The state legislative session is over, but several bills still await Governor Kim Reynolds’ signature, including one affecting the Secretary of State that was passed on the last day.

House File 764 would remove the Iowa Secretary of State from the process of changing the state constitution. This follows Secretary of State Paul Pate’s failure to publish the required notifications for the process of adding a gun rights amendment to the constitution. The measure was on track for an election in 2020, but now it will be delayed at least two years.

House District 20 Representative Ray Sorensen (R) talks about the setback, “What it ends up being was basically a ‘pocket veto’ that no one seemed to be aware of in the legislature. So we wanted to take that extreme power away from the Secretary of State, and not that our current Secretary of State did that on purpose, it was kind of dropping the ball.”

The new policy would give Pate’s notification responsibilities to the Legislature. The situation has precedent, as former Secretary of State Chet Culver failed to publish notice of a proposed amendment in 2004.