A new state law is now in effect and it impacts Greene County residents.

House File 2130 allows residents to operate all-terrain and off-road vehicles on city and county roads. However, the ATV/ORV must be registered and be displayed on the vehicle, the operator must be at least 18 years old and have proof of insurance, and the vehicle must not exceed 35 miles per hour, along with two working headlights and brake lights. Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams stresses the importance of insurance being added to this new law.

“So it falls under the same (Iowa) code as for vehicles, so if you don’t have that proof of insurance it’s a 300 and some dollar fine.”

County Recorder Deb McDonald says these vehicles must be registered through her office, which yearly expire on December 31st. She points out this ordinance has been a long time coming. 

“We’ve had people come in in groups trying to get the ordinance passed locally and the Board (of Supervisors) was pretty steadfast on they wanted it to be a state law. So that’s what I’m most excited about is that my customers are finally happy with this bill passing. And some of these old ATVs that have been sitting in barns and pastures, people are digging out and they’re getting them registered. Everybody’s pretty excited about this.” 

The new law went into effect on July 1st. Contact the Greene County Recorder’s Office at 515-386-5670 for more information, or click the link below to see the bill.

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ba=hf2130&ga=89