Hunter
06/02/23
Governor Kim Reynolds signed legislation yesterday that will limit the powers of the state auditor’s office, preventing them from going to court to force the release of documents and accessing certain personal information.
The Des Moines Register reports the law is opposed by a range of state and national auditing and accounting groups, who say the legislation represents a threat to the auditor’s independence and could harm the office’s ability to comply with standard auditing practices.
The new law prevents the auditor’s office from suing another state officeholder or executive branch agency. Instead, a three person arbitration panel consisting of one member of the auditor’s office, one member of the agency being audited, and a third member picked by the governor.
State Auditor Rob Sand issued a statement Thursday about the bill, saying it eliminates checks and balances, jeopardizes the state’s bond rating, and puts billions of dollars in federal aid for Iowa at risk.
As far as the document restriction, Sand called it “akin to letting the defendant decide what evidence the judge and jury are allowed to see.”
The law will take effect on July 1st.