DES MOINES, IOWA (June 30, 2020) - Governor Kim Reynolds has signed the following bills into law:
HF2642: An Act relating to and making appropriations to state departments and agencies from the rebuild Iowa infrastructure fund and the technology reinvestment fund, and providing for related matters, and including effective date and retroactive-applicability provisions.
HF2644: An Act relating to transportation and other infrastructure-related appropriations to the department of transportation, including allocation and use of moneys from the road use tax fund and the primary road fund and other related provisions, and including effective date and retroactive-applicability provisions.
Gov Reynolds also signed the following bill into law, with the exception of sections 57 and 91, which she item vetoed:
HF2643: An act relating to state and local finances by making appropriations, providing for legal and regulatory responsibilities, providing for other properly-related matters, and including effective date and retroactive-applicability provisions.
The text of the transmittal letter can be found here.
Finally, Gov Reynolds vetoed House File 2556, an Act concerning governmental real property and official publications.
Gov Reynolds said the following in HF2556’s transmittal letter:
“House File 2556 contains a number of provisions with which I have no objection. But Division II of the bill imposes new requirements on local governmental bodies and the State of Iowa prohibiting the sale of real property unless it is sold 'to the highest responsive, responsible bidder' or the governmental body, by a two-thirds vote, approves a different bidder for “good cause” or a different process.
“I understand the concern that a governmental body may occasionally make a decision to sell property with which many of its constituents disagree. But I am not convinced that this bill is the appropriate solution.
“Governmental bodies may reasonably conclude that factors other than price — such as a potential developer’s jobs and economic impact, environmental cleanup, or improvements to the property and infrastructure — should determine to whom a property should be sold. And imposing a two-thirds vote requirement to make this choice would unnecessarily complicate a local government’s decision-making and could unintentionally hurt redevelopment and economic growth efforts in our state. I am also concerned that the new language lacks clarity and could lead to litigation, confusion, and unintended consequences surrounding governmental real-estate transactions even where a unanimous vote approves of the transaction.
“For these reasons, I respectfully disapprove of House File 2556 in its entirety.”
The full letter can be found here.
Gov Reynolds has now completed action on all legislation passed in the 2020 legislative session.
