Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

House File 2327 - Introduced
                                  HOUSE FILE 2327
                                  BY GRASSLEY, COLLINS,
                                      NORDMAN, WHEELER, HORA,
                                      GEHLBACH, HOLT, KAUFMANN,
                                      BODEN, BOSSMAN, HAYES,
                                      THOMSON, GERHOLD, JOHNSON,
                                      STOLTENBERG, KNIFF MCCULLA,
                                      DUNWELL, GUSTOFF, FISHER,
                                      OSMUNDSON, DETERMANN,
                                      RINKER, STONE, WULF,
                                      CARLSON, SHIPLEY, BEST,
                                      BRADLEY, P. THOMPSON,
                                      MEGGERS, WILLS, HENDERSON,
                                      M. THOMPSON, MOMMSEN, and
                                      JENEARY
                            A BILL FOR
An Act relating to higher education, including diversity,
  equity, and inclusion policies, tuition, and administrator
  hiring at state universities, membership of the state board
  of regents, and student-employer work and tuition programs
  at state universities and community colleges.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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    Section 1. Section 260C.14, Code 2024, is amended by adding
 the following new subsection:
    NEW SUBSECTION. 25. Establish a program that satisfies all
 of the following requirements:
    a. Allows students admitted to the community college to
 complete the community college’s associate’s degree program
 while working part-time for an employer registered under the
 program.
    b. Requires the student and a representative of the
 student’s employer to execute an agreement that requires the
 student to work part-time for the student’s employer for at
 least one calendar year and that describes the rights and
 responsibilities of the student and the employer under the
 program.
    c. Requires the student’s employer to pay all of the tuition
 and mandatory fees associated with the student’s participation
 in the associate’s degree program during the fall and spring
 semesters.
    d. Requires the student’s employer to pay the student a rate
 of compensation that shall not be less than the higher of the
 applicable federal or state minimum wage.
    Sec. 2. Section 262.1, Code 2024, is amended to read as
 follows:
    262.1 Membership.
    1. The state board of regents consists of nine voting
 members, eight of whom shall be selected from the state at
 large solely with regard to their qualifications and fitness
 to discharge the duties of the office. The ninth member shall
 be a student enrolled on a full-time basis in good standing
 at either the graduate or undergraduate level at one of the
 institutions listed in section 262.7, subsection 1, 2, or 3,
 at the time of the member’s appointment. Not more than five
 members shall be of the same political party.
    2. In addition to the nine voting members, the membership
 of the state board of regents shall include two ex officio,
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                                H.F. 2327
 nonvoting members of the general assembly, with one member
 designated by the majority leader of the senate and one member
 designated by the speaker of the house of representatives. A
 legislative member serves for a term as provided in section
 69.16B.
    Sec. 3. Section 262.2, Code 2024, is amended to read as
 follows:
    262.2 Appointment —— term of office.
    The voting members shall be appointed by the governor
 subject to confirmation by the senate. Prior to appointing
 the ninth member as specified in section 262.1, subsection 1,
 the governor shall consult with the appropriate student body
 government at the institution at which the proposed appointee
 is enrolled. The term of each voting member of the board
 shall be for six years, unless the ninth member, appointed
 in accordance with section 262.1, subsection 1, graduates or
 is no longer enrolled at an institution of higher education
 under the board’s control, at which time the term of the
 ninth member shall expire one year from the date on which the
 member graduates or is no longer enrolled in an institution
 of higher education under the board’s control. However, if
 within that year the ninth member reenrolls in any institution
 of higher education under the board’s control on a full-time
 basis and is a student in good standing at either the graduate
 or undergraduate level, the term of the ninth member shall
 continue in effect. The terms of three voting members of the
 board shall begin and expire in each odd-numbered year as
 provided in section 69.19.
    Sec. 4. Section 262.4, Code 2024, is amended to read as
 follows:
    262.4 Removals.
    The governor, with the approval of a majority of the senate
 during a session of the general assembly, may remove any voting
 member of the board for malfeasance in office, or for any cause
 which would render the voting member ineligible for appointment
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                                H.F. 2327
 or incapable or unfit to discharge the duties of office, and
 the voting member’s removal, when so made, shall be final.
