CHAPTER 2A
LEGISLATIVE SERVICES AGENCY

Referred to in §2.42, 2B.33, 2B.34, 2B.35, 2B.37, 2B.39

  
     
2A.1  Legislative services agency created — services — legislative privileges — nonpartisanship and nonadvocacy.
  1.  A legislative services agency is created as a nonpartisan, central legislative staff agency under the direction and control of the legislative council. The agency shall cooperate with and serve all members of the general assembly, the legislative council, and committees of the general assembly.
  2.  The legislative services agency shall provide the following services:
  a.  Legal and fiscal analysis, including legal drafting services, fiscal analysis of legislation, and state expenditure, revenue, and budget review.
  b.  State government oversight and performance evaluation.
  c.  Staffing of standing committees, revenue and budget committees, statutory committees, and interim study committees, and any subcommittees of such committees, including the provision of legal and fiscal analysis to committees and subcommittees.
  d.  Publication of the official legal publications of the state, including but not limited to the Iowa Acts, Iowa Code, Iowa administrative bulletin, Iowa administrative code, and Iowa court rules as provided in chapter 2B. The legislative services agency shall do all of the following:
  (1)  Designate a legal publication described in chapter 2B as an official legal publication. The legislative services agency may also designate a legal publication as an unofficial legal publication. The legislative services agency may use the great seal of the state of Iowa as provided in section 1A.1 or other symbol to identify an official or unofficial legal publication.
  (2)  Provide for citing official legal publications as provided in chapter 2B.
  e.  Operation and maintenance of the legislative computer systems used by the senate, house of representatives, and the central legislative staff agencies.
  f.  Provision of legislative information to the public, provision of library information, management of legislative visitor protocol services, and provision of capitol tour guide services.
  g.  Other functions as assigned to the legislative services agency by the legislative council or the general assembly.
  3.  The legislative services agency shall provide services to the general assembly in such a manner as to preserve the authority of the senate and the house of representatives to determine their own rules of proceedings and to exercise all other powers necessary for a separate branch of the general assembly of a free and independent state, and to protect the legislative privileges of the members and employees of the general assembly. In providing services to the general assembly, the legislative services agency shall adhere to all applicable policies of the general assembly and its constituent bodies relating to public access to legislative information and related confidentiality restrictions.
  4.  The director and all other employees of the legislative services agency shall not participate in partisan political activities and shall not be identified as advocates or opponents of issues subject to legislative debate except as otherwise provided by law or by the legislative council.
2003 Acts, ch 35, §1, 49; 2010 Acts, ch 1031, §27; 2014 Acts, ch 1141, §31
Referred to in §2B.17, 2B.18

     
2A.2  Director — duties.
  1.  The administrative head of the legislative services agency shall be the director appointed by the legislative council as provided in section 2.42. The salary of the director shall be set by the legislative council.
  2.  The director shall do all of the following:
  a.  Employ persons with expertise to perform the legal, fiscal, technical, and other functions which are required to be performed by the legislative services agency by this chapter or are assigned to the legislative services agency by the legislative council or the general assembly.
  b.  Supervise all employees of the legislative services agency, including the legal counsel designated to provide legal assistance to the administrative rules review committee, and supervise any outside service providers retained by the legislative services agency.
  c.  Supervise all expenditures of the agency.
  d.  Supervise the legal and fiscal analysis and legal publication functions of the agency.
  e.  Supervise the government oversight and program evaluation functions of the agency.
  f.  Supervise the committee staffing functions of the agency.
  g.  Supervise the computer systems services functions of the agency.
  h.  Supervise the legislative and library information, legislative visitor protocol, and capitol tour guide functions of the agency.
  i.  Perform other functions as assigned to the director by the legislative council or the general assembly.
2003 Acts, ch 35, §2, 49

