2009 Iowa Code
Title 2 - Elections and Official Duties
Subtitle 2 - Public Officers and Employees
CHAPTER 68B - GOVERNMENT ETHICS AND LOBBYING
68B.22 - GIFTS ACCEPTED OR RECEIVED.

        68B.22  GIFTS ACCEPTED OR RECEIVED.
         1.  Except as otherwise provided in this section, a public
      official, public employee, or candidate, or that person's immediate
      family member shall not, directly or indirectly, accept or receive
      any gift or series of gifts from a restricted donor.  A public
      official, public employee, candidate, or the person's immediate
      family member shall not solicit any gift or series of gifts from a
      restricted donor at any time.
         2.  Except as otherwise provided in this section, a restricted
      donor shall not, directly or indirectly, offer or make a gift or a
      series of gifts to a public official, public employee, or candidate.
      Except as otherwise provided in this section, a restricted donor
      shall not, directly or indirectly, join with one or more other
      restricted donors to offer or make a gift or a series of gifts to a
      public official, public employee, or candidate.
         3.  A restricted donor may give, and a public official, public
      employee, or candidate, or the person's immediate family member, may
      accept an otherwise prohibited nonmonetary gift or a series of
      otherwise prohibited nonmonetary gifts and not be in violation of
      this section if the nonmonetary gift or series of nonmonetary gifts
      is donated within thirty days to a public body, the department of
      administrative services, or a bona fide educational or charitable
      organization, if no part of the net earnings of the educational or
      charitable organization inures to the benefit of any private
      stockholder or other individual.  All such items donated to the
      department of administrative services shall be disposed of by
      assignment to state agencies for official use or by public sale.  A
      person subject to section 8.7 that receives a gift pursuant to this
      subsection shall file a report pursuant to section 8.7.
         4.  Notwithstanding subsections 1 and 2, the following gifts may
      be received by public officials, public employees, candidates, or
      members of the immediate family of public officials, public
      employees, or candidates:
         a.  Contributions to a candidate or a candidate's committee.
         b.  Informational material relevant to a public official's or
      public employee's official functions, such as books, pamphlets,
      reports, documents, periodicals, or other information that is
      recorded in a written, audio, or visual format.
         c.  Anything received from anyone related within the fourth
      degree by kinship or marriage, unless the donor is acting as an agent
      or intermediary for another person not so related.
         d.  An inheritance.
         e.  Anything available or distributed free of charge to
      members of the general public without regard to the official status
      of the recipient.  This paragraph shall not apply to functions
      described under paragraph "s".
         f.  Items received from a bona fide charitable, professional,
      educational, or business organization to which the donee belongs as a
      dues-paying member, if the items are given to all members of the
      organization without regard to individual members' status or
      positions held outside of the organization and if the dues paid are
      not inconsequential when compared to the items received.
         g.  Actual expenses of a donee for food, beverages,
      registration, travel, and lodging for a meeting, which is given in
      return for participation in a panel or speaking engagement at the
      meeting when the expenses relate directly to the day or days on which
      the donee has participation or presentation responsibilities.
         h.  Plaques or items of negligible resale value which are
      given as recognition for the public services of the recipient.
         i.  Food and beverages provided at a meal that is part of a
      bona fide event or program at which the recipient is being honored
      for public service.
         j.  Nonmonetary items with a value of three dollars or less
      that are received from any one donor during one calendar day.
         k.  Items or services solicited by or given to a state,
      national, or regional government organization in which the state of
      Iowa or a political subdivision of the state is a member for purposes
      of a business or educational conference, seminar, or other meeting;
      or solicited by or given to state, national, or regional government
      organizations, whose memberships and officers are primarily composed
      of state or local government officials or employees, for purposes of
      a business or educational conference, seminar, or other meeting.
         l.  Items or services received by members or representatives
      of members at a regularly scheduled event that is part of a business
      or educational conference, seminar, or other meeting that is
      sponsored and directed by any state, national, or regional government
      organization in which the state of Iowa or a political subdivision of
      the state is a member, or received at such an event by members or
      representatives of members of state, national, or regional government
      organizations whose memberships and officers are primarily composed
      of state or local government officials or employees.
