SENATE FILE _____

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT BILL BY CHAIRPERSON DANIELSON)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the duties of the county auditor.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

   Section 1.  Section 48A.9, subsection 1, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  Registration closes at five 5:00 p.m. eleven days before each election except primary and the general elections election. For primary and the general elections election, registration closes at five 5:00 p.m. ten days before the election. An eligible elector may register during the time registration is closed in the elector’s precinct but the registration shall not become effective until registration opens again in the elector’s precinct, except as otherwise provided in section 48A.7A.
   Sec. 2.  Section 48A.26, subsection 3, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  If the registration form is missing required information pursuant to section 48A.11, subsection 8, the acknowledgment shall advise the applicant what additional information is required. The commissioner shall enclose a new registration form for the applicant to use. If the registration form has no address, the commissioner shall make a reasonable effort to determine where the acknowledgment should be sent. If the incomplete registration form is received during the period in which registration is closed pursuant to section 48A.9 but by 5:00 p.m. the close of business on the Saturday before the election for general and primary elections or by 5:00 p.m. the close of business on the Friday before the election for all other elections, the commissioner shall send a notice advising the applicant of election day and in-person absentee registration procedures under section 48A.7A.
   Sec. 3.  Section 53.2, subsection 1, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   1.
  a.  Any registered voter, under the circumstances specified in section 53.1, may on any day until noon on the day before the election,except election day, and not more than seventy days prior to the date of the election, apply in person for an absentee ballot at the commissioner’s office or at any location designated by the commissioner. However, for those elections in which the commissioner directs the polls be opened at noon pursuant to section 49.73, a voter may apply in person for an absentee ballot at the commissioner’s office from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. on election day.
   b.  A registered voter may make written application to the commissioner for an absentee ballot. A written application for an absentee ballot must be received by the commissioner no later than 5:00 p.m. the close of business on the Friday before the election. A written application for an absentee ballot delivered to the commissioner and received by the commissioner more than seventy days prior to the date of the election shall be retained by the commissioner and processed in the same manner as a written application received not more than seventy days before the date of the election.
   Sec. 4.  Section 53.2, subsection 6, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   6.  If an application for an absentee ballot is received from an eligible elector who is not a registered voter the commissioner shall send the eligible elector a voter registration form and another absentee ballot application form. If the application is received after the time registration closes pursuant to section 48A.9 but by 5:00 p.m. the close of business on the Saturday before the election for general and primary elections or by 5:00 p.m. the close of business on the Friday before the election for all other elections, the commissioner shall notify the applicant by mail of the election day and in-person absentee registration provisions of section 48A.7A. In addition to notification by mail, the commissioner shall also attempt to contact the applicant by any other method available to the commissioner.
   Sec. 5.  Section 53.18, subsection 2, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  If the commissioner receives the return envelope containing the completed absentee ballot by 5:00 p.m. the close of business on the Saturday before the election for general and primary elections and by 5:00 p.m. the close of business on the Friday before the election for all other elections, the commissioner shall open the envelope to review the affidavit for completeness. If the affidavit is incomplete, the commissioner shall, within twenty-four hours of the time the envelope was received, notify the voter of that fact and that the voter may complete the affidavit in person at the office of the commissioner by 5:00 p.m. on the day before the election, vote a replacement ballot in the manner and within the time period provided in subsection 3, or appear at the voter’s precinct polling place on election day and cast a ballot in accordance with section 53.19, subsection 3.
   Sec. 6.  Section 331.904, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   a.  The annual base salary of the first and second deputy officer of the office of auditor, treasurer, and recorder, the deputy in charge of the motor vehicle registration and title division,and the deputy in charge of driver’s license issuance, and the deputy in charge of voter registration and elections shall each be an amount not to exceed eighty-five percent of the annual salary of the deputy’s principal officer. In offices where more than two deputies are required, the annual base salary of each additional deputy shall be an amount not to exceed eighty percent of the principal officer’s salary. The amount of the annual base salary of each deputy shall be certified by the principal officer to the board and, if a deputy’s annual base salary does not exceed the limitations specified in this subsection, the board shall certify the annual base salary to the auditor. The board shall not certify a deputy’s annual base salary which exceeds the limitations of this subsection.
