Iowa Gubernatorial Succession Amendment (2020)

Iowa Gubernatorial Succession Amendment

Election date
November 3, 2020
Topic
Administration of government
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment| Origin
State legislature

* * *

* * *

The Iowa Gubernatorial Succession Amendment, also known as Senate Joint Resolution 2006, did not appear on the ballot in Iowa as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.[1][2]

The ballot measure would have given the governor power to appoint a lieutenant governor for the remainder of the term if the lieutenant governor's office became vacant. The ballot measure would have also modified the gubernatorial line of succession as follows:[2]

* If the governor became unable to serve or left office, the lieutenant governor would become the governor;
* If both the governor and lieutenant governor were unable to serve or left office, the president of the Senate would become governor;
* If the president of the Senate was unable or unwilling to serve as governor, the speaker of the house would become governor.

## Contents

* 1 Oversight in publication process voided the first-session vote on amendments
* 2 Text of measure
* 2.1 Full text
* 2.2 Constitutional changes
* 3 Sponsors
* 4 Path to the ballot
* 5 See also
* 6 External links
* 7 Footnotes

## Oversight in publication process voided the first-session vote on amendments[edit]

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate (R) said that his office failed to report constitutional amendments that the 86th Iowa General Assembly (2017-2018) approved in 2018. The Iowa Constitution required notifications of the constitutional amendments to be published at least three months before November 2018.[3][4]

In March and April 2018, the legislature approved (1) an amendment to provide a state right to own and bear firearms and (2) an amendment to allow the governor to appoint a lieutenant governor in the event of a vacant office and revise the gubernatorial line of succession. In Iowa, constitutional amendments are referred to the ballot for voter consideration after approval during two successive legislative sessions with legislative elections in between. The 87th Iowa State Legislature (2019-2020) needed to approve the constitutional amendments one more time for them to appear on the ballot in 2020.

Both of the constitutional amendments received the support of legislative Republicans in 2018. Senate Democrats were divided on both of the constitutional amendments. House Democrats opposed both of the constitutional amendments.

Rep. Matt Windschitl (R-17) commented on the error, saying, "I was extremely disappointed to find that the Secretary of State's Office did not follow through with their obligation. Unfortunately, this sets our timeline back about two years."[5] The earliest the constitutional amendments could appear on the ballot, due to the error, was 2022. Pate said, “Due to a bureaucratic oversight, my office failed to publish the required notifications in Iowa newspapers of two continuing resolutions passed by the Iowa Legislature last year. I accept full responsibility for this oversight and offer my sincerest apology to the legislators and supporters who worked so hard on these bills.”[3]

In 2004, the office of former Secretary of State Chet Culver (D) made a similar mistake as Pate, failing to publish a notification on a constitutional amendment. The Iowa General Assembly had to re-start the process and referred the amendment to the ballot in 2008.[6]

## Text of measure[edit]

### Full text[edit]

The full text of SJR 2006 is available here

### Constitutional changes[edit]

See also: Article IV, Iowa Constitution

The measure would have made changes to Article IV of the Iowa Constitution. It would have amended section 10 and repealed and replaced the following three sections:[2]

* Section 4
* Section 17
* Section 19

The underlined text below was new language that would have been added to the constitution:

Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.

Repeal Section 4 and replace it with the following:

Election by general assembly in case of tie —— inability of governor-elect to qualify —— succession by lieutenant governor —— inauguration of governor and lieutenant governor upon removal of inability of governor-elect to qualify. SEC. 4. The nominees for governor and lieutenant governor jointly having the highest number of votes cast for them shall be declared duly elected. If two or more sets of nominees for governor and lieutenant governor have an equal and the highest number of votes for the offices jointly, the general assembly shall by joint vote proceed, as soon as is possible, to elect one set of nominees for governor and lieutenant governor. If after the final canvass of votes but before inauguration the governor-elect has since died, does not qualify, or is permanently unable to assume office, the lieutenant governor-elect shall become governor upon inauguration, to the exclusion of any other office, for the residue of the term. In the event of a temporary inability of the governor-elect to assume office, the lieutenant governor-elect shall become governor upon inauguration, until the inability is removed, at which time, the governor-elect and lieutenant governor-elect shall be inaugurated as governor and lieutenant governor.

