Iowans could have less public notice about when to come to the state Capitol to testify about proposed bills under new rules approved by some Senate Republicans this week.

What that means for Iowans: If you’re following a bill moving through the Senate, in some instances you may no longer have a 24-hour notice about when the initial meeting about the bill — known at the Capitol as a subcommittee meeting — will come up.

Republicans, who control the Senate, said the change is all about flexibility.

"We can't tie the hands of doing the business of the people," said Sen. Amy Sinclair, an Allerton Republican.

But Democrats see something else.

"It's an abuse of power," said Sen. Pam Jochum, a Dubuque Democrat.

Subcommittee meetings, often made up of three lawmakers from a larger committee, is where the public and lobbyists can formally tell legislators how they feel about legislation.

In recent years, subcommittee meetings have become crowded settings for heated debate about bills over abortion, guns and immigration.

Senate Democrats say Senate Republicans are diminishing the public’s access to Capitol work.

"This is the people's house," said Sen. Herman Quirmbach, an Ames Democrat. "People ought to have the opportunity to directly give their input. That's what subcommittee meetings are all about."

Senate Republicans counter that the accusations of shady action are unfounded.

"They're making a mountain out of a mole hill," said Sen. Brad Zaun, an Urbandale Republican.

As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Zaun vowed that all subcommittee meetings would be open, a policy that wasn't always the case. In the 1990s and early 2000s, lawmakers said, the Legislature rarely had subcommittee meetings. It also kept the public more in the dark about bills.

The issue bubbled up Tuesday and Wednesday when several Republican-controlled Senate committees that oversee issues like education and health care voted to remove longstanding transparency language from the rules that had governed their meetings.

At least three committees removed this language:

All subcommittee meetings shall be open to the public.

The time and place of the subcommittee meetings shall be posted 24 hours in advance of the meeting. The chair may waive 24 hour posting before or after the subcommittee.

Republicans have majorities in the Senate and the House, so they have the power to determine the rules that govern their daily legislative meetings. The transparency policy has long been a staple of how the Iowa Senate does its work.

Sinclair, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said the language on open subcommittee meetings is redundant because the Senate already has separate rules on open gatherings.

As for the 24-hour notice, Sinclair said she will ensure notice of subcommittee meetings for her committee is given the day before and if at all possible, at least 24 hours before. She noted a situation where the old rule impacted her ability to advance legislation.

“The reality of it is it does interfere with business, having that time clock in there,” she said.

The Iowa House doesn’t require any notification period or that meetings be open, but has often given the public notice the day before a subcommittee meeting is held. Several Republicans on the Senate committees that changed their transparency rules say they plan to abide by giving the public at least notice the day before a meeting is held.

Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, said the Senate moves this week is "not the way that Iowans expect their government employees to do government work on their behalf."

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