Establishing a sunset advisory committee within the general assembly, providing for review of executive branch agencies by the committee and related duties and procedures, providing for the automatic sunset of certain executive branch agencies and related procedures, and including effective date provisions

The bill provides additional eligibility criteria for the public members. The bill includes additional procedural matters relating to establishment of the committee. The bill establishes a sunset review process for executive branch agencies to be carried out by the committee. The bill establishes criteria for the committee to consider in such reviews to determine whether a public need exists for the continuation of an agency or for the performance of the functions of the agency. The criteria include but are not limited to the efficiency and effectiveness with which the agency operates, identification of the objectives intended for the agency and the problems or needs that the agency was intended to address, identification of activities of the agency in addition to those required or authorized by statute, an assessment of the specific authority of the agency to impose any fees or penalties it imposes and to conduct any inspections that it conducts, and various other matters. The bill requires an agency to report information regarding the applicability of the agency review criteria to the agency, as well as any other information that the agency considers appropriate or that is requested by the committee, to the committee by January of the calendar year before the calendar year in which an agency is subject to sunset review. The bill requires the committee to take any action necessary to verify the information contained in the report. The bill requires the committee to establish a 12-year schedule for sunset review of all agencies and to update the schedule annually. The bill requires the committee to incorporate newly established agencies into the schedule and to schedule agencies subject to sunset under the bill for sunset review in the calendar year before the agency will sunset. Sunset reviews shall commence in calendar year 2021, and the committee is required to establish an initial schedule for the first year of sunset review no later than January 1, 2020. The bill requires the committee to consult with the appropriations committees of the senate and house of representatives, the department of management, the auditor of state, and the treasurer of state as necessary regarding the applicability of the agency review criteria to an agency subject to sunset review. The bill requires the committee to conduct one or more public hearings concerning but not limited to the applicability of the agency review criteria to the agency. The bill requires the committee to submit to the general assembly and the governor a report on each agency subject to sunset review during the previous calendar year no later than the beginning of each regular session of the general assembly. The bill provides the content of the report, which includes but is not limited to committee’s findings regarding the agency review criteria; the committee’s recommendations regarding the abolition, continuation, or reorganization of the agency; the committee’s recommendations to improve the operations of the agency; any draft legislation necessary to carry out the committee’s recommendations; and the estimated fiscal impact of the committee’s recommendations. The bill requires the committee to review the implementation of recommendations contained in the report and any resulting legislation during the second calendar year after an agency is subject to sunset review. The bill requires the committee to submit the committee’s recommendations that do not require a statutory enactment to be put into effect to the auditor of state. The bill requires the auditor of state to report on the implementation of the recommendations by the agency in the next audit of the agency. The bill requires agencies and employees of agencies to assist the committee in gathering information necessary to carry out the committee’s functions pursuant to the bill upon request. The bill authorizes the committee or the committee’s staff may inspect the records, documents, files, or other information of any agency in carrying out the committee’s functions pursuant to the bill. The bill requires the committee and committee staff to maintain the confidentiality of any confidential material accessed. The bill requires that a law establishing an agency enacted on or after July 1, 2020, unless the agency is expressly exempted from the sunset by law, to include a sunset clause clearly indicating the date of the agency’s sunset if the agency is not reauthorized by enactment by the general assembly. The bill requires that an enactment that reauthorizes the agency prior to sunset of the agency to include a provision specifying that the agency sunset at a date not more than years from the effective date of the enactment. The bill prohibits funding from being expended for or by an agency that has sunset unless expressly provided by law. The bill defines “sunset” as the termination of all activities of an agency. The sunset of an agency does not affect the rights and duties that matured, penalties incurred or imposed, civil or criminal liabilities that arose, or proceedings initiated in connection with the agency before the effective date of the agency’s sunset, unless otherwise expressly provided by law. The bill authorizes an agency that has sunset to continue in existence to conclude its business until July of the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the agency was sunset. Unless otherwise provided by law, the sunset of an agency does not reduce or otherwise limit the powers and authority of the agency during the concluding year. The bill requires the agency to terminate all activities on or before that date, and provides that all rules adopted by the agency shall be void on that date. The bill provides that any unobligated or unexpended appropriations of an agency that has sunset shall lapse and revert to the general fund of the state on that date. The bill provides that all moneys in a dedicated fund of an agency that has sunset shall be transferred to the general fund of the state on July of the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the agency was sunset, except as provided in the bill or as otherwise provided by law. Any portion of a law dedicating moneys to a specific fund of an agency that has sunset is void on that date. The bill provides that the property and records in the custody of an agency that has sunset shall be transferred to the department of administrative services on July of the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the agency was sunset unless the governor designates an appropriate agency as described in the bill. The bill provides that the sunset of an agency shall not impair or impede payment of bonded indebtedness and all other obligations, including lease, contract, and other written obligations, in accordance with their terms. If an agency that is sunset has outstanding bonded indebtedness or other outstanding obligations, the bonds and all other such obligations remain valid and enforceable in accordance with their terms and subject to all applicable terms and conditions of the laws and proceedings authorizing the bonds and all other such obligations. The bill requires the governor to designate an appropriate agency to continue to carry out all covenants contained in the bonds and all other such obligations and to perform all other such obligations to complete the construction of projects or perform other such obligations. The bill provides procedures for a designated agency to carry out those duties. If an employee is discharged because the agency employing the employee sunsets, the bill requires the affected agency and the department of workforce development to make a reasonable effort to assist the discharged employee in obtaining new employment. The bill provides that the new Iowa sunset Act shall not be construed to restrict the general assembly from enacting an agency sunset at a date earlier than required under the bill or considering any other legislation concerning an agency subject to this Code chapter. The bill strikes language creating a state government efficiency review committee within the general assembly. The bill takes effect upon enactment.