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The State of Disclosure in Iowa
While
Iowa’s overall grade did not
improve since 2005, the state’s web
site was rated higher in 2007 and its grade
in the Online Contextual and Technical
Usability category improved to a B.
Iowa
earned a C again in 2007 for the disclosure
law category and ranks 29th in this area.
The law requires candidates to report
detailed information about almost all
contributions received and expenditures
made. Though not reflected in this year’s
grades, Iowa enacted a number of campaign
disclosure laws in the 2007 legislative
session. Most notably, Iowa’s governor
signed House File 413, which will make
electronic filing mandatory for all state-level
candidates starting in 2012. The electronic
filing mandate will be phased in, with
newly formed candidate committees (i.e.
challengers) required to file electronically
in 2010 and longer-established committees
(i.e. incumbents) joining the program two
years later. Once implemented, this will
provide a major boost for the state’s
electronic filing program; currently, only
one-third of candidates participate in
the state’s voluntary program.
Though
the state’s F grade for Disclosure
Content Accessibility has not changed,
Iowa dropped two places to 40th as other
states improved in this area. The disclosure
web site’s lack of searchable databases
of contributions and expenditures remains
a major deficiency. The state does provide
timely access to reports, with electronic
files posted immediately and paper reports
scanned and posted on the day they are
received. Users cannot sort data online
or download data for manipulation offline
as all reports are presented as static
PDF documents.
Iowa’s
strength remains in the area of web site
usability, where the state earned a B
and climbed to 6th place overall in the
2007 rankings. Usability testers found
the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure
Board site easy to understand and expressed
high confidence levels in their ability
to accurately locate specific campaign
data. The
site provides visitors with good contextual
information, including disclosure requirements
and restrictions, as well as many options
for comparing data across campaigns going
back to 2001.
→ Quick
Fix: Organize campaign finance
filings by candidate, rather than
by reporting period, to give site
visitors a better sense of each
committee’s complete filing
history.
♦ Editor’s
Pick: The “Campaign
Finance Historical Trends” page
offers the public many options for
comparing both recent and historical
campaign finance data across campaigns,
elections and reporting periods. View image
 Disclosure Agency: Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.state.ia.us/government/iecdb
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