   Sec. 7.  Section 372.13, subsection 2, paragraph a, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   By appointment by the remaining members of the council, except that if the remaining members do not constitute a quorum of the full membership, paragraph “b” shall be followed. The appointment shall be made within forty days after the vacancy occurs and shall be for the period until the next pending election as defined in section 69.12, and shall be made within forty days after the vacancy occurs regular city election, unless there is an intervening special election to fill a vacancy in another elective city office in that city or there is an intervening special election on a city ballot proposition for that city, in which case the office shall be placed on the ballot at such intervening election and the appointee’s term of appointment shall be until a successor is elected and qualifies. If the council chooses to proceed under this paragraph, it shall publish notice in the manner prescribed by section 362.3, stating that the council intends to fill the vacancy by appointment but that the electors of the city or ward, as the case may be, have the right to file a petition requiring that the vacancy be filled by a special election. The council may publish notice in advance if an elected official submits a resignation to take effect at a future date. The council may make an appointment to fill the vacancy after the notice is published or after the vacancy occurs, whichever is later. However, if within fourteen days after publication of the notice or within fourteen days after the appointment is made, there is filed with the city clerk a petition which requests a special election to fill the vacancy, an appointment to fill the vacancy is temporary and the council shall call a special election to fill the vacancy permanently, under paragraph “b”. The number of signatures of eligible electors of a city for a valid petition shall be determined as follows:
   Sec. 8.  Section 443.2, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   Before the first fifteenth day of July in each year, the county auditor shall transcribe the assessments of the townships and cities into a book or record, to be known as the tax list, properly ruled and headed, with separate columns, in which shall be entered the names of the taxpayers, descriptions of lands, number of acres and value, numbers of city lots and value, and each description of tax, with a column for polls and one for payments, and shall complete it by entering the amount due on each installment, separately, and carrying out the total of both installments. The total of all columns of each page of each book or other record shall balance with the tax totals. After computing the amount of tax due and payable on each property, the county auditor shall round the total amount of tax due and payable on the property to the nearest even whole dollar.
   Sec. 9.  Section 443.4, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   443.4  Tax list delivered —— informality and delay.
   The county auditor shall make an entry upon the tax list showing what it is, for what county and year, and deliver it to the county treasurer on or before June 30 July 15, taking the treasurer’s receipt therefor; and such list shall be a sufficient authority for the treasurer to collect the taxes therein levied. No informality therein, and no delay in delivering the same after the time above specified, shall affect the validity of any taxes, sales, or other proceedings for the collection of such taxes.
EXPLANATION
   This bill makes changes relating to the duties of the county auditor.
   ELECTIONS AND VOTER REGISTRATION. Current law provides that voter registration closes 11 days before the primary and general elections and 10 days before all other elections. The bill provides that voter registration closes 11 days before the general election and 10 days before all other elections. 
   The bill changes the time for various deadlines relating to voter registration and absentee voting from 5:00 p.m. on the specified day to the close of business on the specified day. The 5:00 p.m. deadlines in current law for the final day to file nomination papers with the state or county commissioner and for matters pertaining to the day before the election are retained.
   The bill specifies that if an appointment is made to fill a vacancy in an elective city office, the term of appointment runs until the next regular city election, unless an intervening special election on a city ballot proposition or to fill another vacancy in an elective city office is held, and, in that case, the vacancy shall be filled at such special election.
   PROPERTY TAX LISTS. The bill changes the deadline by which the county auditor must prepare the tax list from before July 1 to before July 15. The bill also changes from June 30 to July 15 the deadline by which the auditor must deliver the tax list to the county treasurer. 
   DEPUTY’S SALARY. Current law provides that the annual base salary of the first and second deputy auditors shall not exceed 85 percent of the auditor’s salary. The bill provides that the annual base salary of the deputy in charge of voter registration and elections shall not exceed 85 percent of the auditor’s salary.