HF 652 (LSB 1480HV (3) 88)

HOUSE FILE 652

BY  COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT

(SUCCESSOR TO HSB 48)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the administration of city and school elections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 44.9, subsection 3, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  In the office of the proper school board secretary, at least thirty-five forty-two days before the day of a regularly scheduled school election.
    Sec. 2.  Section 50.48, subsection 7, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   7.  If the election is an election held by a city which is not the final election for the office in question a city primary election held pursuant to section 376.7, the recount shall progress according to the times provided by this subsection. If this subsection applies the canvass shall be held by the second day after the election, the request for a recount must be made by the third day after the election, the board shall convene to conduct the recount by the sixth day after the election, and the report shall be filed by the eleventh eighth day after the election.
    Sec. 3.  Section 50.48, Code 2019, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  8.  When a city council has chosen a runoff election pursuant to section 376.9, the recount shall progress according to the times provided by this subsection. If this subsection applies, the canvass shall be conducted pursuant to section 50.24. The request for a recount must be made by the day after the canvass, and the board shall convene for the first time not later than the first Friday following the canvass. The report shall be filed not later than the fourteenth day after the election.
    Sec. 4.  Section 260C.12, subsection 1, as amended by 2017 Iowa Acts, chapter 155, section 2, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  The board of directors of the merged area shall organize at the first regular meeting following the regular school election or at a special meeting called by the secretary of the board to organize the board in advance of the first regular meeting following the regular school election after the canvass for the regular school election. Organization of the board shall be effected by the election of a president and other officers from the board membership as board members determine. The board of directors shall appoint a secretary and a treasurer who shall each give bond as prescribed in section 291.2 and who shall each receive the salary determined by the board. The secretary and treasurer shall perform duties under chapter 291 and additional duties the board of directors deems necessary. However, the board may appoint one person to serve as the secretary and treasurer. If one person serves as the secretary and treasurer, only one bond is necessary for that person. The frequency of meetings other than organizational meetings shall be as determined by the board of directors but the president or a majority of the members may call a special meeting at any time.
    Sec. 5.  Section 260C.15, subsection 5, as amended by 2017 Iowa Acts, chapter 155, section 4, is amended to read as follows:
   5.  The votes cast in the election shall be canvassed and abstracts of the votes cast shall be certified as required by section 277.20. In each county whose commissioner of elections is responsible under section 47.2 for conducting elections held for a merged area, the county board of supervisors shall convene on the last Monday in November or at the last regular board meeting in November, on the second Monday or Tuesday after the day of the election to canvass the abstracts of votes cast and declare the results of the voting. The commissioner shall at once issue certificates of election to each person declared elected, and shall certify to the merged area board in substantially the manner prescribed by section 50.27 the result of the voting on any public question submitted to the voters of the merged area. Members elected to the board of directors of a merged area shall qualify by taking the oath of office prescribed in section 277.28.
    Sec. 6.  Section 277.4, subsection 3, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  The secretary of the school board shall accept the petition for filing if on its face it appears to have the requisite number of signatures and if it is timely filed. The secretary of the school board shall note upon each petition and affidavit accepted for filing the date and time that the petition was filed. The secretary of the school board shall deliver all nomination petitions, together with the complete text of any public measure being submitted by the board to the electorate, to the county commissioner of elections on the day following the last day on which nomination petitions can be filed, and not later than 5:00 p.m. 12:00 noon on that day.
    Sec. 7.  Section 279.1, subsection 1, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  The board of directors of each school corporation shall meet and organize at the first regular meeting or at a special meeting called by the secretary of the board to organize the board in advance of the first regular meeting after the canvass for the regular school election at some suitable place to be designated by the secretary. Notice of the place and hour of the meeting shall be given by the secretary to each member and member-elect of the board.
    Sec. 8.  Section 376.5, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   376.5  Publication of ballot.
   Notice containing a copy of the ballot for each regular, special, primary, or runoff city election must be published by the county commissioner of elections as provided in section 362.3, except that notice of a regular, primary, or runoff election may be published not less than four days before the date of the election. The published ballot notice must contain the names of all candidates, and may not contain any party designations. The published ballot notice must contain any question to be submitted to the voters.
