HF 354 (LSB 1060YH (2) 91)

HOUSE FILE 354

BY  LOHSE

(COMPANION TO SF 4 BY LOFGREN)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to lobbying activities of former or future executive or administrative heads of licensing boards, providing penalties, and making penalties applicable.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 68B.5A, subsection 4, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   4.  A person who is subject to the requirements of subsection 1 and a person who served as an executive or administrative head of a licensing board, as defined in section 272C.1, shall not within two years after the termination of service or employment become a lobbyist.
    Sec. 2.  NEW SECTION.  272C.7A  Executive or administrative head of licensing board —— disqualified —— penalty.
   1.  A person who was a lobbyist, as defined in section 68B.2, shall not serve as the executive or administrative head of a licensing board within two years after the person stopped lobbying.
   2.  A person who knowingly and intentionally violates this section commits a serious misdemeanor.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Under current law, a person who serves as a statewide elected official, the executive or administrative head of an agency of state government, the deputy executive or administrative head of an agency of state government, and a member of the general assembly are prohibited from becoming a lobbyist for two years following the termination of service or employment.
   This bill also prohibits an executive or administrative head of a licensing board, as defined in Code section 272C.1, from acting as a lobbyist for two years after the termination of the person’s service or employment. Additionally, the bill prohibits a person who was a lobbyist from serving as an executive or administrative head of a licensing board for two years after the person stopped lobbying. Code section 272C.1 includes 32 specifically identified licensing boards.
   The bill does not prohibit an executive or administrative head of a licensing board from lobbying as the board’s executive director.
   By operation of law, a person who knowingly and intentionally acts as a lobbyist when prohibited from being a lobbyist is guilty of a serious misdemeanor and may be reprimanded, suspended, or dismissed from the person’s position or otherwise sanctioned. Under the bill, a person who was a lobbyist and then serves as an executive or administrative head of a licensing board when prohibited commits a serious misdemeanor. A serious misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $430 but not more than $2,560.