     
2A.3  Information access — confidentiality — subpoenas.
  1.  a.  The director and agents and employees of the legislative services agency, with respect to the agency’s provision of services relating to fiscal analysis of legislation, state expenditure, revenue, and budget review, state government oversight and performance evaluation, and staffing of revenue and budget committees, shall at all times have access to all agencies, offices, boards, and commissions of the state and its political subdivisions and private organizations providing services to individuals under contracts with state agencies, offices, boards, or commissions and to the information, records, instrumentalities, and properties used in the performance of such entities’ statutory duties or contractual arrangements. All such entities and the described private organizations shall cooperate with the director, and shall make available to the director such information, records, instrumentalities, and properties upon request.
  b.  If the information sought by the legislative services agency, with respect to the agency’s provision of services described in paragraph “a”, is required by law to be kept confidential, the agency shall have access to the information, but shall maintain the confidentiality of the information and is subject to the same penalties as the lawful custodian of the information for dissemination of the information. However, the legislative services agency shall not have access to tax return information except for individual income tax sample data as provided in section 422.72, subsection 1.
  c.  The director may issue subpoenas for production of any information, records, instrumentalities, or properties to which the director is authorized to have access under paragraph “a”. If any person subpoenaed refuses to produce the information, records, instrumentalities, or properties, the director may apply to the district court having jurisdiction over that person for the enforcement of the subpoena.
  2.  The director and agents and employees of the legislative services agency, with respect to the agency’s provision of services relating to legal analysis, drafting, and publications, staffing of subject matter standing and statutory committees, and provision of legislative information to the public, may call upon any agency, office, board, or commission of the state or any of its political subdivisions or private organizations providing services to individuals under contracts with a state agency, office, board, or commission for such information and assistance as may be needed in the provision of services described in this subsection. Such information and assistance shall be furnished within the resources and authority of such agency, office, board, or commission. This requirement of furnishing such information and assistance shall not be construed to require the production or opening of any public records which are required by law to be kept private or confidential.
  3.  The director, an agent or former agent, and an employee or former employee of the legislative services agency shall not be compelled to give testimony or to appear and produce documentary evidence in a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding if the testimony or documentary evidence sought relates to a legislative duty or act concerning the consideration or passage or rejection of proposed legislation performed by the director, agent, or employee. An order or subpoena purporting to compel testimony or the production of documentary evidence protected under this subsection is unenforceable.
2003 Acts, ch 35, §3, 49

  
     
2A.4  Specific services — public policy recommendations restricted.
  The legislative services agency shall provide the following specific services:
  1.  Preparation of legal and legislative analysis of any governmental matter upon the proper request of members and committees of the general assembly. Such analysis shall not contain any public policy recommendations. Such legal analysis shall be provided through the exercise of an attorney-employee’s independent, professional judgment.
  2.  Drafting and preparation of legislation, including bills, resolutions, and amendments, for committees and individual members of the general assembly; proposed bills and joint resolutions for state agencies and the governor in accordance with section 2.16; and bills embodying a plan of legislative and congressional redistricting prepared in accordance with chapter 42.
  3.  Fiscal analysis of legislation, and state expenditure, revenue, and budget review. The director of the agency or the director’s designee may make recommendations to the general assembly concerning the state’s expenditures and revenues.
  4.  Attendance at the budget hearings required by section 8.26. The director of the agency may offer explanations or suggestions and make inquiries with respect to such budget hearings.
  5.  Assistance to standing committees and members of the general assembly in attaching fiscal notes to bills and resolutions as provided by the rules of the general assembly.
  6.  Performance of the duties pertaining to the preparation of correctional impact statements as provided in section 2.56.
  7.  Furnishing information, acting in an advisory capacity, providing staffing services, and reporting to standing, statutory, and interim committees of the general assembly.
  8.  Provision of staffing services including but not limited to preparation of legal and legislative analysis for the administrative rules review committee.
  9.  Preparation of legal and legislative analysis for the legislative council with respect to rules and forms submitted by the supreme court to the legislative council pursuant to section 602.4202.
  10.  Review and oversight of state program operations and program evaluation of state agencies, including compliance, efficiency, and effectiveness determinations, as required by section 2A.7.
  11.  Provision of legislative computer systems services to the senate, house of representatives, and central legislative staff agencies, and provision of advice regarding legislative computer systems services, needs, capabilities, and uses to the legislative council and the general assembly.
  12.  Maintenance of an up-to-date listing of all appointments made or to be made by members of the general assembly as required by section 2.32A and in accordance with section 4A.13. The legislative services agency may post on the general assembly’s internet site information regarding the organization and activities of boards, commissions, councils, and committees to which members of the general assembly make appointments.
2003 Acts, ch 35, §4, 49; 2008 Acts, ch 1156, §3, 58

