68B.2 - DEFINITIONS.
68B.2 DEFINITIONS.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Agency" means a department, division, board, commission,
bureau, authority, or office of the executive or legislative branch
of state government, the office of attorney general, the state board
of regents, community colleges, and the office of the governor,
including a regulatory agency, or any department, division, board,
commission, bureau, or office of a political subdivision of the
state, but does not include any agricultural commodity promotional
board, which is subject to a producer referendum.
2. "Agency of state government" or "state agency" means a
department, division, board, commission, bureau, authority, or office
of the executive or legislative branch of state government, the
office of attorney general, the state board of regents, community
colleges, and the office of the governor, including a regulatory
agency, but does not include any agricultural commodity promotional
board, which is subject to a producer referendum.
3. "Board" means the Iowa ethics and campaign disclosure
board.
4. "Candidate" means a candidate under chapter 68A but does
not include any judge standing for retention in a judicial election.
5. "Candidate's committee" means the committee designated by
a candidate for a state, county, city, or school office, as provided
under chapter 68A, to receive contributions in excess of seven
hundred fifty dollars in the aggregate, expend funds in excess of
seven hundred fifty dollars in the aggregate, or incur indebtedness
on behalf of the candidate in excess of seven hundred fifty dollars
in the aggregate in any calendar year.
6. "Client" means a private person or a state, federal, or
local government entity that pays compensation to or designates an
individual to be a lobbyist.
7. "Compensation" means any money, thing of value, or
financial benefit conferred in return for services rendered or to be
rendered.
8. "Contribution" means a loan, advance, deposit, rebate,
refund, transfer of money, an in-kind transfer, or the payment of
compensation for the personal services of another person.
9. "Gift" means a rendering of anything of value in return
for which legal consideration of equal or greater value is not given
and received.
10. "Honorarium" means anything of value that is accepted or
given as consideration for an appearance, speech, or article.
11. "Immediate family members" means the spouse and dependent
children of a public official or public employee.
12. "Legislative employee" means a permanent full-time
employee of the general assembly but does not include members of the
general assembly.
13. a. "Lobbyist" means an individual who, by acting
directly, does any of the following:
(1) Receives compensation to encourage the passage, defeat,
approval, veto, or modification of legislation, a rule, or an
executive order by the members of the general assembly, a state
agency, or any statewide elected official.
(2) Is a designated representative of an organization which has
as one of its purposes the encouragement of the passage, defeat,
approval, veto, or modification of legislation, a rule, or an
executive order before the general assembly, a state agency, or any
statewide elected official.
(3) Represents the position of a federal, state, or local
government agency, in which the person serves or is employed as the
designated representative, for purposes of encouraging the passage,
defeat, approval, veto, or modification of legislation, a rule, or an
executive order by members of the general assembly, a state agency,
or any statewide elected official.
(4) Makes expenditures of more than one thousand dollars in a
calendar year, other than to pay compensation to an individual who
provides the services specified under subparagraph (1) or to
communicate with only the members of the general assembly who
represent the district in which the individual resides, to
communicate in person with members of the general assembly, a state
agency, or any statewide elected official for purposes of encouraging
the passage, defeat, approval, veto, or modification of legislation,
a rule, or an executive order.
b. "Lobbyist" does not mean:
(1) Officials and employees of a political party organized in the
state of Iowa representing more than two percent of the total votes
cast for governor in the last preceding general election, but only
when representing the political party in an official capacity.
(2) Representatives of the news media only when engaged in the
reporting and dissemination of news and editorials.
(3) All federal, state, and local elected officials, while
performing the duties and responsibilities of office.
(4) Persons whose activities are limited to appearances to give
testimony or provide information or assistance at sessions of
committees of the general assembly or at public hearings of state
agencies or who are giving testimony or providing information or
assistance at the request of public officials or employees.
(5) Members of the staff of the United States Congress or the
Iowa general assembly.
(6) Agency officials and employees while they are engaged in
activities within the agency in which they serve or are employed or
with another agency with which the official's or employee's agency is
involved in a collaborative project.