         m.  Funeral flowers or memorials to a church or nonprofit
      organization.
         n.  Gifts which are given to a public official or public
      employee for the public official's or public employee's wedding or
      twenty-fifth or fiftieth wedding anniversary.
         o.  Payment of salary or expenses by a person's employer or
      the firm in which the person is a member for the cost of attending a
      meeting of a subunit of an agency when the person whose expenses are
      being paid serves on a board, commission, committee, council, or
      other subunit of the agency and the person is not entitled to receive
      compensation or reimbursement of expenses from the state or a
      political subdivision of the state for attending the meeting.
         p.  Gifts of food, beverages, travel, or lodging received by a
      public official or public employee if all of the following apply:
         (1)  The public official or public employee is officially
      representing an agency in a delegation whose sole purpose is to
      attract a specific new business to locate in the state, encourage
      expansion or retention of an existing business already established in
      the state, or to develop markets for Iowa businesses or products.
         (2)  The donor of the gift is not the business or businesses being
      contacted.  However, food or beverages provided by the business or
      businesses being contacted which are consumed during the meeting are
      not a gift under section 68B.2, subsection 9, or this section.
         (3)  The public official or public employee plays a significant
      role in the presentation to the business or businesses on behalf of
      the public official's or public employee's agency.
         q.  Gifts other than food, beverages, travel, and lodging
      received by a public official or public employee which are received
      from a person who is a citizen of a country other than the United
      States and are given during a ceremonial presentation or as a result
      of a custom of the other country and are of personal value only to
      the donee.
         r.  Actual registration costs for informational meetings or
      sessions which assist a public official or public employee in the
      performance of the person's official functions.  The costs of food,
      drink, lodging, and travel are not "registration costs" under this
      paragraph.  Meetings or sessions which a public official or public
      employee attends for personal or professional licensing purposes are
      not "informational meetings or sessions which assist a public
      official or public employee in the performance of the person's
      official functions" under this paragraph.
         s.  Gifts of food, beverage, and entertainment received by
      public officials or public employees at a function where every member
      of the general assembly has been invited to attend, when the function
      takes place during a regular session of the general assembly.  A
      sponsor of a function under this paragraph shall file a report
      disclosing the total amount expended, including in-kind expenditures,
      on food, beverage, and entertainment for the function.  The report
      shall be filed with the person or persons designated by the secretary
      of the senate and the chief clerk of the house within five business
      days following the date of the function.  The person or persons
      designated by the secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the
      house shall forward a copy of each report to the board.
         5.  For purposes of determining the value of an item given or
      received, an individual who gives an item on behalf of more than one
      person shall not divide the value of the item by the number of
      persons on whose behalf the item is given and the value of an item
      received shall be the value actually received by the donee.
         6.  A gift shall not be considered to be received by a public
      official or public employee if the state is the donee of the gift and
      the public official or public employee is required to receive the
      gift on behalf of the state as part of the performance of the
      person's duties of office or employment.
         7.  A person shall not request, and a member of the general
      assembly shall not agree, that a member of the general assembly sell
      tickets for a community-related social event that is to be held for
      members of the general assembly in Polk county during the legislative
      session.  This section shall not apply to Polk county or city of Des
      Moines events that are open to the public generally or are held only
      for Polk county or city of Des Moines legislators.
         8.  Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, an organization
      or association which has as one of its purposes the encouragement of
      the passage, defeat, introduction, or modification of legislation
      shall not give and a member of the general assembly shall not receive
      food, beverages, registration, or scheduled entertainment with a per
      person value in excess of three dollars.  

         92 Acts, ch 1228, § 9; 93 Acts, ch 163, § 6; 94 Acts, ch 1092,
      §5--7; 2001 Acts, ch 24, §19; 2003 Acts, ch 145, §286; 2003 Acts, ch
      161, §1, 2; 2005 Acts, ch 76, §5; 2007 Acts, ch 5, §2; 2008 Acts, ch
      1191, § 40; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §18
         Referred to in § 68B.23, 68B.34
         Reports on gifts received on behalf of state, see §8.7
         Solicitations for capitol complex projects, see §8A.108