  
     
2A.5  Official legal and other publications — procurements.
  1.  The legislative services agency shall publish the official legal publications of the state as provided in chapter 2B. The legislative services agency shall have legal custody of the publications and shall provide for the warehousing, sale, and distribution of the publications. The legislative services agency shall retain or cause to be retained a number of old editions of the publications but may otherwise distribute or cause to be distributed old editions of the publications to any person upon payment by the person of any distribution costs. This section and chapter 2B do not require the legislative services agency to publish a publication in both a printed and electronic version.
  2.  The printed versions of the publications listed in this subsection shall be sold at a price to be established by the legislative services agency. In determining the prices, the legislative services agency shall consider the costs of printing, binding, distribution, and paper stock, compilation and editing labor costs, and any other associated costs. The legislative services agency shall also consider the number of volumes or units to be printed, sold, and distributed in the determination of the prices.
  a.  The Iowa Code.
  b.  The Iowa Acts.
  c.  The Iowa court rules.
  d.  The Iowa administrative code.
  e.  The Iowa administrative bulletin.
  3.  The legislative services agency shall publish annually an electronic or printed version of the roster of state officials. The roster of state officials shall include a correct list of state officers and deputies; members of boards and commissions; justices of the supreme court, judges of the court of appeals, and judges of the district courts including district associate judges and judicial magistrates; and members of the general assembly. The office of the governor shall cooperate in the preparation of the list.
  4.  The legislative services agency shall in each odd-numbered year compile for publication a printed or electronic version of the Iowa official register for distribution as soon as practicable. The register shall contain historical, political, and other information and statistics of general value but shall not contain information or statistics of a partisan character. The printed and electronic versions of the register need not contain the same information and statistics but shall be published to provide the greatest access to such information and statistics at the most reasonable cost as determined by the legislative services agency. The different versions of the register may be distributed free of charge, may be distributed free of charge except for postage and handling charges, or may be sold at a price to be established by the legislative services agency.
  5.  The legislative services agency may establish policies for the production, editing, distribution, and pricing of electronic publications containing information stored by the legislative branch in an electronic format, including information contained in the printed publications listed in this section. Such electronic publications may include programming not originally part of the stored information, including but not limited to search and retrieval functions. The policies shall provide for the widest possible distribution of these value-added electronic publications at the lowest price practicable, which shall not be more than the costs attributable to producing, editing, and distributing the electronic publications.
  6.  Subject to section 2.42, the legislative services agency shall determine its procurement procedures, which may include procurement determinations based on service provider competence, meeting of service or product specifications, and reasonableness of price; the posting of security to accompany a service provider proposal; the preference of Iowa-based businesses if comparable in price; the disclosure of service provider assignments; the inclusion of renewal options; the imposition of liquidated damages and other penalties for breach of any service provider requirement; and the rejection of all service provider proposals and institution of a new procurement process.
2003 Acts, ch 35, §5, 48, 49; 2010 Acts, ch 1031, §28 – 30; 2014 Acts, ch 1141, §32, 33
Referred to in §2.42, 2A.6, 7A.27, 7D.6, 9F.4, 22.3A

