Gov. Kim Reynolds signs law restricting Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand's powers. Here's how:

Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand will soon be barred from taking state agencies to court to force them to turn over documents and will be blocked from accessing certain types of personal information under a law Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Thursday.

Sand is the only Democrat elected to statewide office in Iowa. Reynolds is a Republican.

The law passed the Iowa Legislature last month with only Republican support. It will take effect July 1 with Reynolds' signature.

Democrats argue Republicans are tying the hands of their political opponent because they don't like the way Sand does his job.

Republicans say the law will protect Iowans' personal information by limiting the auditor's access to their records, and they point out that it will apply to future auditors, not just Sand.

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.

"We call this the worst pro-corruption bill in Iowa history for a reason," Sand said in a statement after Reynolds signed the law. "It will allow insiders to play fast and loose with Iowans' tax dollars because those very same people will be able to deny the auditor's office access to the records necessary to expose them."

What does Iowa's new state auditor law do?

The law blocks the state auditor's office from suing another statewide officeholder or executive branch agency, department, board or commission to enforce a subpoena for documents.

Instead, disputes between the state auditor's office and other state entities will be decided by a three-person arbitration panel, with one member picked by the auditor's office, the second member picked by the agency being audited and the third member picked by the governor. The board's decision will be final.

Asked about the legislation in a May 11 appearance on "Iowa Press" on Iowa PBS, Reynolds said the state auditor's office is part of the executive branch and Iowans expect the executive branch "to work things out" when there are disagreements.

"To go to the courts, to have executive branch agencies competing against each other, taxpayers have to pay for it twice," she said. "And I just don’t think it’s unreasonable that we can come to some resolution through the arbitration process."

Sand said replacing the judicial process with an arbitration panel eliminates checks and balances that allow the auditor to uncover waste and fraud within government.

"Every Iowan should be alarmed if a politician replaces independent courts with a decision panel they control as a way to 'work things out,'" Sand said in a May 11 statement. "All the supporters of this bill have worked out is a way to hide waste and corruption, without any pesky independent auditors or independent courts in the way."

What kinds of personal information will the auditor be blocked from seeing?

The law prohibits the auditor from accessing personal information, including medical and counselor records, students' educational records, peace officers' reports and attorney work product.

It also prevents the auditor from accessing "any other information or records that contain personal information that an individual would reasonably expect to be kept private or unnecessary to the objectives and scope of the audit."

It contains exceptions allowing the auditor to obtain that information if required to comply with generally accepted government auditing standards, or in cases of alleged or suspected embezzlement or theft.

If the auditor's office does receive anyone's information, the office will be barred from disclosing it without the person's written consent, or the consent of the audited entity in cases of potential embezzlement, theft or other significant financial irregularities.

The law specifies that an audit begins when the auditor's office first engages with the entity, according to the auditing standards set out by the U.S. comptroller general and published by the Government Accountability Office.

The restrictions also would apply to certified public accountants who are auditing cities, school districts and other public entities.

Reynolds said the law still gives Sand access to information as long as he needs it for a legitimate purpose.

"This doesn’t limit his access to information," she said. "But it does say that just information that he’s curious about, he doesn’t have access to that."

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds signs Iowa law restricting auditor access to information