LobbyComply Blog

On Sunday, the Iowa House and Senate announced the legislative session will be suspended for a minimum of 30 days due to concerns over COVID-19.

The House and Senate will convene today at the regular scheduled time to consider resolutions regarding continuity of government.

Previously scheduled subcommittee and committee meetings have been cancelled, and standing committees will be on-call as needed.

The Capitol building opens today at 11:00 am, with entrances open on both the south and west sides.

The Department of Public Health will administer health screenings to all persons prior to entering the Capitol.

This includes filling out a health questionnaire as well as a temperature reading.

All schedule events, tours, and receptions at the Capitol are cancelled until further notice.

State Rep. Joel Fry introduced a bill amending lobbyist reporting requirements.

House File 2217 will require lobbyist client reports to be filed with the Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board instead of the General Assembly.

Additionally, documentation verifying all information in the report must be filed with the report.

The board will verify the information and may require a lobbyist client to provide additional documents to verify the report.

Violation of the new requirements is a serious misdemeanor, punishable by reprimand, suspension, dismissal or otherwise sanctioned, including confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $315, but not more than $1,875.

The new procedures will apply to reports due by July 31, 2020, for the reporting period of July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board named Mike Marshall to serve as its new Executive Director.

Marshall will replace Megan Tooker, who announced her resignation in November as the current Executive Director and Legal Counsel for the Board. Tooker is pursuing other career opportunities.

Marshall is currently the Chief of the Bureau of Professional Licensure at the Department of Public Health. He had previously been the Secretary of the Iowa Senate for eighteen years.

Tooker, who has served with the Board since 2010, will be leaving by the end of 2019.

The Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board is seeking a new Executive Director.

On November 12, Megan Tooker announced her resignation as the current Executive Director and Legal Counsel for the Board.

Tooker, who has been with the Board since 2010, is leaving to “pursue other career opportunities,” according to The Gazette.

Tooker intends to leave office in December.

Because of a clerical error by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office, voters in the state will not have a chance to vote on two recently passed constitutional amendments until 2022 at the earliest.

In 2018, the Iowa legislature passed two constitutional amendments. One proposed amendment requires any review of state legislation affecting the right to own firearms be subject to a judicial review standard of strict scrutiny.

The other proposed amendment deals with the line of gubernatorial succession for any vacancies of that office.

For the amendments to be added the state’s constitution, they must be passed a second time by the next sitting legislature and then be voted on by the citizens of the state.

However, after an amendment’s first passage, notice must be given to voters three months prior to the election of the next legislature.

According to Governing.com, the secretary of state’s office missed the deadline to file the notice for the public, requiring the process to restart and resulting in the earliest opportunity for the amendments to appear for voters’ approval to be 2022.

On June 21, Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election for House District 46.

The special election will fill the vacancy left by the resignation of State Representative Lisa Heddens.

Heddens resigned on June 17 to serve on the Story County Board of Supervisors.

Reynolds has set the special election for August 6.

The Iowa Legislature adjourned sine die April 27 after a 104 day session.

In addition to legalizing sports betting and instituting limits on local government property taxes, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill to modify disclosure requirements for gifts or bequests to the state.

House File 393 requires the governor and executive departments to file the gift report electronically with the Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board if receiving a gift or bequest on behalf of the state of over $50.

The bill removes filing requirements with the General Assembly and for any gift less than $50.

More ethics and campaign finance changes happening at the state level. Check out which states are making moves in today’s NYCU Video Digest!

On April 24, a bill relating to lobbying activities by political subdivisions was introduced into the Iowa Senate.

Senate Bill 639 would enact new statutes concerning political subdivisions contracting with or otherwise compensating a person to lobby on behalf of the political subdivision.

The legislation requires authorities for a political subdivision to use requests for proposals to solicit lobbying services, limits the duration for lobbying contracts to five years, and prohibits renewals of contracts without new requests for proposals.

Additionally, the bill requires public disclosure of the lobbying contract.

The proposed legislation defines “political subdivision” as a county, city, township, community college, area education agency, or school district.

The legislation also defines “lobbying” as direct action to encourage the passage, defeat, approval, veto, or modification of legislation, a rule, or an executive order being considered by the general assembly, a state agency, or a statewide elected official.

Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election for Senate District 30.

The special election has been called to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of State Sen. Jeff Danielson.

After serving 15 years with the Iowa Senate, Danielson has resigned to work with the American Wind Energy Association.

Reynolds has set the special election for March 19, 2019.

Republicans retained control of the Iowa House, Senate, and governor’s office in Tuesday’s election.

However, Iowans flipped two U.S. House seats from Republican to Democrat.

Democrats Abby Finkenauer defeated incumbent Rod Blum for the District 1 seat and Cindy Axne narrowly defeated incumbent David Young for the District 3 seat.

The 2018 Iowa legislative session adjourned sine die May 5, 2018.

The state budget passed both houses and a tax reform bill will cut income taxes by an average of 10 percent.

Gov. Kim Reynolds will have 30 days to sign or veto the state budget.

Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election for Senate District 25.

The special election has been called to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of State Sen. Bill Dix.

Dix resigned after videos of the married lawmaker kissing a lobbyist were posted online.

Reynolds has set the special election for April 10, 2018.

The majority leader of the Iowa Senate, Sen. Bill Dix, resigned on Monday, March 12.

Dix resigned from his Senate District 25 seat after videos of the married lawmaker kissing a lobbyist were posted on Iowa Starting Line, a left-leaning website.

Dix was up for re-election this year and ran unopposed in 2014.  Gov. Kim Reynolds has yet to call a special election.