     
2A.6  Special distribution of legal publications.
  1.  The legislative services agency shall make available electronic or printed versions of the official legal publications listed in section 2A.5, to the three branches of state government, to elected county officers, to county and city assessors, to Iowa’s congressional delegation, to federal courts in Iowa and federal judges and magistrates for Iowa, and to state and university depository libraries, the library of Congress, and the library of the United States supreme court. 
  2.  The legislative services agency may review the publication costs and offsetting sales revenues relating to legal publications in electronic and printed formats. If a legal publication is available in an electronic version, the legislative services agency may provide the version free of charge or may charge a fee for any mailing or handling costs in the distribution of the electronic version or may charge a fee for an electronic version which includes programming not originally part of the stored information, including but not limited to search and retrieval functions. The legislative services agency shall establish policies requiring payment for any printed versions of the official legal publications from persons to whom the legislative services agency is obligated to make the legal publications available pursuant to subsection 1. 
2003 Acts, ch 35, §6, 49; 2010 Acts, ch 1031, §31
State publications, see §8A.205

     
2A.7  State government oversight and program evaluation.
  1.  The general assembly shall independently and intensively review and oversee the performance of state agencies in the operation of state programs to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the state programs and to consider alternatives which may improve the benefits of such programs or may reduce their costs to the citizens of the state. The legislative services agency shall provide technical and professional support for the general assembly’s oversight responsibility.
  2.  The general assembly by concurrent resolution or the legislative council may direct the legislative services agency to conduct a program evaluation of any state agency. Upon the passage of the concurrent resolution or receiving the direction of the legislative council, the director of the legislative services agency shall inform the chairpersons of the committees responsible for appropriations of the anticipated cost of the program evaluation and the number and nature of any additional personnel needed to conduct the program evaluation and shall notify the official responsible for the program to be evaluated. The director, after consulting with the responsible official and the entity requesting the program evaluation, shall determine the goals and objectives of the state agency or state program for the purpose of the program evaluation.
  3.  In conducting the program evaluation, the legislative services agency may make certain determinations including but not limited to the following:
  a.  The organizational framework of the state agency, its adequacy and relationship to the overall structure of state government, and whether the program under the agency’s jurisdiction could be more effective if consolidated with another program, transferred to another program, or modified, or whether the program should be abolished.
  b.  Whether the state agency is conducting programs and activities and expending funds appropriated to the state agency in compliance with state and federal law and any executive order of the governor, and whether statutory or administrative rule changes are advisable.
  c.  Whether the state agency is conducting authorized activities and programs pursuant to goals and objectives established by statute or rule, specific legislative intent, the budget, the governor, or a strategic or other long-range plan, and whether alternatives which might produce the desired results at a lower cost have been considered.
  d.  Whether the state agency is conducting programs and activities and expending funds appropriated to the state agency in an efficient and effective manner, has complied with all applicable laws, and, if not, determine the causes for such inefficiency, ineffectiveness, or noncompliance.
  e.  Relationships within and among other governmental agencies and programs including financial exchanges, coordination, inconsistent programs, and areas of duplication or overlapping programs.
  f.  The productivity of the state agency’s operations measured in terms of cost-benefit relationships or other accepted measures of effectiveness.
  g.  Other criteria determined by the director.
  4.  Upon the completion of the program evaluation and preparation of a report on the evaluation, the legislative services agency shall provide a copy of the report to the governing official or board of the state agency and afford the state agency a reasonable opportunity to respond to the findings and recommendations of the report. The response shall be included in the final version of the report released to the general assembly or the legislative council. Until its release the report shall be regarded as confidential by all persons properly having custody of the report.
2003 Acts, ch 35, §7, 49
Referred to in §2A.4

2A.8  Sales — tax exemption.  Repealed by 
2004 Acts, ch 1073, §51
.  See §423.3(33).