SF 2053 (LSB 5128XS (1) 85)

SENATE FILE 2053

BY  JOCHUM

(COMPANION TO HF 2019 BY ISENHART)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to deliberations or actions of governmental bodies under Iowa’s open meetings law.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 21.2, subsection 1, paragraphs e, h, and j, Code 2014, are amended to read as follows:
   e.  An advisory board, advisory commission, or task force created by the governor or the general assembly to develop and make recommendations on public policy issues.
   h.  An advisory board, advisory commission, advisory committee, task force, or other body created by statute or executive order of this state or created by an executive order of a political subdivision of this state to develop and make recommendations on public policy issues.
   j.  An advisory board, advisory commission, advisory committee, task force, or other body created by an entity organized under chapter 28E, or by the administrator or joint board specified in a chapter 28E agreement, to develop and make recommendations on public policy issues.
    Sec. 2.  Section 21.2, subsection 2, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  “Meeting” means a gathering in person or by electronic means, formal or informal, of a majority of the members of a governmental body where there is deliberation or action upon any matter within the scope of the governmental body’s policy-making duties. Meetings shall not include a gathering of members of a governmental body for purely ministerial or social purposes when there is no discussion of policy or no intent to avoid the purposes of this chapter.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with

the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Current law requires that meetings of governmental bodies be preceded by public notice and be held in open session unless certain exemptions apply. 
   Under Code section 21.2, “governmental body” is defined as a board, council, commission, or other governing body expressly created by state law or executive order or of a political subdivision or tax-supported district in this state; a multimember body formally and directly created by one or more boards, councils, or commissions of the state or a political subdivision; and board of regents-directed bodies in charge of managing intercollegiate athletic programs at state universities. This definition includes certain advisory boards, commissions, and task forces that develop and make public policy recommendations, and an advisory board, advisory commission, advisory committee, task force, or other body organized under Code chapter 28E (joint exercise of governmental powers) that develops and makes recommendations on public policy issues. This definition also includes the governing body of a drainage or levee district. The definition does not include nonprofit organizations and publicly supported nonprofit organizations which conduct pari-mutuel wagering generally, except for nonprofit corporations whose facilities or indebtedness are supported in whole or in part with property tax revenue and who are licensed to conduct pari-mutuel wagering under Code chapter 99D, nonprofit corporations that are successors to such a nonprofit corporation that built such facilities, and nonprofit corporations licensed to conduct gambling games under Code chapter 99F. 
   A “meeting” that subjects a governmental body to the notice and open meeting requirements means a gathering in person or by electronic means, either formal or informal, of a majority of the members of the governmental body, for the purpose of deliberating or acting upon any matter within the scope of the governmental body’s policy-making duties. This definition of a meeting for Code chapter 21 purposes does not include purely ministerial or social gatherings when there is no discussion of policy or no intent to avoid the purposes of the open meetings law.
   This bill eliminates the requirement that the open meeting law only applies when such deliberations or actions of a governmental body relate to the governmental body’s policy-making duties.