Bills are pending in the Iowa legislature to create Public Funding for state office. The bills are HF 805 and SF 553. SF 553 passed the Senate State Government Committee on March 15, and is now pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The bills appear not to discriminate against independent candidates, or the nominees of unqualified parties. Strangely, however, the bills seem to discriminate against the nominees of small qualified parties. Iowa defines “political party” to be a group that polled 2% for the vote at the top of the ticket in the last election (president and governor). There are no qualified parties in Iowa except for the Democratic and Republican Parties.

The bill defines “Independent Candidate” to be a true independent, or the nominee of an unqualified party. Section 7 of the bill says independent candidates need the same number of $5 contributions that Democrats and Republicans do. Section 19 says independents get 25% of the amount that Democrats and Republicans do in the primary season (which is reasonable, since independents don’t have to worry about a primary), and that they get the same amount that major party candidates do in the general election.

Yet, candidates of qualified parties don’t appear to get any public funding if their party polled less than 20% of the vote in the recent primary, or in the last general election. If anyone has a better understanding of this aspect of the bill, please comment.