted 'RTF' artifacts are archived independently. The official 2026 Iowa Code was published December 22, 2025. The live 2026 Code & Acts Sections Amended report is provisional; signed HF 2799 sections 23 and 24, effective July 1, 2026, are preserved as overlays to selected sections 476.1B and 476.2. Any unexpected selected-section amendment causes refresh failure.",
  "rights": "Iowa legal text and other government edicts are preserved with official attribution and cryptographic provenance. Public access does not grant rights in agency seals, website presentation, forms, utility filings, incorporated federal compilations, or privately authored standards; redistribution of those materials requires a separate rights review.",
  "references": [],
  "codeHistory": "[C71, 73, 75, §490.31; C77, 79, §479.29; C81, §479.31] 91 Acts, ch 112, §3; 95 Acts, ch 192, §14; 2013 Acts, ch 2, §1; 2017 Acts, ch 169, §45, 49; 2018 Acts, ch 1160, §26; 2021 Acts, ch 75, §3; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §1179; 2024 Acts, ch 1170, §369 Referred to in §479.29",
  "currentActsOverlay": null,
  "region": "IA"
}
```