Boards and commissions committee leaves Iowans out

Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed a committee to consider keeping, eliminating or merging dozens of state boards and commissions. It’s part of her effort to streamline state government.

But so far, it seems like the only thing being streamlined is the opportunity for Iowans to weigh in on this process. Despite the implications of scrapping or consolidating 140 boards and commissions, as the committee has recommended, transparency and public input have been sorely lacking.

The committee is set to issue its final recommendations by Sept. 30 and forward them to the Legislature. We believe the committee should give far more time for Iowans to understand what its plan will actually mean and add their voices to the process.

For starters, there’s the committee membership. Of its six voting members, four work for the governor, including Jacob Nicholson, chief operating officer in the governor’s office, Nate Ristow, the governor’s administrative rules coordinator, Kraig Paulsen, director of the Department of Management and Larry Johnson, director of the Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing.

The other voting members are David Faith, deputy attorney general, and Barbara Sloniker, a public member appointed by the governor. Sloniker is executive vice president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce in Sioux City. So this is hardly a independent panel of fact-finders.

As for transparency, members of the committee have been meeting behind the scenes in two-member subcommittees that are not required to open to the public under open meetings law. Judging by the committee’s first two brief public meetings, in June and August, any real work being done on committee recommendation is being done where Iowans cannot watch.

On Sept. 6, the committee held its one and only public input session, giving each Iowan who showed up in person and online just two minutes to make their case.

The speed of this process also makes little sense. Why does the committee need to make its final recommendations to the Legislature three months before lawmakers reconvene?

This isn’t cutting government fat. Some of the boards and commissions being eliminated or consolidated provide expertise and oversight over professionals in multiple fields, including people who run boilers and elevators, professional plumbers and electricians. Generally, the people on these boards serve without compensation and in the interest of public safety.

The Commission on the Status of Women would be folded into the Council on Human Rights, along with commissions addressing issues faced by Black, Iowans Latinos and Asian and Pacific Islanders and deaf Iowans. Why should their communities lose representation?

This process is a mockery of representative democracy. But it can still be fixed. Give Iowans more time to absorb and react to these recommendations.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com