    Sec. 5. Section 262.5, Code 2024, is amended to read as
 follows:
    262.5 Suspension.
    When the general assembly is not in session, the governor
 may suspend any voting member so disqualified and shall appoint
 another to fill the vacancy thus created, subject to the
 approval of the senate when next in session.
    Sec. 6. Section 262.6, Code 2024, is amended to read as
 follows:
    262.6 Vacancies.
    Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner in which
 regular appointments are required to be made. If the ninth
 voting member resigns prior to the expiration of the term,
 the individual appointed to fill the vacancy shall meet the
 requirements for the ninth voting member specified in section
 262.1, subsection 1. Other vacancies in the voting members
 occurring prior to the expiration of the ninth voting member’s
 term shall be filled in the same manner as the original
 appointments for those vacancies.
    Sec. 7. Section 262.8, Code 2024, is amended to read as
 follows:
    262.8 Meetings.
    The board shall meet four times a year. Special meetings
 may be called by the board, by the president of the board, or
 by the executive director of the board upon written request of
 any five voting members thereof.
    Sec. 8. Section 262.9, subsections 2 and 22, Code 2024, are
 amended to read as follows:
    2. a. Elect a president of each of the institutions of
 higher learning; a treasurer and a secretarial officer for each
 institution annually; professors, instructors, officers, and
 employees; and fix their compensation.
    b. (1) When electing a president of an institution of
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                               H.F. 2327
 higher learning, the board shall use a presidential selection
 committee that shall provide the board with recommendations
 related to the best candidate for the position. The board
 shall not elect a president of an institution of higher
 learning unless the presidential selection committee
 recommended the election of the president to the board.
    (2) Only members of the board shall serve as members of the
 presidential selection committee.
    (3) In carrying out its duties under this paragraph, the
 presidential selection committee may do any of the following:
    (a) Contract for and use the services of any person engaged
 in the business of placing highly qualified job candidates in
 leadership positions.
    (b) Use moneys allocated to the committee by the board.
    (4) The identity of a candidate for president of an
 institution of higher learning being considered by the
 presidential selection committee shall be confidential and
 shall not be a public record subject to disclosure under
 chapter 22.
    22. a. Develop a policy and adopt rules relating to the
 establishment of tuition rates which provide a predictable
 basis for assessing and anticipating changes in tuition rates.
    b. (1) The rules shall provide that an institution of
 higher education under the board’s control shall not increase
 the total amount of tuition and mandatory fees associated with
 the baccalaureate degree program by more than three percent of
 the total amount of tuition and mandatory fees the institution
 charged during the immediately preceding academic year.
    Sec. 9. Section 262.9, Code 2024, is amended by adding the
 following new subsections:
    NEW SUBSECTION. 39. a. Direct the institutions of higher
 education under its control to adopt policies and procedures
 that prohibit the institution from hiring any new employee to
 serve as an administrator unless the board approves the hiring
 of the new employee.
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                               H.F. 2327
    b. The policies and procedures adopted pursuant to paragraph
 “a” shall not prohibit an institution of higher education under
 the control of the state board of regents from filling an open
 administrator position with an administrator who is currently
 employed by the institution of higher education.
    c. For purposes of this subsection, “administrator”
 means an employee whose primary job duties include planning,
 directing, coordinating student instruction, administration,
 and services, as well as other research and educational
 activities. “Administrator” does not include the president of
 the institution of higher education.
    NEW SUBSECTION. 40. Direct the institutions of higher
 education under its control to establish a program at each
 institution that satisfies all of the following requirements:
    a. Allows students admitted to the baccalaureate degree
 program at the institution to complete the baccalaureate degree
 program while working part-time for an employer registered
 under the program.
    b. Requires the student and a representative of the
 student’s employer to execute an agreement that requires the
 student to work part-time for the student’s employer for at
 least one calendar year and that describes the rights and
 responsibilities of the student and the employer under the
 program.
    c. Requires the student’s employer to pay all of the tuition
 and mandatory fees associated with the student’s participation
 in the baccalaureate degree program during the fall and spring
 semesters.
    d. Requires the student’s employer to pay the student a rate
 of compensation that shall not be less than the higher of the
 applicable federal or state minimum wage.
