Iowa official register

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EGISLATIVE

 

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RANCH

 

 

Chapter 2 

 

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Speaker of the House 

Pat Murphy 

83rd GENERAL ASSEMBLY 

2009-2010 

President of the Senate 

John P. Kibbie 

Senate Majority Leader 

Michael E. Gronstal 

Senate Minority Leader 

Paul McKinley 

House Majority Leader 

Kevin McCarthy 

House Minority Leader 

Kraig Paulsen 

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LEGISLATIVE BRANCH 

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THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH 

Statehouse, Des Moines 50319 

www.legis.state.ia.us 

Organization 

The Constitution of the State of Iowa places the legislative authority of Iowa government in a 

General Assembly made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives, and limits the member-

ship to no more than 50 senators and 100 representatives, which is the present size. 

The General Assembly is the lawmaking body of state government. A constitutional provision 

that no money be spent from the state’s treasury unless the General Assembly writes a law to do 

so is the basis of the General Assembly’s power of the purse. The General Assembly also has the 

power to call itself into special session upon written request made to the presiding officers of both 

houses by two-thirds of the members of both. The sole power of impeachment is vested in the 

House of Representatives, with the power to try impeachments vested in the Senate. 

Qualifications for Office 

A state representative must be at least 21 years of age, and a state senator must be at least 25 

years of age at the time he or she takes office. The other qualifications for the office of legislator 

are U.S. citizenship, Iowa residency for at least one year, and district residency of 60 days prior to 

election. Representatives are elected to two-year terms; senators are elected to four-year terms. 

Presently, half of the 50 senators’ terms expire every two years. 

Compensation 

Members of the General Assembly are paid an annual salary of approximately $25,000.  Mem-

bers are reimbursed for round trips between their homes and the state capitol and are paid a per 

diem allowance for expense of office during the legislative sessions. The annual salary for the 

Speaker of the House and the House Majority and House Minority Leaders, and for the President 

of the Senate and the Senate Majority and Senate Minority Leaders, is approximately $37,500.  

The annual salary for the Speaker Pro Tempore and President Pro Tempore is approximately 

$27,000. 

Presiding Officers 

The presiding officer of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House, a state repre-

sentative who is elected to the position by members of the House of Representatives. The Sen-

ate’s presiding officer is the President of the Senate, a state senator who is elected to the position 

by members of the Senate. 

Convening the General Assembly 

The Constitution requires the General Assembly to convene yearly on the second Monday in 

January. General Assembly members are administered an oath of office upon the convening of the 

General Assembly in January of the year following their elections.  

Iowa’s General Assemblies have been numbered chronologically from statehood in 1846 to 

distinguish each new General Assembly, its membership, and its laws from all other General As-

semblies. The 83rd General Assembly, meeting in 2009 and 2010, marks the 83rd time a two-year 

General Assembly has been held in Iowa; its bills signed by the Governor will become identifi-

able parts of the state’s permanent book of laws called the Code of Iowa.  

Legislation 

During the two years of each General Assembly’s existence, the General Assembly can be ex-

pected to send approximately 400 bills to the Governor to be signed into law. As many as six to 

eight times the number of bills that actually become law will have been filed for legislative con-

sideration during the two years. 

The Constitution stipulates that bills may originate in either chamber of the General Assembly 

and empowers each chamber to determine its own rules of procedure, except each is prohibited 

from adjourning for more than three days without the consent of the other. 

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IOWA OFFICIAL REGISTER 

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Final Action on Bills 

Bills passed by the General Assembly must be sent to the Governor for final action. The Gover-

nor has three options:  sign the bill, veto the bill and send it back to the General Assembly, or take 

no action. In the case of a veto, the General Assembly may override the veto with two-thirds of 

the members of each chamber voting to pass the bill again. If, during the legislative session, the 

Governor does not sign or veto the bill, it becomes law after three days without the Governor’s 

signature. Bills received by the Governor during or after the last three days of the session shall be 

signed or vetoed within 30 days; if not signed, the bills do not become law. 

Vetoes 

There are three types of vetoes used:  the regular veto is a veto of the entire bill; the item veto 

may be used for appropriation bills and nullifies a specific portion of a bill; when the Governor 

fails to take action after 30 days on a bill received during or after the final three session days, the 

bill fails to become law (the pocket veto). 

Effective Dates of Legislation 

Bills signed by the Governor or passed by the General Assembly over the Governor’s veto are 

sent to the Secretary of State, who is the custodian of all bills enacted into law. Bills normally go 

into effect on July 1 following their passage, unless another date is specified in the bill. Many 

bills become effective upon enactment, which means the date they are signed into law by the 

Governor. Any bills passed prior to July 1 but which are signed by the Governor on or after July 1 

take effect 45 days after signature unless the bill specifies another enactment date. 

Rules 

Each chamber adopts its own rules. Joint rules are also adopted to govern legislative procedures 

that affect the orderly flow of bills between the two chambers.  

The General Assembly functions year-round, although its legislative session lasts approxi-

mately four months. The periods between the lawmaking sessions are called legislative interim 

periods and are devoted to legislative studies by the members who work in committees to prepare 

bills for consideration in upcoming sessions. 

The Constitution mandates that each chamber “shall have all other powers necessary for a 

branch of the General Assembly of a free and independent state.” And with those powers, the 

Constitution mandates legislative accountability to the citizens of Iowa by requiring publication 

of all the General Assembly’s proceedings in a journal. 

Another constitutional requirement is that the doors of each house shall be open, “except on 

such occasions as, in the opinion of the house, may require secrecy.” Present policy evolved 

through rules and provides that all official legislative business, including committee meetings, 

floor debates, and interim committee meetings, is open to firsthand public view. 

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