Private donations to new Iowa economic development group will be public

Gov. Terry Branstad's economic development chief said Thursday that private donations made to a new job-creation entity would be publicly disclosed.

Debi Durham, director of the state Department of Economic Development, said she hoped the position change would facilitate legislative approval of Branstad's plan to revamp the current state Department of Economic Development into a public-private partnership.

House File 590, which is being considered by a Senate subcommittee, would create the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress – a revamped agency that would be comprised of a new state authority and a separate nonprofit corporation that would be able to accept donations from businesses and private interests. The arrangement made raised concerns among some legislators, citizen groups and media organizations concerning transparency and openness regarding the proposed public-private approach.

“We've conceded that we're going to list all the donors publicly for the corporation,” Durham said Thursday. “We will now disclose all the donors to the corporation, which is something we have not conceded in the past.”

Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center, said he expected the subcommittee would hold additional meetings next week in hopes of revising the legislation into a format that will get the bill to the governor's desk and signed into law.