(7) An individual who is a member, director, trustee, officer, or
committee member of a business, trade, labor, farm, professional,
religious, education, or charitable association, foundation, or
organization who either is not paid compensation or is not
specifically designated as provided in paragraph "a",
subparagraph (1) or (2).
(8) Persons whose activities are limited to submitting data,
views, or arguments in writing, or requesting an opportunity to make
an oral presentation under section 17A.4, subsection 1.
14. "Local employee" means a person employed by a political
subdivision of this state and does not include an independent
contractor.
15. "Local official" means an officeholder of a political
subdivision of this state.
16. "Member of the general assembly" means an individual duly
elected to the senate or the house of representatives of the state of
Iowa.
17. "Official" means all statewide elected officials, the
executive or administrative head or heads of an agency of state
government, the deputy executive or administrative head or heads of
an agency of state government, members of boards or commissions as
defined under section 7E.4, and heads of the major subunits of
departments or independent state agencies whose positions involve a
substantial exercise of administrative discretion or the expenditure
of public funds as defined under rules of the board adopted in
consultation with the department or agency and pursuant to chapter
17A. "Official" does not include officers or employees of
political subdivisions of the state, members of the general assembly,
legislative employees, officers or employees of the judicial branch
of government who are not members or employees of the office of
attorney general, members of state government entities which are or
exercise the same type of authority that is exercised by councils or
committees as defined under section 7E.4, or members of any
agricultural commodity promotional board, if the board is subject to
a producer referendum.
18. "Person" means, without limitation, any individual,
corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or
association, labor union, or any other legal entity.
19. "Public disclosure" means a written report filed by a
person as required by this chapter or required by rules adopted and
issued pursuant to this chapter.
20. "Public employee" means state employees, legislative
employees, and local employees.
21. "Public office" means any state, county, city, or school
office or any other office of a political subdivision of the state
that is filled by election.
22. "Public official" means officials, local officials, and
members of the general assembly.
23. "Regulatory agency" means the department of agriculture
and land stewardship, department of workforce development, department
of commerce, Iowa department of public health, department of public
safety, department of education, state board of regents, department
of human services, department of revenue, department of inspections
and appeals, department of administrative services, public employment
relations board, state department of transportation, civil rights
commission, department of public defense, Iowa ethics and campaign
disclosure board, and department of natural resources.
24. "Restricted donor" means a person who is in any of the
following categories:
a. Is or is seeking to be a party to any one or any
combination of sales, purchases, leases, or contracts to, from, or
with the agency in which the donee holds office or is employed.
b. Will personally be, or is the agent of a person who will
be, directly and substantially affected financially by the
performance or nonperformance of the donee's official duty in a way
that is greater than the effect on the public generally or on a
substantial class of persons to which the person belongs as a member
of a profession, occupation, industry, or region.
c. Is personally, or is the agent of a person who is, the
subject of or party to a matter which is pending before a subunit of
a regulatory agency and over which the donee has discretionary
authority as part of the donee's official duties or employment within
the regulatory agency subunit.
d. Is a lobbyist or a client of a lobbyist with respect to
matters within the donee's jurisdiction.
25. "State employee" means a person who is not an official
and is a paid employee of the state of Iowa and does not include an
independent contractor, an employee of the judicial branch who is not
an employee of the office of attorney general, an employee of the
general assembly, an employee of a political subdivision of the
state, or an employee of any agricultural commodity promotional
board, if the board is subject to a producer referendum.
26. "Statewide elected official" means the governor,
lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor of state, treasurer
of state, secretary of agriculture, and attorney general of the state
of Iowa. Section History: Early Form
[C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 68B.2; 82 Acts, ch 1199, § 35, 96] Section History: Recent Form
83 Acts, ch 96, § 157, 159; 84 Acts, ch 1067, § 13; 87 Acts, ch
213, § 1; 92 Acts, ch 1228, § 1; 93 Acts, ch 163, § 1; 94 Acts, ch
1092, §2--4; 96 Acts, ch 1186, § 23; 98 Acts, ch 1047, §14; 2002
Acts, ch 1073, §10, 11; 2003 Acts, ch 145, §286; 2004 Acts, ch 1091,
§4; 2005 Acts, ch 76, §2
Referred to in § 68B.22, 68B.37