Senate File 449 - Introduced SENATE FILE 449 BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT (SUCCESSOR TO SF 182) A BILL FOR An Act related to candidacy and service in elective public 1 office of public employees. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 1859SV (1) 84 jr/sc

S.F. 449 Section 1. Section 55.1, Code 2011, is amended by adding the 1 following new subsection: 2 NEW SUBSECTION . 5. A city employee who is elected to 3 a municipal, county, state, or federal office shall not be 4 terminated for holding that office unless the employer can 5 show, by clear and convincing evidence, that holding the office 6 to which the employee was elected precludes the employee 7 from performing the required duties of the employee’s job 8 description. 9 Sec. 2. Section 55.4, Code 2011, is amended to read as 10 follows: 11 55.4 Leave of absence for public employee candidacy. 12 1. Any public employee who becomes a candidate for any 13 elective public office shall, and only upon request of the 14 employee and commencing any time within thirty days prior to a 15 contested primary, special, or general election and continuing 16 until after the day following that election, automatically be 17 given a period of leave. If the employee is under chapter 8A, 18 subchapter IV , the employee may choose to use accrued vacation 19 leave, accrued compensatory leave or leave without pay to cover 20 these periods. The appointing authority may authorize other 21 employees to use accrued vacation leave or accrued compensatory 22 leave instead of leave without pay to cover these periods. An 23 employee who is a candidate for any elective public office 24 shall not campaign while on duty as an employee. 25 2. This section does not apply to employees of the federal 26 government or to a public employee whose position is financed 27 by federal funds if the application of this section would be 28 contrary to federal law or result in the loss of the federal 29 funds. 30 EXPLANATION 31 This bill prohibits a city from terminating a city employee 32 because the employee holds a publicly elected office unless 33 the employer can show, by clear and convincing evidence, that 34 holding public office precludes the employee from performing 35 -1- LSB 1859SV (1) 84 jr/sc 1/ 2

S.F. 449 the required duties of the employee’s job description. 1 The bill also specifies that the current Code provision 2 allowing a public employee who becomes a candidate for public 3 office to be given a leave of absence from employment applies 4 only if the employee requests the leave of absence. 5 -2- LSB 1859SV (1) 84 jr/sc 2/ 2