Oversight Summary
Oversight Survey
Iowa is one of 27 states in which no outside agency oversees ethical conduct of state legislators. It is one of 9 of those states where an outside ethics agency does oversee disclosure for members of the legislature, in this case only campaign finance disclosure.
Iowa is among the 22 states that established outside oversight of ethical conduct and/or disclosure requirements of legislators in the post-Watergate 1970s.
Of the 32 states that have outside oversight of ethical conduct and/or disclosure requirements for legislators — 23 that cover ethics and disclosure, plus nine that cover disclosure only — Iowa is one of 17 where the legislature has some involvement in choosing commission members. Only three states — California, Hawaii and Massachusetts — have members picked without the input of the legislature.
Budget
Iowa is among 10 states that did not approve a budget for its ethics agency exceeding the rate of inflation, or 7 percent, between 1997 and 2000. Those states include Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon and West Virginia. Two state ethics agency budgets — in Missouri and Montana — actually decreased during this time period.
Investigation
Of the 32 two states with outside ethics and/or disclosure oversight, only two ethics agencies — in Florida and West Virginia — cannot initiate an investigation or investigate an anonymous complaint. Only one agency, Alabama’s, cannot issue subpoenas.
Enforcement
Only Nebraska’s ethics agency can directly prosecute criminal cases against legislators; 25 more agencies can recommend criminal prosecution to the appropriate authority, including Iowa’s ethics agency. Only Rhode Island’s ethics agency has the power to remove legislators from office; another 11 state agencies can recommend removal as part of punishment, unlike Iowa’s, which cannot.
Opinions and Investigative Findings
All 32 outside agencies that oversee some ethics and/or disclosure requirements for legislators can issue advisory opinions. Iowa is one of 18 states that does publish legislator names within the advisory opinion reports, which can be found on the agency’s Web site.
Actual Findings
Just three states — Connecticut, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — have not issued a finding against a legislator for violating disclosure-filing requirements in the past five years.
Meetings
Iowa is among the 14 state agencies, of 32 with oversight of ethics and/or disclosure laws for the legislature, that do not have at least one public meeting per month; minutes for those meetings are not on the Web site. Copies can be requested from the state agency.
More Info
Since the agency does not oversee legislators’ conduct, is legislative oversight defined in statute?
Yes. Iowa has the House Ethics Committee and the Senate Ethics Committee, which are enabled in Iowa Code s.68B.31, “Legislative ethics committee.” Each committee has six members, three from the majority party and three from the minority party in the respective chambers.
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/IACODE/2001/68B/31.html
Are there state statutes that address ethical conduct for legislators?
Yes. Iowa Code Title 2, Chapter 68B, “Conflicts of Interest of Public Officers and Employees,” contains provisions that apply to legislators.
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/IACODE/2001/68B/
Note: Some information provided by the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws’ “Ethics Update” 2000. For more information or to purchase the reference, visit www.cogel.org.