House File 2242 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 2242 BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT (SUCCESSOR TO HSB 520) A BILL FOR An Act prohibiting certain public officials from simultaneously 1 holding more than one elective office and including 2 applicability provisions. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 5236HV (1) 88 jh/tm
H.F. 2242 Section 1. Section 39.11, Code 2020, is amended to read as 1 follows: 2 39.11 More than one office prohibited. 3 Statewide elected officials , county board of supervisors, 4 and members of the general assembly shall not hold more than 5 one elective office at one time. All other elected officials 6 shall not hold more than one elective office at the same level 7 of government at a time. This section does not apply to the 8 following offices: county agricultural extension council or 9 soil and water conservation district commission. 10 Sec. 2. Section 39.12, Code 2020, is amended to read as 11 follows: 12 39.12 Failure to vacate. 13 An elected official who has been elected or appointed to 14 another elective office to which section 39.11 applies shall 15 choose only one office in which to serve. The official shall 16 resign from all but one of the offices to which section 39.11 17 applies before the beginning of the term of the office to which 18 the person was most recently elected or appointed . Failure to 19 submit the required resignation will result in a vacancy in all 20 elective offices to which the person was elected or appointed . 21 Sec. 3. APPLICABILITY. This Act applies to the simultaneous 22 holding of elective offices that results from an election or 23 appointment that occurs on or after July 1, 2020. 24 EXPLANATION 25 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 26 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 27 This bill prohibits certain public officials from 28 simultaneously holding more than one elective office. 29 Under current law, including provisions of the Constitution 30 of the State of Iowa, common law, and the Code, the 31 simultaneous holding of certain offices is barred, which is 32 known as the doctrine of incompatibility of offices. The 33 Constitution of the State of Iowa bars the simultaneous holding 34 of offices for certain state-level offices. Common law bars 35 -1- LSB 5236HV (1) 88 jh/tm 1/ 2
H.F. 2242 the holding of multiple offices where one office is subordinate 1 to the other, or where the duties of the two offices are 2 inconsistent. Current Code section 39.11 prohibits statewide 3 elected officials and members of the general assembly from 4 holding more than one elective office at a time, as well as 5 other elected officials from holding more than one elective 6 office at the same level of government at a time. However, the 7 offices of county agricultural extension council and soil and 8 water conservation district commission are exempt from this 9 statutory prohibition. A person elected to an elective office 10 to which Code section 39.11 applies is required to choose one 11 office in which to serve and resign from all other offices. 12 Failure to do so creates a vacancy in all elective offices to 13 which the person was elected. 14 The bill provides that the statutory prohibition also 15 applies to county board of supervisors and strikes the 16 exemption for the offices of county agricultural extension 17 council and water conservation district commission. 18 Additionally, the bill provides that the requirement to resign 19 from an office if elected to multiple offices also applies to 20 the simultaneous holding of elective offices which results from 21 an appointment to an elective office. 22 The bill applies to the simultaneous holding of elective 23 offices that results from an election or appointment that 24 occurs on or after July 1, 2020. 25 -2- LSB 5236HV (1) 88 jh/tm 2/ 2