Few state board members are paid salaries

Following a two-day trip to St. Louis this month for a meeting about proposed power transmission across the eastern half of the United states, Iowa Utilities Board member Darrell Hanson had some catching up to do.

He spent his subsequent days in meetings, reading and reviewing orders, writing a report and conducting research for an upcoming discussion about the impact air quality regulations might have on Iowa's electricity rates.

"With the sheer volume of material we have to wade through, it's a constant process," said Hanson, a Utilities Board member of four years. "This is a full-time job."

The Iowa Utilities Board is one of only eight of the state's 175 boards and commissions with members who earn salaries, according to Gov. Terry Branstad's office.

Most of Iowa's more than 700 board and commission members are volunteers who only receive compensation for things like travel and food expenses.

After former Sen. Swati Dandekar, D-Marion, vacated her seat on the Legislature in September for a spot on the Utilities Board that pays more than $113,000, even Hanson said he fielded inquiries from members of the public unaware that board members could make that kind of money.

The difference, he said, is that entities like the Utilities Board are full-time jobs, requiring members to leave their previous employment and work 40 hours a week - or more.

State boards, commissions, councils and committees without salaried members require less time, have less power and come with fewer responsibilities.

"The Utilities Board is different because of the broad range of decisions we can make and the complexity of the industry we have to regulate," Hanson said.

Full-time, with authority

Iowa's eight boards and commissions with salaried members are the Utilities Board, Telecommunications and Technology Commission, Public Employment Relations Board, Employment Appeal Board, Parole Board, Property Assessment Appeal Board, Transportation Commission and the Racing and Gaming Commission.

The chairman or chairwoman for some of those groups is paid more than members, like on the Utilities Board, and some of the salaried members are only part-time, like the five people serving on the Telecommunication and Technology Commission.

All eight of the boards with salaried members are either quasi-judicial or have some type of decision making authority, like the Property Assessment Appeal Board, which reviews contested assessments or valuations and then affirms, reverses or modifies the original rulings.

The three members on that board make $137,700 a year, according to statistics from the Iowa Department of Management. That is the most of any salaried board members in the state, topping the Utilities Board members' second highest $113,078 pay, or $125,008 if appointed chair.

Hanson said it makes sense to pay some board and commission members a salary.

"The key question is, can you do that position and still maintain a regular outside job?" he said. "Utility regulators are not jobs where you can maintain another source of income."

‘Representative of the responsibilities'

Hanson left his job with the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach program in 2007 to serve on the Utilities Board. He previously served on the Environmental Protection Commission, a volunteer group.

Considering the workload and time commitment - the Environmental Protection Commission meets one full day a month - Hanson said using volunteers is appropriate for that commission and others that are similar.

"When I was on the commission, I would take one day off work and drive to Des Moines, and we would have an all-day meeting, and then I would be done for the month," he said.

Hanson served in the Iowa Legislature from 1979 to 1994 and said the Legislature during that time reorganized and renamed the state's commissions based on their powers.

Groups with rule-making authority and considered quasi-judicial were labeled boards. Groups with no authority to hear contested cases but the ability to make policy were designated commissions. Groups with no rule-making powers were tagged committees.

"We decided we would use a consistent term to keep the boards and commissions straight," Hanson said.

Nowadays, most people don't perceive a difference in the duties of boards and commissions, said Tim Hagle, University of Iowa associate professor of political science.

"But there is a wide variety of what they do, and we would hope that the pay or salary would be representative of the responsibilities that these folks have," Hagle said. He added  that he appreciates there are not "oodles and oodles" of members earning salaries.

Running most of Iowa's board and commissions with volunteers is a good way to "tap the knowledge of people in the state without putting them on the state payroll," Hagle said.

‘Overjoyed' to volunteer

Sean O'Harrow, one of 15 members on the Iowa Arts Council, said he feels honored to serve on the volunteer group.

"I'm overjoyed there is no compensation because it means I can be honest and speak my mind without worrying about retribution," said O'Harrow, director of the UI Museum of Art. "I can't worry about any salary decrease."

The Iowa Arts Council, which meets quarterly for a half day, is an advisory board that promotes policies and viewpoints benefiting arts throughout the state.

O'Harrow said he appreciates that most of Iowa's boards and commissions are, like the Arts Council, run on volunteers.

"It's good from a budgetary perspective, and I think it also makes our motives more honorable because we are not there to earn money," he said. "We are there to help the state do better."

But Carmine Boal, who assists the governor with appointments to boards and commissions, stressed the need to have some paid members "based on their duties."

Christopher Larimer, University of Northern Iowa associate professor of political science, said it's common for states to pay some board and commission members a salary and for those wages to top $100,000 a year.

Larimer said Dandekar's earnings spike from $25,000 a year as a senator to $113,000 a year on the Utilities Board raised alarm for some people.

"But I think that's fairly common," he said. "The Legislature was a part-time position, and the Utilities Board is full time."