68B.22 - GIFTS ACCEPTED OR RECEIVED. - Iowa Statutes

68B.22 GIFTS ACCEPTED OR RECEIVED. 1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a public official, public employee, or candidate, or that person's immediate family member shall not, directly or indirectly, accept or receive any gift or series of gifts from a restricted donor. A public official, public employee, candidate, or the person's immediate family member shall not solicit any gift or series of gifts from a restricted donor at any time. 2. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a restricted donor shall not, directly or indirectly, offer or make a gift or a series of gifts to a public official, public employee, or candidate. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a restricted donor shall not, directly or indirectly, join with one or more other restricted donors to offer or make a gift or a series of gifts to a public official, public employee, or candidate. 3. A restricted donor may give, and a public official, public employee, or candidate, or the person's immediate family member, may accept an otherwise prohibited nonmonetary gift or a series of otherwise prohibited nonmonetary gifts and not be in violation of this section if the nonmonetary gift or series of nonmonetary gifts is donated within thirty days to a public body, the department of administrative services, or a bona fide educational or charitable organization, if no part of the net earnings of the educational or charitable organization inures to the benefit of any private stockholder or other individual. All such items donated to the department of administrative services shall be disposed of by assignment to state agencies for official use or by public sale. A person subject to section 8.7 that receives a gift pursuant to this subsection shall file a report pursuant to section 8.7. 4. Notwithstanding subsections 1 and 2, the following gifts may be received by public officials, public employees, candidates, or members of the immediate family of public officials, public employees, or candidates: a. Contributions to a candidate or a candidate's committee. b. Informational material relevant to a public official's or public employee's official functions, such as books, pamphlets, reports, documents, periodicals, or other information that is recorded in a written, audio, or visual format. c. Anything received from anyone related within the fourth degree by kinship or marriage, unless the donor is acting as an agent or intermediary for another person not so related. d. An inheritance. e. Anything available or distributed free of charge to members of the general public without regard to the official status of the recipient. This paragraph shall not apply to functions described under paragraph "s". f. Items received from a bona fide charitable, professional, educational, or business organization to which the donee belongs as a dues-paying member, if the items are given to all members of the organization without regard to individual members' status or positions held outside of the organization and if the dues paid are not inconsequential when compared to the items received. g. Actual expenses of a donee for food, beverages, registration, travel, and lodging for a meeting, which is given in return for participation in a panel or speaking engagement at the meeting when the expenses relate directly to the day or days on which the donee has participation or presentation responsibilities. h. Plaques or items of negligible resale value which are given as recognition for the public services of the recipient. i. Food and beverages provided at a meal that is part of a bona fide event or program at which the recipient is being honored for public service. j. Nonmonetary items with a value of three dollars or less that are received from any one donor during one calendar day. k. Items or services solicited by or given to a state, national, or regional government organization in which the state of Iowa or a political subdivision of the state is a member for purposes of a business or educational conference, seminar, or other meeting; or solicited by or given to state, national, or regional government organizations, whose memberships and officers are primarily composed of state or local government officials or employees, for purposes of a business or educational conference, seminar, or other meeting. l. Items or services received by members or representatives of members at a regularly scheduled event that is part of a business or educational conference, seminar, or other meeting that is sponsored and directed by any state, national, or regional government organization in which the state of Iowa or a political subdivision of the state is a member, or received at such an event by members or representatives of members of state, national, or regional government organizations whose memberships and officers are primarily composed of state or local government officials or employees. m. Funeral flowers or memorials to a church or nonprofit organization. n. Gifts which are given to a public official or public employee for the public official's or public employee's wedding or twenty-fifth or fiftieth wedding anniversary. o. Payment of salary or expenses by a person's employer or the firm in which the person is a member for the cost of attending a meeting of a subunit of an agency when the person whose expenses are being paid serves on a board, commission, committee, council, or other subunit of the agency and the person is not entitled to receive compensation or reimbursement of expenses from the state or a political subdivision of the state for attending the meeting. p. Gifts of food, beverages, travel, or lodging received by a public official or public employee if all of the following apply: (1) The public official or public employee is officially representing an agency in a delegation whose sole purpose is to attract a specific new business to locate in the state, encourage expansion or retention of an existing business already established in the state, or to develop markets for Iowa businesses or products. (2) The donor of the gift is not the business or businesses being contacted. However, food or beverages provided by the business or businesses being contacted which are consumed during the meeting are not a gift under section 68B.2, subsection 9, or this section. (3) The public official or public employee plays a significant role in the presentation to the business or businesses on behalf of the public official's or public employee's agency. q. Gifts other than food, beverages, travel, and lodging received by a public official or public employee which are received from a person who is a citizen of a country other than the United States and are given during a ceremonial presentation or as a result of a custom of the other country and are of personal value only to the donee. r. Actual registration costs for informational meetings or sessions which assist a public official or public employee in the performance of the person's official functions. The costs of food, drink, lodging, and travel are not "registration costs" under this paragraph. Meetings or sessions which a public official or public employee attends for personal or professional licensing purposes are not "informational meetings or sessions which assist a public official or public employee in the performance of the person's official functions" under this paragraph. s. Gifts of food, beverage, and entertainment received by public officials or public employees at a function where every member of the general assembly has been invited to attend, when the function takes place during a regular session of the general assembly. A sponsor of a function under this paragraph shall file a report disclosing the total amount expended, including in-kind expenditures, on food, beverage, and entertainment for the function. The report shall be filed with the person or persons designated by the secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the house within five business days following the date of the function. The person or persons designated by the secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the house shall forward a copy of each report to the board. 5. For purposes of determining the value of an item given or received, an individual who gives an item on behalf of more than one person shall not divide the value of the item by the number of persons on whose behalf the item is given and the value of an item received shall be the value actually received by the donee. 6. A gift shall not be considered to be received by a public official or public employee if the state is the donee of the gift and the public official or public employee is required to receive the gift on behalf of the state as part of the performance of the person's duties of office or employment. 7. A person shall not request, and a member of the general assembly shall not agree, that a member of the general assembly sell tickets for a community-related social event that is to be held for members of the general assembly in Polk county during the legislative session. This section shall not apply to Polk county or city of Des Moines events that are open to the public generally or are held only for Polk county or city of Des Moines legislators. 8. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, an organization or association which has as one of its purposes the encouragement of the passage, defeat, introduction, or modification of legislation shall not give and a member of the general assembly shall not receive food, beverages, registration, or scheduled entertainment with a per person value in excess of three dollars.          Section History: Recent Form 92 Acts, ch 1228, § 9; 93 Acts, ch 163, § 6; 94 Acts, ch 1092, §5--7; 2001 Acts, ch 24, §19; 2003 Acts, ch 145, §286; 2003 Acts, ch 161, §1, 2; 2005 Acts, ch 76, §5; 2007 Acts, ch 5, §2; 2008 Acts, ch 1191, § 40; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §18 Referred to in § 68B.23, 68B.34 Reports on gifts received on behalf of state, see §8.7 Solicitations for capitol complex projects, see §8A.108