{"id":451,"date":"2011-03-07T20:18:53","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T02:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=451"},"modified":"2011-03-07T20:18:53","modified_gmt":"2011-03-08T02:18:53","slug":"turf-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=451","title":{"rendered":"Turf Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>For several years there has been a battle between the Iowa House of Representatives and the Iowa Senate over which direction to take in improving Iowa\u2019s public records and open meeting laws.\u00a0\u00a0 The battle is much more than just language changes in the two chapters that control access to records and availability of public participation in meetings.\u00a0 There needs to be a method of ensuring compliance, and there are three ways to go.<\/p>\n

The Senate leans toward creating an enforcement board, while the House tends to favor an advisory committee.\u00a0 Granted, the Senate version will cost more.\u00a0 But this is one area in which the adage \u201cyou get what you pay for\u201d holds true.\u00a0 \u00a0The third option is to keep the status quo, which is slightly controversial, and the possible reason why there is a needed change.<\/p>\n

The proposed enforcement board, suggested by the Senate, is not just an entity that will throw its weight around, punishing people for violating the law.\u00a0 It will advise and educate also.\u00a0 The proposed board will have a concerted effort at oversight and mediation.\u00a0 It is an idea whose time has come.<\/p>\n

The Senate has held on to its belief with consistency over the years.\u00a0 The House has jumped all over a group of proposed amendments in an attempt to please everyone, but no one in particular.\u00a0 In the process, a large group of governmental lobbyists follow every meeting anticipating a wedge to get an exception in here or there.\u00a0 At present, the amendment attached to the current house is a bill that failed to be accepted by the Senate two years ago.<\/p>\n

One interested person has called the House\u2019s version a debate society.\u00a0 I believe that\u2019s an accurate description of what might come of the advisory committee.\u00a0 The problem with an advisory committee is that it becomes another tentacle of state bureaucracy.\u00a0 The committee is filled with wise people saying brilliant things, but in the end, it\u2019s the staffing that makes all of the decisions.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen it far too many times.<\/p>\n

The staff prepares the agenda \u2013 with the chair\u2019s help, of course.\u00a0 Staff does all the research, makes suggestions for recommendations, and performs most of the work before and after meetings.\u00a0 The committee members show up and discuss matters for hours, often leaving with a lack of any accomplishment.\u00a0 The attendance at so many of these types of meetings of state government are poorly attended, especially if there is very little to do but advise.<\/p>\n

The current situation is not the ideal setup for improving the expectations the public wants or needs as it pertains to open meetings\/public records.\u00a0 The enforcement is provided by the county attorney, the top law enforcement official in each county.\u00a0 The appearance of a conflict of interest is exposed each and every time a matter of a possible violation comes up in a political subdivision of the state.<\/p>\n

We need a better system.\u00a0 I\u2019m almost betting that this will eventually come down to an arm wrestling match \u2013 years from now.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2011 Fawkes-Lee & Ryan.\u00a0 All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For several years there has been a battle between the Iowa House of Representatives and the Iowa Senate over which direction to take in improving Iowa\u2019s public records and open meeting laws.\u00a0\u00a0 The battle is much more than just language … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,65],"tags":[195,196,145,197],"class_list":["post-451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issues","category-open-meetingspublic-records","tag-iowa-house-of-representatives","tag-iowa-senate","tag-open-meetings","tag-public-records"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":452,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions\/452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}