HF 341 (LSB 2282YH (2) 88)

HOUSE FILE 341

BY  MASCHER

A BILL FOR

An Act prohibiting persons from simultaneously holding more than one elective office and including applicability provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 39.11, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   39.11  More than one office prohibited.
   Statewide elected Elected officials and members of the general assembly shall not hold more than one elective office at a time. All other elected officials shall not hold more than one elective office at the same level of government at a time. This section does not apply to the following offices:  county agricultural extension council or soil and water conservation district commission.
    Sec. 2.  Section 39.12, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   39.12  Failure to vacate.
   An elected official who has been elected or appointed to another elective office to which section 39.11 applies shall choose only one office in which to serve. The official shall resign from all but one of the offices to which section 39.11 applies before the beginning of the term of the office to which the person was most recently elected or appointed. Failure to submit the required resignation will result in a vacancy in all elective offices to which the person was elected or appointed.
    Sec. 3.  APPLICABILITY.  This Act applies to the simultaneous holding of elective offices that results from an election or appointment that occurs on or after July 1, 2019.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill prohibits persons from simultaneously holding more than one elective office.
   Under current law, including provisions of the Constitution of the State of Iowa, common law, and the Code, the simultaneous holding of certain offices is barred, which is known as the doctrine of incompatibility of offices. The Constitution of the State of Iowa bars the simultaneous holding of offices for certain state-level offices. Common law bars the holding of multiple offices where one office is subordinate to the other, or where the duties of the two offices are inconsistent. Current Code section 39.11 prohibits statewide elected officials and members of the general assembly from holding more than one elective office at a time, as well as other elected officials from holding more than one elective office at the same level of government at a time. However, this statutory prohibition does not apply to the office of county agricultural extension council or soil and water conservation district commission. A person elected to an elective office to which Code section 39.11 applies is required to choose one office in which to serve and resign from all other offices. Failure to do so creates a vacancy in all elective offices to which the person was elected. 
   The bill provides that the statutory prohibition applies to all elective offices in the state. Additionally, the bill provides that the requirement to resign from an office if elected to multiple offices also applies to the simultaneous holding of elective offices which results from an appointment to an elective office.
   The bill applies to the simultaneous holding of elective offices that results from an election or appointment that occurs on or after July 1, 2019.