Bill > SF2314

Introduced Session

This bill relates to executive branch functions, including ratification of major administrative rules and certain other actions, other matters relating to the state rulemaking process, and terms of service of certain appointed members of certain boards. RATIFICATION OF MAJOR RULES. The bill provides for ratification of major administrative rules and other matters relating to the executive branch rulemaking process. The bill defines “major rule” as a rule that does at least one of three things. A major rule requires annual expenditures of at least $200,000 or combined expenditures of at least $1 million within five years by all affected persons including the agency itself. An express appropriation of funds enacted by the general assembly shall not be considered an expenditure. A major rule has significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, or innovation, including significant adverse effects on individual industries or regions. Finally, a major rule amends the state implementation plan under section 110 of the federal Clean Air Act as amended through January 1, 1991. The bill provides that a major rule shall not become effective until it is ratified by the general assembly. The bill authorizes the general assembly to ratify a major rule by passage of a joint resolution that requires approval of the governor. The bill authorizes the governor to request temporary approval of a major rule by the legislative council if the governor determines that a major rule must become effective while the general assembly is not in session. The governor shall only make such a request if federal law, a condition of federal funding, or response to a state of disaster emergency proclaimed by the governor requires that the major rule become effective while the general assembly is not in session. The major rule shall become effective upon temporary approval by the legislative council. If a major rule is so approved, the governor must submit a statement for publication in the Iowa administrative bulletin explaining why federal law, a condition of federal funding, or response to a state of disaster emergency requires the rule to become effective while the general assembly is not in session. The bill provides that a major rule temporarily approved by the legislative council shall cease to be effective upon the adjournment of the next regular session of the general assembly following the effective date of the major rule unless the general assembly ratifies the rule as provided in the bill before adjournment. The bill provides procedures for an agency to rescind a major rule that has not been ratified and to engage in further rulemaking relating to a major rule that has not been ratified. The bill requires an agency to classify whether a proposed or adopted rule is a major rule at each of the three stages of the rulemaking process (regulatory analysis, notice of intended action, and adoption). The agency must include an explanation for the agency’s classification. The classification must encompass all rulemaking actions included in a rulemaking document and expressly and unambiguously state whether the rule is a major rule. The bill requires the legislative services agency to conduct a legislative regulatory analysis of each notice of intended action and adoption classified by an agency as a major rule. The bill specifies the content of the legislative regulatory analysis. The bill requires the legislative services agency to submit a report including the legislative regulatory analysis for publication in the Iowa administrative bulletin and to the administrative rules review committee. The report shall include an assessment of whether the agency’s rulemaking process complied with the requirements of Code chapter 17A governing major rules and an assessment of whether the major rule imposes any new limits or mandates on private-sector activity. The bill prohibits adoption of a notice of intended action classified as a major rule less than 35 days after the report is published. The bill requires the legislative services agency, to the extent resources are available, to conduct legislative regulatory analyses of existing rules and proposed or adopted rules that are not major rules when requested by a chair or ranking member of a standing committee of the general assembly. The bill requires agencies to promptly comply with requests for information relevant to a legislative regulatory analysis from the legislative services agency. The bill requires the administrative rules review committee to review a notice of intended action classified as a major rule before the earliest date on which the proposed rule could be adopted. The bill authorizes an aggrieved or adversely affected person or party to bring an action in district court concerning a major rule. The bill provides that the district court shall have jurisdiction to engage in de novo review of whether a rule is a major rule; determine whether an agency, the general assembly, the legislative council, or the governor completed the requirements for a major rule to become effective; and determine when or if a rule alleged to be a major rule became effective. The bill provides that ratification of a major rule shall not extinguish or otherwise affect any legal claim concerning any alleged legal defect of the major rule, be construed as a grant or modification of statutory authority by the general assembly for the adoption of the major rule, or be part of the record before the district court in any judicial proceeding concerning a major rule except for purposes of a proceeding authorized by the bill. The bill requires that rulemaking documents include additional specified information such as related regulatory actions by the agency, more detailed comparisons of costs and benefits of the rule, sources consulted by the agency, key assumptions made by the agency, and sources of uncertainty identified by the agency. This division of the bill applies to rulemaking commencing with a regulatory analysis published in the Iowa administrative bulletin on or after July 1, 2027, or with a rule adopted under Code section 17A.4, subsection 3 (emergency rule), on or after July 1, 2027. RATIFICATION OF PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN —— FEDERAL CLEAN AIR ACT. The bill provides that a proposal to amend the state implementation plan under section 110 of the federal Clean Air Act shall not be submitted for federal approval until it is ratified by the general assembly. The bill authorizes the general assembly to ratify such a proposal by passage of a joint resolution that requires approval of the governor. EXECUTIVE BRANCH BOARDS —— TERMS OF OFFICE. The bill changes the terms of service for members of the Iowa finance authority board of directors, agricultural development board, board of examiners for voting systems, investment board of the Iowa public employees’ retirement system, state board of education, and state board of regents from six years to four years. This change in terms of service applies to members appointed by the governor on or after July 1, 2026.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Scott Webster (R)*, 

Committee report approving bill, renumbered as SF 2395. S.J. 339. (on 02/19/2026)

Official Document