Iowa Senate votes to bolster Board of Regents transparency

Members of the state Board of Regents would be subject to closer public scrutiny and more transparency in their decision-making processes under legislation approved 49-1 by the Iowa Senate on Tuesday.

“This is a bill whose time has come,” said Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, floor manager for Senate File 407, a measure which proposes several changes to board procedures in the wake of a series of controversies over academic freedom and the level of openness with which the board conducts its business. “This is boilerplate, basic stuff. This bill is past due,” he added.

The bill, which now faces an uncertain future in the Iowa House, would require the board to hold four regional meetings around the state at sites other than the three state universities' campuses in Ames, Cedar Falls and Iowa City.

S.F. 407 also stipulates that each board meeting would include a 30-minute public-comment period; that lobbyists who worked for a regent or that regent's business could not lobby for a school or program governed by the regents for two years after leaving that job; that any board proposal costing at least $100,000 would require public readings at two board meetings before action could occur; and that conflict-of-interest standards be strengthened by prohibiting regent staff from having other financial dealings directly related to the state universities.

Before passing the measure, backers stripped out provisions barring political activities by regents and a separate requirement that university faculty would be allowed to choose one of the board members.

“It's not everything we hoped to achieve when the session began,” said Danielson, “but it's certainly a step in the right direction.”

Danielson said many of the controversies involving the regents – most notably a flap at Iowa State University that prompted U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin to withdraw plans to entrust his congressional papers to his alma mater in Ames – could have been minimized or avoided had the provisions of S.F. 407 been in place.

“This sends a strong message to the Board of Regents that the Legislature has an oversight function and the authority that we extend to them begins with us,” said Danielson, who expressed hope that the House would move the bill out of committee yet this week to keep it from falling victim to Friday's “funnel” deadline for non-money measures to clear one chamber and a committee of the other to remain eligible for consideration this session.

If the measure should die in the House, Danielson is a member of a regents' nine-person transparency task force that holds its first meeting Friday and he expected that panel to pick up the ideas contained in the Senate bill. He said the fact that the board which oversees the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa and two special schools has not addressed these issues on its own “speaks volumes.”

“We're going to argue that these things need to be taken up independent of the Legislature, forcing them to do it,” he said.

Sen. Jerry Behn, R-Boone, was the only senator to vote against the measure Tuesday.