    Sec. 9.  Section 376.7, Code 2019, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  3.  If the city holding a primary election is located in more than one county, the controlling commissioner for that city under section 47.2, subsection 2, shall conduct a second canvass on the first Monday or Tuesday after the day of the election. However, if a recount is requested pursuant to section 50.48, the controlling commissioner shall conduct the second canvass within two business days after the conclusion of the recount proceeding. Each commissioner conducting a canvass for the city pursuant to section 50.24, subsection 1, shall transmit abstracts for the offices of that city to the controlling commissioner for that city, along with individual tallies for each write-in candidate. At the second canvass, the county board of supervisors of the county of the controlling commissioner shall canvass the abstracts received pursuant to this subsection and shall prepare a combined city abstract stating the number of votes cast in the city for each office. The combined city abstract shall further indicate the name of each person who received votes for each office on the ballot, and the number of votes each person received for that office. The votes of all write-in candidates who each received less than five percent of the total votes cast in the city for an office shall be reported collectively under the heading “scattering”.
    Sec. 10.  Section 376.9, subsection 1, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  A runoff election may be held only for positions unfilled because of failure of a sufficient number of candidates to receive a majority vote in the regular city election. When a council has chosen a runoff election in lieu of a primary, the county board of supervisors shall publicly canvass the tally lists of the vote cast in the regular city election, following the procedures prescribed in section 50.24, at a meeting to be held on the second day following the regular city election, and beginning no earlier than 1:00 p.m. on that day. Candidates who do not receive a majority of the votes cast for an office, but who receive the highest number of votes cast for that office in the regular city election, to the extent of twice the number of unfilled positions, are candidates in the runoff election.
    Sec. 11.  2017 Iowa Acts, chapter 155, section 45, is amended to read as follows:
   SEC. 45.  TERM OF OFFICE —— TRANSITION PROVISIONS.
   1.  Notwithstanding the provisions of section 260C.11 designating a term of four years for members of a board of directors of a merged area, the term of office for a seat on a board of directors filled at the regular school election held on:
   a.  September 8, 2015, shall expire November 5, 2019 upon the board’s organizational meeting held pursuant to section 260C.12, subsection 1.
   b.  September 12, 2017, shall expire November 2, 2021 upon the board’s organizational meeting held pursuant to section 260C.12, subsection 1.
   2.  Notwithstanding the provisions of section 273.8, subsection 1, designating a term of four years for members of a board of directors of an area education agency, the term of office for a seat on a board of directors filled by election in:
   a.  September 2015 shall expire November 30, 2019.
   b.  September 2017 shall expire November 30, 2021.
   3.  Notwithstanding the provisions of section 274.7 designating a term of four years for members of a board of directors of a school district, the term of office for a seat on a board of directors filled at the regular school election held on:
   a.  September 8, 2015, shall expire November 5, 2019 upon the board’s organizational meeting held pursuant to section 279.1.
   b.  September 12, 2017, shall expire November 2, 2021 upon the board’s organizational meeting held pursuant to section 279.1.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill relates to the administration of combined city and school elections. The bill changes the withdrawal deadline for candidates in a school election from 35 days before the election to 42 days before the election, the same deadline for candidates in a city election. The bill applies the recount provisions of Code section 50.48(7) to city primary elections held pursuant to Code section 376.7 and requires the recount board for such recounts to file a report by the eighth day after the election.
   The bill changes the timeline for recounts for city runoff elections. The bill requires the canvass for such elections to be held on the first Monday or Tuesday after the day of the election. The bill requires a request for a recount of such an election to be filed by the day after the canvass, and the recount board to convene no later than the first Friday following the canvass. The bill requires the report of the recount board to be filed not later than the fourteenth day after the election.
   The bill requires the board of directors of a merged area to organize at the first regular or special meeting after the canvass of the regular school election. The bill also changes the date of the canvass for an election held in a merged area to the second Monday or Tuesday following an election, the same deadline for a second canvass required of certain cities and school districts pursuant to 2017 Iowa Acts, chapter 155, section 28.
   The bill moves the deadline for the secretary of a school board to deliver nomination petitions, along with the text of any public measure being submitted by the school board, from 5:00 p.m. on the day following the last day on which petitions can be accepted to noon on that day.
   The bill allows the board of directors of a school corporation to organize at a special meeting called by the secretary of the board to organize the board after the canvass of an election for school board members.
   The bill creates rules regarding the canvassing and recounting of primary elections in cities located in more than one county.
   The bill changes the expiration date of the terms of office of members of boards of directors of a merged area or school district elected in September 2015 or 2017 to the day of the board’s organizational meeting following the election.