68B.22 - GIFTS ACCEPTED OR RECEIVED.
68B.22 GIFTS ACCEPTED OR RECEIVED.
1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a public
official, public employee, or candidate, or that person's immediate
family member shall not, directly or indirectly, accept or receive
any gift or series of gifts from a restricted donor. A public
official, public employee, candidate, or the person's immediate
family member shall not solicit any gift or series of gifts from a
restricted donor at any time.
2. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a restricted
donor shall not, directly or indirectly, offer or make a gift or a
series of gifts to a public official, public employee, or candidate.
Except as otherwise provided in this section, a restricted donor
shall not, directly or indirectly, join with one or more other
restricted donors to offer or make a gift or a series of gifts to a
public official, public employee, or candidate.
3. A restricted donor may give, and a public official, public
employee, or candidate, or the person's immediate family member, may
accept an otherwise prohibited nonmonetary gift or a series of
otherwise prohibited nonmonetary gifts and not be in violation of
this section if the nonmonetary gift or series of nonmonetary gifts
is donated within thirty days to a public body, the department of
administrative services, or a bona fide educational or charitable
organization, if no part of the net earnings of the educational or
charitable organization inures to the benefit of any private
stockholder or other individual. All such items donated to the
department of administrative services shall be disposed of by
assignment to state agencies for official use or by public sale. A
person subject to section 8.7 that receives a gift pursuant to this
subsection shall file a report pursuant to section 8.7.
4. Notwithstanding subsections 1 and 2, the following gifts may
be received by public officials, public employees, candidates, or
members of the immediate family of public officials, public
employees, or candidates:
a. Contributions to a candidate or a candidate's committee.
b. Informational material relevant to a public official's or
public employee's official functions, such as books, pamphlets,
reports, documents, periodicals, or other information that is
recorded in a written, audio, or visual format.
c. Anything received from anyone related within the fourth
degree by kinship or marriage, unless the donor is acting as an agent
or intermediary for another person not so related.
d. An inheritance.
e. Anything available or distributed free of charge to
members of the general public without regard to the official status
of the recipient. This paragraph shall not apply to functions
described under paragraph "s".
f. Items received from a bona fide charitable, professional,
educational, or business organization to which the donee belongs as a
dues-paying member, if the items are given to all members of the
organization without regard to individual members' status or
positions held outside of the organization and if the dues paid are
not inconsequential when compared to the items received.
g. Actual expenses of a donee for food, beverages,
registration, travel, and lodging for a meeting, which is given in
return for participation in a panel or speaking engagement at the
meeting when the expenses relate directly to the day or days on which
the donee has participation or presentation responsibilities.
h. Plaques or items of negligible resale value which are
given as recognition for the public services of the recipient.
i. Food and beverages provided at a meal that is part of a
bona fide event or program at which the recipient is being honored
for public service.
j. Nonmonetary items with a value of three dollars or less
that are received from any one donor during one calendar day.
k. Items or services solicited by or given to a state,
national, or regional government organization in which the state of
Iowa or a political subdivision of the state is a member for purposes
of a business or educational conference, seminar, or other meeting;
or solicited by or given to state, national, or regional government
organizations, whose memberships and officers are primarily composed
of state or local government officials or employees, for purposes of
a business or educational conference, seminar, or other meeting.
l. Items or services received by members or representatives
of members at a regularly scheduled event that is part of a business
or educational conference, seminar, or other meeting that is
sponsored and directed by any state, national, or regional government
organization in which the state of Iowa or a political subdivision of
the state is a member, or received at such an event by members or
representatives of members of state, national, or regional government
organizations whose memberships and officers are primarily composed
of state or local government officials or employees.
m. Funeral flowers or memorials to a church or nonprofit
organization.
n. Gifts which are given to a public official or public
employee for the public official's or public employee's wedding or
twenty-fifth or fiftieth wedding anniversary.
o. Payment of salary or expenses by a person's employer or
the firm in which the person is a member for the cost of attending a
meeting of a subunit of an agency when the person whose expenses are
being paid serves on a board, commission, committee, council, or
other subunit of the agency and the person is not entitled to receive
compensation or reimbursement of expenses from the state or a
political subdivision of the state for attending the meeting.
p. Gifts of food, beverages, travel, or lodging received by a
public official or public employee if all of the following apply:
(1) The public official or public employee is officially
representing an agency in a delegation whose sole purpose is to
attract a specific new business to locate in the state, encourage
expansion or retention of an existing business already established in
the state, or to develop markets for Iowa businesses or products.
(2) The donor of the gift is not the business or businesses being
contacted. However, food or beverages provided by the business or
businesses being contacted which are consumed during the meeting are
not a gift under section 68B.2, subsection 9, or this section.
(3) The public official or public employee plays a significant
role in the presentation to the business or businesses on behalf of
the public official's or public employee's agency.
q. Gifts other than food, beverages, travel, and lodging
received by a public official or public employee which are received
from a person who is a citizen of a country other than the United
States and are given during a ceremonial presentation or as a result
of a custom of the other country and are of personal value only to
the donee.
r. Actual registration costs for informational meetings or
sessions which assist a public official or public employee in the
performance of the person's official functions. The costs of food,
drink, lodging, and travel are not "registration costs" under this
paragraph. Meetings or sessions which a public official or public
employee attends for personal or professional licensing purposes are
not "informational meetings or sessions which assist a public
official or public employee in the performance of the person's
official functions" under this paragraph.
s. Gifts of food, beverage, and entertainment received by
public officials or public employees at a function where every member
of the general assembly has been invited to attend, when the function
takes place during a regular session of the general assembly. A
sponsor of a function under this paragraph shall file a report
disclosing the total amount expended, including in-kind expenditures,
on food, beverage, and entertainment for the function. The report
shall be filed with the person or persons designated by the secretary
of the senate and the chief clerk of the house within five business
days following the date of the function. The person or persons
designated by the secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the
house shall forward a copy of each report to the board.
5. For purposes of determining the value of an item given or
received, an individual who gives an item on behalf of more than one
person shall not divide the value of the item by the number of
persons on whose behalf the item is given and the value of an item
received shall be the value actually received by the donee.
6. A gift shall not be considered to be received by a public
official or public employee if the state is the donee of the gift and
the public official or public employee is required to receive the
gift on behalf of the state as part of the performance of the
person's duties of office or employment.
7. A person shall not request, and a member of the general
assembly shall not agree, that a member of the general assembly sell
tickets for a community-related social event that is to be held for
members of the general assembly in Polk county during the legislative
session. This section shall not apply to Polk county or city of Des
Moines events that are open to the public generally or are held only
for Polk county or city of Des Moines legislators.
8. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, an organization
or association which has as one of its purposes the encouragement of
the passage, defeat, introduction, or modification of legislation
shall not give and a member of the general assembly shall not receive
food, beverages, registration, or scheduled entertainment with a per
person value in excess of three dollars. Section History: Recent Form
92 Acts, ch 1228, § 9; 93 Acts, ch 163, § 6; 94 Acts, ch 1092,
§5--7; 2001 Acts, ch 24, §19; 2003 Acts, ch 145, §286; 2003 Acts, ch
161, §1, 2; 2005 Acts, ch 76, §5; 2007 Acts, ch 5, §2; 2008 Acts, ch
1191, § 40; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §18
Referred to in § 68B.23, 68B.34
Reports on gifts received on behalf of state, see §8.7
Solicitations for capitol complex projects, see §8A.108