DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Senate passed SF 514, the almost 1600-page government reorganization bill filed by Gov. Kim Reynolds, by a 34 to 15 vote. The vote was primarily along partisan lines, with State Senator Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, being the lone Democrat to vote with the 33 Senate Republicans present for the vote.
The bill consolidates 37 cabinet-level directors and agencies into 16, restructures department organizational charts, and rewrites swathes of the Iowa Code to reflect the state government reorganization.
The Iowa Senate passed an amendment that provided technical language offered by the Legislative Services Agency and also removed the language that lowered the required votes for Senate confirmation from 34 to 30.
State Senator Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, who chairs the Iowa Senate State Government Committee, managed the bill during the over two hours of debate in the chamber on Tuesday.
“It has been nearly 40 years since the state of Iowa has conducted a comprehensive, enterprise-wide assessment of government operations and structure. Since then, the needs and expectations of Iowans have changed. Now is the time to be forward-looking so Iowa in the position to attract citizens, expand our businesses, and grow our economy,” he said during his opening remarks.
Iowa Senate Democrats offered 12 different amendments that failed to pass.
Bisignano said he would support the bill even though he has problems with some of it.
“Once it leaves this chamber, it is in the House, and I can talk to the members of the House. And if I don’t support it here, I kind of given up my right to stay in the fight,” he said.
State Senator Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, disagreed with Bisgnano and said she would vote no.
“I have concerns about this bill, how big it is, how much power it gives to our Governor. I am a believer in checks and balances in the three branches of government. I think that several of our department heads have way too much work already, and we have some fires burning around state government already. And I think this will lead to an inferno,” she said.
State Senator Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, asked Senate Republicans if a Democratic governor had proposed the bill would they support it?
“Even if a Democratic governor had proposed this bill, I would oppose it,” she said.
Iowa Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, said the bill was just about giving the Governor more power.
“We can see this for what it is, a power grab by the executive branch, plain and simple.”
Schultz, in his closing remarks, countered Iowa Senate Democrats’ complaints.
“It doesn’t add or subtract services. It simply aligns the people already doing the work, causing efficiencies when there are deficiencies in personnel. It does not fire or lay off anybody. Attrition will actually be used in the human resources portion, but over 500 empty slots will be identified and removed. This is going to save money,” he said.
Schultz called the bill one of the greatest updates in the generational history of the state government of Iowa.
He also countered accusations that the bill represented “a power grab.”
“This is not a power grab. It’s (Reynolds’) branch. It is the next Governor’s branch. They are going to have the ability to control, to answer for, and to report to the people of Iowa what they are doing in a more consistent, even-handed, accountable manner,” Schultz argued.
Reynolds responded to the bill’s passage in the Iowa Senate.
“Serving the needs of Iowans efficiently and effectively is state government’s primary responsibility, and Iowans rightfully expect nothing less. Government alignment proposes the type of commonsense, fiscally responsible change that will improve how the executive branch works together, elevate services for Iowans, and save taxpayers a projected $215 million over the next four years. For too long politicians have only promised to reduce the size and cost of government, but today the Iowa Senate took an important step forward to making it a reality. I look forward to getting this bill across the finish line in the House and to my desk,” she said in a released statement.
Here are some of the changes the bill would bring if passed and signed into law:
- The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (a recent merger between the Iowa Department of Human Services and Iowa Department of Public Health) will take in the Department on Aging, Department of Human Rights, Early Childhood Iowa, and the Iowa Commission of Volunteer Services. The bill eliminates and replaces the State Board of Health with a Council on Health and Human Services. By incorporating DHR into DHHS, the bill eliminates the division of community advocacy and services, the division of community action agencies, and the division of criminal and juvenile justice planning.
- Department of Administrative Services will incorporate the library services duties of the Department of Education, the state archivist and duties related to state records and archives, and most of the historical division of the Department of Cultural Affairs.
- The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA) becomes the Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL). It will incorporate the labor services division and labor commissioner (currently under the Iowa Department of Workforce Development), the Workers Compensation Division, and the Workers’ Compensation Commission (Also under Workforce Development). Several licensing and regulation functions of state government will be transferred to DIAL, as will different department administrative law judges. The Civil Rights Commission will also fall under DIAL.
- The bill will move several legal functions of different departments to the Attorney General’s office. It also eliminates a provision in the Iowa Code that makes certain Iowa Department of Justice employees, and administrative law judges appointed or employed by the public employment relations board subject to the merit system. The bill allows the Attorney General to prosecute a criminal proceeding without first receiving a request from a county attorney to act as a county attorney. The bill also grants the Attorney General exclusive jurisdiction to prosecute election-related crimes.
- The Iowa Economic Development Authority will take in the arts division and film office of the Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as the State Historic Preservation Officer and Iowa Finance Authority. IEDA will also oversee the partner state program.
- The bill makes several changes to the Public Employment Relations Board. It removes the experience requirement of its members and the requirement that they are full-time. It requires members to meet at least quarterly and modifies language about the compensation of PERB members and employees. The bill provides for an executive director of the PERB who will be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Governor and will be subject to Senate confirmation.
- The Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management will administer the disaster aid individual assistance grant fund and disaster case management grant fund previously run by the Iowa Department of Human Services. The director of the department will be subject to Senate confirmation and serves at the pleasure of the Governor.
- The Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs will incorporate the Iowa Veterans Home.
- The Iowa Department of Public Safety will incorporate the Office of Drug Control Policy, originally an independent office.
- The Iowa Department of Workforce Development will incorporate the Department of Education’s work-based learning intermediary network program. It moves job training programs and the workforce development fund from the Economic Development Authority to Workforce Development. Accelerated career education programs, vocational rehab, and apprenticeship programs are also transferred to IWD.
- The Iowa Department of Revenue will incorporate the Iowa Lottery Authority and the Alcoholic Beverages Division of the Department of Commerce.
- The bill states that the director of the Iowa Department of the Blind will be appointed by the Governor, subject to Senate confirmation, and serve at the pleasure of the Governor.
- Iowa Department of Education will oversee the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School and Iowa School for the Deaf instead of the Board of Regents. The bill transfers the STEM initiative from the University of Northern Iowa to the department’s innovation division created by the bill. The legislation establishes the department’s higher education division, including the career and technical education bureau, the board of educational examiners, the college student aid commission, and the community colleges bureau. The bill will also establish a career and technical education program.
- The bill renames the Iowa Department of Commerce to the Iowa Department of Insurance and Financial Services creating insurance, banking, and credit divisions. The superintendent of banking and superintendent of credit unions under the bill will serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The bill eliminates the position’s four-year term and the legal requirement that those holding those offices can only be removed for cause.
- The legislation states that judicial district community-based corrections employees are employees of the Iowa Department of Corrections. Under the bill, the director of the Department of Corrections can appoint directors for each district, and the former district boards will operate in an advisory role only.
- The legislation also makes all five members of the Board of Parole full-time employees (currently, only the chair and vice chair are) and eliminates the three alternate board members. The bill provides that the Governor appoints the chair and vice chair from the board’s membership and will serve at the pleasure of the Governor subject to Senate confirmation.
- The bill also establishes a boards and commissions review committee to study the efficiency and effectiveness of each board, council, commission, committee, or other similar entity established by the Iowa Code.
