Iowa House Democrats oppose bill decreasing Senate oversight of governor’s appointments

DES MOINES — The Iowa House plays a role in confirming very few of the appointments made by the Iowa governor.

In fact, earlier this week when the House voted to confirm a new state ombudsman, the floor manager — a 25-year legislator — said he was unaware the Iowa House was involved in any confirmations.

Despite that small role in legislative oversight of the executive branch, House State Government Committee Democrats called a Senate proposal to give the governor carte blanche over more appointments an abandonment of its responsibility.

They are opposed to Senate File 2263, which would end the requirement the Senate confirm by a two-thirds majority the governor’s appointments to about two dozen state boards and commissions.

Currently, gubernatorial appointments to state boards and commissions must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the 50-member Iowa Senate.

The Senate approved the bill, 33-15 with support from both parties.

“Apparently, the Senate found this too time-consuming,” Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City, told the House State Government Committee on Wednesday.

“This bill is horrible,” said Rep. Mary Wolfe, D-Clinton, said. “It abrogates any legislative oversight.”

Senate confirmation of the governor’s appointees is “a little bit of sunlight,” she said, but the bill “shuts down that sunlight, shuts the curtains, whatever, pulled the blinds.”

The boards and commissions affected are not insignificant, Wolfe said.

Among the appointments that would no longer be subject to Senate confirmation would be appointees to the Iowa Public Information Board, Veterans Affairs Commission, the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy and commissions on Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans and the Status of Women.

And, Wolfe added, “one we’ve been hearing a lot about recently, the Judicial Qualifications Commission,” which is investigating a judge accused of misconduct.

No group is registered in favor of the bill, “so I would ask why are we running it if no one is bothering to even register in favor?” Wolfe said.

The Senate is asking for the change, said Sexton, a former senator.

“Are there parts of it that concern me? Sure,” he said. “There's parts that concern me of every bill we do in this place.”

However, Friday is the second funnel deadline of the session. If the bill isn’t approved by the committee before then, it would be dead for the session.

“So I think this is like many bills we do — it's a work in progress,” Sexton said. “We're going to keep it alive and we will continue to work on it.”

Despite the concerns, the House State Government Committee approved the bill as a party-line vote, 14-9, forwarding it to the full House for consideration.

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