Iowa GOP lawmakers advance bill repealing gender balance rule for boards and commissions

Iowa no longer needs to mandate a balance of men and women on state and local boards and commissions, Republican lawmakers argued Thursday as they advanced a bill to do away with the requirement.

Sen. Chris Cournoyer, R-LeClaire, served on the three-person subcommittee and said that as a woman who has worked in traditionally male-dominated industries, she has seen progress as women and girls pursue careers in those fields. She said she doesn't believe removing Iowa's gender-balance law will prevent that progress.

“When you are trying to find people just because of their gender, whether or not they represent that occupation or not, I think that's problematic,” she said.

Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, introduced the legislation and suggested that it may not have been necessary to begin with.

"If ever the policy was correct in the first place, it certainly needs out," he said. "And it is time to remove it and recognize that women have full access to all of our boards and commissions and elected offices."

According to the Carrie Chapmann Catt Center for Women and Politics, about 50% of Iowa county boards and commissions had achieved gender balance between 2013 and 2014. Between 2021 and 2022, it was about 62% — an improvement, but still far short of all.

Senate File 2096 mirrors legislation Schultz introduced during the last legislative session, and it comes amid a larger push by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to shrink the size of the state’s government.

Last year, Reynolds signed legislation shrinking the number of cabinet level agencies from 37 to 16. And a task force appointed by the governor has issued a report recommending the elimination of more than 100 of the state’s boards and commissions — a recommendation Reynolds endorsed in her Condition of the State address in January.

That same panel has also recommended eliminating Iowa’s decades-old law requiring gender balance on state boards and commissions.

During the subcommittee meeting, several people spoke in opposition, noting that many of Iowa’s boards and commissions still do not have full gender balance, even with the law.

Keenan Crow, a lobbyist for One Iowa, argued that although more women currently serve on boards and commissions than in past years, it’s likely a result of the law.

“If you're holding an umbrella in a rainstorm, it's true you're no longer getting wet. You're under the umbrella, right?” Crow said. “But what isn't true is that you no longer need the umbrella. The umbrella is what's keeping you dry.”

Crow also noted that the law already provides flexibility for cases when qualified candidates can't be found. If a candidate of the necessary gender can't be found within three months, the requirement no longer applies.

"Now, I could understand how this could be a burden if we didn't open it up after that three-month period," Crow said. "But what I don't understand is why doing three months of due diligence is such a major burden. It seems like a small price to pay to ensure that the makeup of our boards and commissions reflects the communities they serve."

The move to strike the gender balance requirement also follows a lawsuit challenging the state law requiring gender balance on Iowa’s top judicial nominating commission.

A federal judge ruled earlier this year that law may have been appropriate when it was created in the 1980s, but it no longer passes constitutional muster and cannot be enforced.

The order only blocked the gender balance requirement for the state commission's elected members. But other state laws could also be vulnerable to challenges using the same legal grounds, conservative attorney Alan Ostergren argued Thursday.

The legislation now moves to a full committee.

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa GOP lawmakers advance bill to repeal gender balance rule