A bill that will significantly shrink the size of Iowa’s state government passed the Iowa House and Senate last week, and District 6 Senator Jason Schultz, who floor managed the legislation, says the coming changes are long overdue. In his weekly newsletter, Schultz says it has been almost four decades since Iowa’s executive branch was last reorganized, and it had grown to unmanageable and inefficient levels. The governor currently oversees 37 department directors, and the bill will cut that number by more than half to 16. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, Iowa spent $8,200 per resident to provide services, which outpaces neighboring states by a significant margin. Nebraska has 28 cabinet-level departments and spends $6,600 per resident, and Missouri has 16 directors with costs of $4,400 per resident. Schultz says, “Even Illinois only has 12 main departments and costs $6,100 per capita, proving that properly aligning state departments for efficiency cannot make up for bad policy and spending.” According to Schultz, the realignment is expected to save taxpayers nearly $214 million over the next four years by shifting minor departments and agencies under similar larger departments and cutting more than 500 budgeted positions that remain vacant statewide. However, changes to the bill are expected. Schultz says, “A bill this large will almost certainly see future bills making minor changes that can only be found after implementation and working through the transition. I will be active in finding and correcting these problems.” A link to the entire 1,500-page bill is included below.
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