Iowans representing a range of professions, from psychologists to elevator service people, came to the state Capitol Wednesday to share their thoughts about dozens of state boards and commissions that could be on the chopping block.
The state’s Boards and Commissions Review Committee released a set of initial recommendations last week, calling for 119 of Iowa’s 256 boards and commissions to be consolidated or eliminated.
The review committee was created earlier this year as part of a sweeping government reorganization law that Gov. Kim Reynolds signed in April that reduced cabinet-level state government agencies from 37 to 16.
More:A state panel wants to eliminate 100-plus Iowa boards and commissions. Which could go?
More than 60 speakers gave feedback Wednesday at a 2½-hour hearing in the Iowa Capitol building. Some pleaded for the panel to recommend their board be preserved, while others offered praise for the goal of shrinking state government.
Some groups spoke out against consolidations they said could undermine efforts to give diverse groups a voice in Iowa. And others spoke against reducing licensing boards that oversee professional groups.
The panel will issue a final report to Reynolds and the Legislature by Sept. 30. But the group has no power to eliminate or change any boards or commissions. Any changes would have to be taken up by lawmakers when they return to the Iowa Capitol in January.
“Our task will be to come up with a final report, which is due on Sept. 30, and provide that to the governor and also to the General Assembly,” said Kraig Paulsen, the review committee’s chair. “And that will be the end of this committee’s work.”
Sen. Janice Weiner, D-Iowa City, who serves on the committee in an ex-officio capacity, called the process a sham designed to increase Reynolds’ power.
“State boards and commissions bring essential expertise into our state government and ensure public accountability for the public’s business,” Weiner said in a statement. “I support a thorough review of our boards and commissions, but the Reynolds administration needs to slow down and fully engage the public before it does anything that could affect our health and wellbeing.”
Committee could recommend ending gender balance requirement for boards and commissions
Several speakers at the hearing spoke about Iowa’s law requiring gender balance on the state’s boards and commissions.
One of the review committee’s recommendations says the state should “allow the most qualified Iowans to serve on boards and commissions by repealing the arbitrary gender-balance requirement.”
Katherine Farris, co-president of the American Association of University Women of Iowa, said her group has worked for years to achieve equity for women and girls in Iowa.
“The fact that this commission wants to negate years of work by AAUW and many other organizations to secure the right of women to be equal partners in government is appalling,” Farris said.
The law has applied to state-level boards and commissions since 1987. Since 2012, Iowa has also required gender balance on county and municipal boards and commissions. Two years after the new requirement took effect, Iowa State University’s Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics reported that about 50% of county and municipal boards were gender-balanced.
Now, about 61% of county-level boards are gender-balanced, according to data provided by 77 Iowa counties in 2021 and 2022. Data from 67 Iowa cities showed that 62% of municipal boards and commissions are gender balanced.
Laura D’Agostino, an attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation who spoke via Zoom, noted that her organization has sued to end the gender balance requirement for Iowa’s judicial nominating commissions, which help pick Iowa judges.
“Gender quotas not only prevent qualified people from serving and further impose logistical problems in filling seats, but they are unconstitutional and violate the 14th Amendment,” D’Agostino said.
Some speakers oppose consolidating culturally specific commissions
Under the committee’s recommendations, the commissions on the Status of African Americans, Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs, Deaf Services, Persons with Disabilities, Latino Affairs, Native American Affairs and the Status of Women would all be folded into the Iowa Human Rights Board.
Sarah Young Brown-Bear asked the committee not to merge culturally specific community advocacy commissions, like the Deaf Services Committee, into the Human Rights Board.
“They have raised awareness about our community for many years, have promoted our culture and deaf education in support of our community,” Young Brown-Bear signed. “Because of (the Deaf Services Committee), my deaf daughter, who is 7 and attends the Iowa School of the Deaf, will hopefully grow into a world where she faces fewer barriers than we did.”
Caleb Knutson, chair of the Iowa Commission of Latino Affairs, said the commission offers a range of resources for Iowa’s Latino population — and that Iowa should be doing everything it can to keep young people, including Latinos, in the state.
“If you want the state to grow, you’re going to want Latinos in the state,” he said.
Keenan Crow, director of policy and advocacy at the LGBTQ rights group One Iowa, said members of his group have spoken with the members of several of those committees, who believe the organizations are working as intended.
“These folks believe that these culturally-specific commissions are doing their jobs, that they are doing them well, that they are addressing issues specific to their communities and that getting rid of them or rolling them all into one commission would be a loss of those specific community voices and would perpetuate the kind of systemic racism those commissions actually address,” Crow said.
Several state licensing boards could be consolidated or cut
Union members and Iowans representing a range of professions spoke to the committee, asking for their licensing boards to be kept intact, while business groups applauded the goal of standardizing professional licensing.
One board the committee is proposing to eliminate is the Dental Hygiene Committee, which would become part of a reorganized Board of Dentistry.Mary Kelly served on the Dental Hygiene Committee for nine years. The committee handled issues and licensing questions specific to dental hygienists, then reported their findings to the Board of Dentistry.Kelly said it was a “really efficient way to run,” and that meetings lasted just a single day each quarter.“I think the value of protecting the public is worth the time taken away from the practice,” she told the Des Moines Register.Iowa Dental Hygienists’ Association lobbyist Tom Cope argued that licensure boards must include expert practitioners to “peer review” others in their field.“It helps control the power of bureaucrats and state regulators by having those public participants in the process,” Cope told the Register.
Several Iowans argued that various licensing and safety-focused boards operate at little cost to the state, but great benefits to public safety.
“Craft-specific boards play a critical role in making sure tradespeople are licensed and properly trained,” said Samantha Groark, executive director of the Central Iowa Building and Construction Trades Council. “I can’t believe I heard a recommendation earlier that we could simply go to online reviews and rely on Yelp to ensure that we have properly trained and licensed people in the electrical, plumbing and other industries.”
JD Davis, vice president of public policy at the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, praised the goal of streamlining state committees.
“As businesses, we are in continuous reexamination of the way that we proceed,” Davis said. “And we think that the state doing this, starting with its first since 1986 review of state functions, and now boards and commissions, can only bring benefits.”
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her atkakin@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.
How to submit comments
Iowans who still wish to submit comments about the review committee’s initial recommendations can do so by emailing BCRCcomments@iowa.gov.
Comments should be submitted before the end of the day on Sept. 17 to be considered.
The committee intends to meet Sept. 25 to consider a draft of its final report.