Senate File 322, which passed through the Iowa Senate on a 46-0 vote, made it through its House subcommittee on Tuesday without the support of Democrat Rep. Mary Wolfe.
The bill is very brief as it simply requires the Department of Management to conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of Code chapter 8E, which is known as the Accountable Government Act.
The department was previously required to submit a report no later than Jan. 10, 2006. This bill requires a report to be submitted on its findings and recommendations to the governor and general assembly no later than Dec. 21, 2021.
Wolfe asked if anyone knew why that report did not happen and why it has taken so long to follow up on it, but nobody knew the answer.
“I’m not entirely sure,” said Republican Rep. Joe Mitchell.
Wolfe speculated if someone decided it wasn’t necessary.
Mitchell said they would ask the Department of Management what the problem was and if they conducted an evaluation or not.
“I know this is something that chairman (Rep. Bobby) Kaufmann wants to keep moving on to committee, so I’ll be signing off today,” Mitchell said. “But we’ll make sure to get that question answered before we go to full committee.”
