HSB 514 (LSB 5227YC (5) 87)

HOUSE FILE _____ 

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL BY CHAIRPERSON HIGHFILL)

A BILL FOR

An Act setting the dates for the submission of local public measures to the electors.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 39.2, subsection 4, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2018, is amended to read as follows:
   Unless otherwise provided by law Except as provided in sections 75.1, 423B.1, or other law, special elections on public measures are limited to the following dates:
    Sec. 2.  Section 75.1, Code 2018, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  3.  A proposition to authorize an issuance of bonds shall only be submitted to the electors on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each year.
    Sec. 3.  Section 423B.1, subsection 5, Code 2018, is amended to read as follows:
   5.  The county commissioner of elections shall submit the question of imposition of a local option tax at an election held on a date specified in section 39.2, subsection 4, paragraph “a” the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The election shall not be held sooner than sixty days after publication of notice of the ballot proposition. The ballot proposition shall specify the type and rate of tax and in the case of a vehicle tax the classes that will be exempt and in the case of a local sales and services tax the date it will be imposed which date shall not be earlier than ninety days following the election. The ballot proposition shall also specify the approximate amount of local option tax revenues that will be used for property tax relief and shall contain a statement as to the specific purpose or purposes for which the revenues shall otherwise be expended. If the county board of supervisors decides under subsection 6 to specify a date on which the local option sales and services tax shall automatically be repealed, the date of the repeal shall also be specified on the ballot. The rate of the vehicle tax shall be in increments of one dollar per vehicle as set by the petition seeking to impose the tax. The rate of a local sales and services tax shall not be more than one percent as set by the governing body. The state commissioner of elections shall establish by rule the form for the ballot proposition which form shall be uniform throughout the state.
    Sec. 4.  APPLICABILITY.  Notwithstanding section 47.6, subsection 1, paragraph “b”, the governing body of a political subdivision may, by a resolution filed with the county commissioner of elections, remove a public measure from a ballot that is not in compliance with section 75.1, subsection 3, as enacted by this Act, or section 423B.1, as amended by this Act, prior to January 1, 2019.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill requires all propositions to authorize the issuance of bonds by a county, township, school corporation, city, or any local board or commission or the imposition of local option taxes by a city or county to be submitted to electors on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each year. The bill exempts such elections from certain limitations on the withdrawal of public measures from a ballot until January 1, 2019.