Iowa · statute · Iowa Code ch. 2 · 51 active provisions
The sessions of the general assembly shall be held annually at the seat of government, unless the governor shall convene them at some other place in times of pestilence or public danger. Each annual session of the general assembly shall commence on the second Monday in January of each year. The general assembly may rec…
1. Each regular session of the general assembly shall be designated by the year in which it convenes and by a number with a new consecutive number assigned with the session beginning in each odd-numbered year. 2. A special session of the general assembly shall be designated as an extraordinary session in the particular…
At 10:00 a.m. on the second Monday in January of each odd-numbered year, the general assembly shall convene. The president of the senate, or in the president’s absence some person claiming to be a member, shall call the senate to order. If necessary, a temporary president shall be chosen from the persons claiming to be…
The selected secretary and clerk shall receive and file the certificates of election presented for their respective houses, and make a list therefrom of the persons who appear to have been elected members of the respective houses.
The persons appearing to be members shall proceed to elect such other officers as may be requisite and when so temporarily organized shall choose a committee of five, who shall examine and report upon the credentials of the persons claiming to be members.
The members reported by the committee as holding certificates of election from the proper authority shall proceed to the permanent organization of their respective houses by the election of officers and shall not be challenged as to their qualifications during the remainder of the term for which they were elected.
The president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives shall hold their offices until the first day of the meeting of the next general assembly. All other officers elected by either house shall hold their offices for the same terms, unless sooner removed, except as may be otherwise provided by reso…
Any member may administer oaths necessary in the course of business of the house of which that person is a member, and, while acting on a committee, in the course of business of such committee.
1. a. The senate and house of representatives shall each publish a daily journal of the transactions of their respective bodies. The secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the house shall each determine the format and manner of the journal’s publication, the procurement procedures for the journal’s publication,…
Members of the general assembly shall receive salaries and expenses as provided by this section. 1. Every member of the general assembly except the presiding officer of the senate, the speaker of the house, the majority and minority floor leader of each house, and the president pro tempore of the senate and speaker pro…
1. Each house of the general assembly may employ such officers and employees as it shall deem necessary for the conduct of its business. The compensation of the chaplains, officers, and employees of the general assembly shall be fixed by joint action of the house and senate by resolution at the opening of each session,…
1. There is appropriated out of any funds in the state treasury not otherwise appropriated a sum sufficient to pay for legislative printing and all current and miscellaneous expenses of the general assembly, authorized by either the senate or the house, and the director of the department of administrative services shal…
If a member or members of the general assembly are involved in court proceedings on behalf of the general assembly, and are represented by an attorney who is not an employee of the state, and the legislative council determines that the reasonable expense of the court proceedings, including reasonable attorney fees, sha…
1. A state capitol maintenance fund is created in the state treasury under the control of the legislative council. The fund shall consist of all moneys appropriated to the fund. 2. There is appropriated from the rebuild Iowa infrastructure fund for deposit in the state capitol maintenance fund, for the fiscal year begi…
The director of the department of administrative services shall also issue to each officer and employee of the general assembly, during legislative sessions or interim periods, upon vouchers signed by the president, majority leader, and secretary of the senate or the speaker and chief clerk of the house, warrants for t…
1. a. A standing committee of either house or a subcommittee when authorized by the chairperson of the standing committee, may meet when the general assembly is not in session in the manner provided in this section and upon call pursuant to the rules of the house or senate. In case of vacancy in the chair or in the cha…
1. The powers and duties of standing committees shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following: a. Introducing legislative bills and resolutions. b. Conducting investigations with the approval of either or both houses during the session, or the legislative council during the interim, with authority to call w…
1. Any member of the general assembly or any person elected to serve in the general assembly, or any standing committee, may sponsor and submit legislative bills and joint resolutions for consideration by the general assembly, before the convening of any session of the general assembly. Each house may approve rules for…
A member of the general assembly shall not be held for slander or libel in any court for words used in any speech or debate in either house or at any session of a standing committee.
Each house has authority to punish for contempt, by fine or imprisonment or both, any person who commits any of the following offenses against its authority: 1. Arresting a member, knowing the member to be such, in violation of the member’s privilege, or assaulting, or threatening to assault, or threatening any harm to…
Fines and imprisonment for contempt shall be only by virtue of an order of the proper house, entered on its journals, stating the grounds thereof.
Imprisonment for contempt shall be effected by a warrant, under the hand of the presiding officer, for the time being, of the house ordering it, countersigned by the acting secretary or clerk, in the name of the state, and directed to the sheriff or jailer of the proper county. Under such warrant, the proper officer wi…
Fines for contempt shall be collected by a warrant, directed to any proper officer of any county in which the offender has property, and executed in the same manner as executions for fines issued from courts of record, and the proceeds paid into the state treasury.
1. Imprisonment for contempt shall not extend beyond the session at which it is ordered, and shall be in a facility designated by the presiding officer. 2. Punishment for contempt shall not constitute a bar to any other proceeding, civil or criminal, for the same act.
Whenever a committee of either house, or a joint committee of both, is conducting an investigation requiring the personal attendance of witnesses, any person may be compelled to appear before such committee as a witness by serving an order upon the person, which service shall be made in the manner required in case of a…