Iowa lawmakers are planning to reduce the number of state boards and commissions this year — but the extent of the cuts is still up for debate.
Gov. Kim Reynolds has proposed a wide-ranging plan that would eliminate more than 100 boards and commissions, as well as repeal the requirement that boards and conditions have a balance of men and women serving.
The Iowa Senate is advancing Reynolds’ bill, Senate Study Bill 3172. But the House is moving a narrower bill, House Study Bill 710, that would eliminate about 49 boards and commissions, largely ones that one lawmaker described as “defunct or duplicative.
Both chambers are controlled by Republicans.
What concerns are there about eliminating Iowa boards and commissions?
Iowans crowded into a Senate subcommittee room Wednesday to speak about the governor’s bill, raising concerns about how it would affect a number of professions that require licensing by combining boards that govern multiple separate professions.
One of the changes would combine the Electrical Examining Board, the Plumbing and Mechanical Systems Board and the State Building Code Board of review into a single Building and Construction Occupations Board.