HF 2060 (LSB 5110YH (3) 88)

HOUSE FILE 2060

BY  SALMON

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the date for an election to authorize the issuance of certain indebtedness by school districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 296.3, Code 2020, is amended to read as follows:
   296.3  Election called.
   Within ten days of receipt of a petition filed under section 296.2, the president of the board of directors shall call a meeting of the board. The meeting shall be held within thirty days after the petition was received. At the meeting, the board shall call the election, fixing the time of the election, which may shall, consistent with section 296.4, be at the time and place of holding the regular school election under section 277.1. However, if the board determines by unanimous vote that the proposition or propositions requested by a petition to be submitted at an election are grossly unrealistic or contrary to the needs of the school district, no election shall be called. If more than one petition has been received by the time the board meets to consider the petition triggering the meeting, the board shall act upon the petitions in the order they were received at the meeting called to consider the initial petition. The decision of the board may be appealed to the state board of education as provided in chapter 290. The president shall notify the county commissioner of elections of the time of the election.
    Sec. 2.  Section 296.4, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   296.4  Notice —— ballots.
   Notice of the election shall be given by the county commissioner of elections by publication in accordance with section 49.53. The county commissioner of elections shall conduct the election pursuant to the provisions of chapters 39 to 53 and certify the results to the board of directors, except that for elections conducted on or after July 1, 2020, including elections subject to section 75.1, subsection 2, the date of the election shall be the date of the regular school election specified in section 277.1.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Subject to the approval of the voters when the indebtedness exceeds 1.25 percent of the assessed value of the taxable property, school districts are authorized in Code chapter 296 to contract indebtedness up to 5 percent of the actual value of the taxable value and to issue general obligation bonds to provide funds to defray the cost of purchasing, building, furnishing, reconstructing, repairing, improving or remodeling a schoolhouse or schoolhouses and additions thereto, gymnasium, stadium, field house, school bus garage, teachers’ or superintendent’s home or homes, and procuring a site or sites for such buildings, or purchasing land to add to a site already owned, or procuring and improving a site for an athletic field, or improving a site already owned for an athletic field.
   This bill limits elections for the issuance of bonds by school districts under Code chapter 296 to only being conducted on the regular school election date, which is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each odd-numbered year.