This Week at the Statehouse – Week 5

It was another busy week of subcommittee and committee work in the legislature.

The free speech and free expression on campus bill, SF 274 (formerly SSB 1099), passed the Senate Education Committee by a vote of 11-4. The bill awaits debate by the full Senate. The House subcommittee on HF 241 passed their bill out of subcommittee by a 2-1 vote. This bill would require the Board of Regents to adopt a policy similar to the University of Chicago January 2015 statement on free expression. The bill still needs to be voted on in the House Education Committee.

One of the bills related to alternative delivery methods for construction projects on campus had a subcommittee this week, HSB 2. The Board of Regents are registered in support of HSB 2. Subcommittee meetings are scheduled for HSB 56 and HSB 57 next week. The Board of Regents are opposed to these bills. The subcommittee is the same for all three bills. They are going to wait until they complete their subcommittees on all three bills before they determine what changes they will make.

HF 392 (formerly HSB 51) passed unanimously out of the House State Government Committee this week. The Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board brought the bill forward. Iowa Code section 68B.3 currently prohibits government officials and employees from selling goods or services in excess of $2,000 to ANY state agency absent public notice and competitive bidding. The conundrum with 68B.3 is that state law currently exempts certain types of services from competitive bidding, regardless of the amount of the contract (e.g. expert witnesses, doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers) but 68B.3 does not exclude those types of contracts. The bill amends 68B.3 to state the statute does not apply to a contract for professional services that is exempt from competitive bidding. The Ethics Board does not see the harm in excluding from 68B.3 professional services that are already exempt from competitive bidding requirements. The conflicts-of-interests statutes in chapter 68B would still apply.

This link is where you can find the complete list of bills the Board of Regents is registered on (in the box marked as lobbyist, type in Mary Braun).

Upcoming events in the legislature:

Feb. 18 – UNI Day at the Capitol, first floor rotunda

Mar. 8 – Legislature’s First Funnel Date (Senate policy bills need to come out of a Senate committee and House policy bills need to come out of a House committee to remain eligible for debate this legislative session)