    NEW SUBSECTION. 41. Direct the institutions of higher
 education under its control to structure university-wide
 diversity, equity, and inclusion offices to eliminate any
 diversity, equity, and inclusion function that is not necessary
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                                H.F. 2327
 for compliance with federal or state laws or accreditation.
 The institutions of higher education shall make the support
 services that were provided by such offices broadly available
 to all students and employees, subject to applicable federal
 and state eligibility requirements.
    NEW SUBSECTION. 42. Direct the institutions of higher
 education under its control to regularly do all of the
 following:
    a. Review the services provided by offices that support
 diversity or multicultural affairs in other divisions of the
 institution to ensure that such services are available to all
 students, subject to applicable federal or state eligibility
 requirements.
    b. Update promotional and informational materials and
 internet sites to clarify that the mission of offices that
 support diversity or multicultural affairs in other divisions
 of the institution is to support success broadly.
    NEW SUBSECTION. 43. Direct the institutions of higher
 education under its control to take reasonable steps to assure
 all of the following:
    a. That an employee, student, applicant, or campus visitor
 is not required to submit a diversity, equity, and inclusion
 statement, or be evaluated based on participation in a
 diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative, unless required
 for compliance or accreditation related to diversity, equity,
 and inclusion.
    b. That an employee, student, applicant, or campus visitor
 is not compelled to disclose the employee’s, student’s,
 applicant’s, or campus visitor’s preferred pronouns.
    NEW SUBSECTION. 44. Develop a policy that each
 institution of higher education under the control of the board
 shall approve, institute, and enforce, that prohibits the
 consideration of race and other protected class characteristics
 during the admissions process that is consistent with current
 federal and state law.
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    NEW SUBSECTION. 45. Develop a policy that each institution
 of higher education under the control of the board shall
 approve, institute, and enforce, that contains guidance for
 employees of each institution related to the separation of
 personal political advocacy from the employee’s job duties and
 the business of the institution.
    NEW SUBSECTION. 46. Direct the institutions of higher
 education under its control to adopt policies and procedures
 that are designed to explore potential recruitment strategies
 to advance the diversity of intellectual and philosophical
 perspectives in faculty and staff applicant pools.
    NEW SUBSECTION. 47. Provide an annual notice to the
 institutions of higher education under its control concerning
 the board’s policy related to institution statements on matters
 of public concern.
    Sec. 10. INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION GOVERNED BY THE
 STATE BOARD OF REGENTS —— REQUIRED REVIEWS.
    1. On or before December 31, 2024, each institution of
 higher education governed by the state board of regents shall
 do all of the following:
    a. Review all college, department, and unit-level
 diversity, equity, and inclusion positions to determine whether
 diversity, equity, and inclusion-specific job responsibilities
 are necessary for compliance with federal or state law,
 accreditation, or for the provision of student or employee
 support services.
    b. Adjust or eliminate any diversity, equity, and inclusion
 position that is not necessary for those purposes described in
 paragraph “a”.
    c. Review all employee position names and working titles to
 ensure that the position names and working titles appropriately
 reflect the employee’s responsibilities.
    2. Each institution of higher education governed by the
 state board of regents shall initiate and conduct a review of
 general education categories related to diversity, equity, and
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 inclusion and update such categories to accurately reflect the
 array of options students may select in order to satisfy the
 requirements associated with such categories and to ensure a
 breadth of offerings.
    Sec. 11. INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION GOVERNED BY THE
 STATE BOARD OF REGENTS —— EDUCATION AND RESEARCH ON FREE SPEECH
 AND CIVIC EDUCATION PROPOSAL. Each institution of higher
 education governed by the state board of regents shall develop
 and submit to the state board of regents a proposal related to
 the establishment of a center, institute, or initiative that is
 dedicated to expanding opportunities for education and research
 concerning freedom of speech and civic education.
                           EXPLANATION
         The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
          the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
    This bill relates to higher education, including diversity,
 equity, and inclusion policies, tuition, and administrator
 hiring at state universities, membership of the state board
 of regents, and student-employer work and tuition programs at
 state universities and community colleges.
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