Amend section 10:

When any office shall, from any cause, become vacant, and no mode is provided by the constitution and laws for filling such vacancy, the governor shall have power to fill such vacancy, by granting a commission, which shall expire at the end of the next session of the general assembly, or at the next election by the people. The governor shall have the power to fill a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor by appointment.

Repeal section 17 and replace it with the following:

Lieutenant governor to assume the office of governor —— vacancy. SEC. 17. If the governor dies, resigns, is removed or impeached prior to acquittal or conviction, or is otherwise unable to serve, the lieutenant governor shall become governor, to the exclusion of any other office. If the preceding governor becomes able to serve, the succeeding governor shall again assume the office of lieutenant governor for the residue of the term, to the exclusion of any other office.

Repeal section 19 and replace it with the following:

Succession to office of governor and lieutenant governor —— simultaneous inability to serve —— qualification of successor governor to office. SEC. 19. If the governor and lieutenant governor are simultaneously unable to serve, the president of the senate shall become governor, followed by the speaker of the house if the president of the senate is unable or unwilling to serve, each succeeding, to the exclusion of the powers and duties of any other office. If the governor or lieutenant governor so succeeded becomes able to serve, the governor or lieutenant governor shall assume the office to which the governor or lieutenant governor qualified prior to the inability, and any successor governor who has served during the period of inability may assume the office to which the successor governor previously qualified, if the successor governor served as governor for less than one hundred ten days. [7]

## Sponsors[edit]

Representative Chip Baltimore (R) said: “This simply clarifies existing code, existing constitutional provisions, and what everyone, I shouldn't say everyone, what many, many, many people believed would be the case.”[8]

## Path to the ballot[edit]

See also: Amending the Iowa Constitution

To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before voters, a simple majority vote is required in both the Iowa State Senate and the Iowa House of Representatives in two legislative sessions with an election for state legislators in between. Every two years, half of the state senators and all of the members of the state House are up for election.[1]

SJR 2006 was introduced on February 8, 2018. This amendment was approved as Senate Joint Resolution 2006 during the 2018 legislative session on April 11, 2018, in the state House in a vote of 57 to 40 along partisan lines, with three absent or not voting. It was approved in the Senate on April 17, 2018, with a vote of 35 to 11, with four absent or not voting.[1]

The amendment would have gone before the legislature during the 2019-2020 legislature session. However, due to an error made by the secretary of state's office, the 2018 vote did not count toward referring the amendment to the ballot.

| Vote in the Iowa State Senate
April 17, 2018

Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber in two sessions
Number of yes votes required: 26 a
| Yes| No| Not voting
Total| 35| 11| 4
Total percent| 70.00%| 22.00%| 8.00%
Democrat| 10| 10| 1
Republican| 26| 0| 3
Independent| 1| 0| 0

| Vote in the Iowa House of Representatives
April 11, 2018

Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber in two sessions
Number of yes votes required: 51 a
| Yes| No| Not voting
Total| 57| 40| 3
Total percent| 57.00%| 40.00%| 3.00%
Democrat| 0| 40| 1
Republican| 57| 0| 2

## See also[edit]

2020 measures

* 2020 ballot measures
* Administration of government on the ballot

Iowa

* Iowa ballot measures
* Iowa ballot measure laws

News and analysis

* Ballot measure lawsuits
* Ballot measure readability
* Ballot measure polls

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## External links[edit]

* SJR 2006 Full text

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Iowa State Legislature, "SJR 2006 Overview," accessed April 18, 2018
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Iowa Legislature, "SJR 2006 full text," accessed April 18, 2018
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Des Moines Register, "Iowa gun rights amendment is back to square one after 'bureaucratic oversight'," January 14, 2019
4. ↑ WGEM, "Official’s ‘oversight’ derails key Iowa gun rights amendment," January 14, 2019
5. ↑ WeAreIowa.com, "Sec. Pate admits error regarding pro-gun amendment," January 14, 2019
6. ↑ Bleeding Heartland, "Paul Pate's error sends pro-gun amendment "back to square one," January 13, 2019
7. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source.
8. ↑ Iowa Public Radio, "House Republicans: Let New Governor Decide Next in Line," accessed April 18, 2018

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