Definition
Serves as the chief legislative representative for a cabinet-level state agency, overseeing all legislative activities and managing the agency’s legislative strategy; performs related work as required.
The work examples and competencies listed below are for illustrative purposes only and not intended to be the primary basis for position classification decisions.
Work Examples
Maintains contact with businesses, interest groups, and public/private organizations through written communications (reports, letters, memos, and position papers) and oral presentations.
Serves in a leadership capacity or as a key player in activities involving representatives from the community, business, politics, and service providers.
Drafts legislative proposals, determines their impact, and informs agency management, customers, and program/project staff.
Coordinates the legislative program for a cabinet-level agency with complex state and federal funding sources and programs.
Serves as the agency representative with the Iowa Legislature during regular and interim sessions.
Acts as the agency spokesperson at state/federal legislative meetings or in discussions with individual legislators/congressional representatives on agency-related matters.
Reviews complex state and federal legislative bills/amendments affecting the agency and alerts management to potential impacts.
Distributes bills to management for review/comments and keeps them informed of legislative/congressional issues.
Develops, presents, and secures enactment of a cabinet-level agency’s legislative package.
Identifies policy issues and fiscal implications.
Researches legal relationships between governmental agencies and drafts recommended code changes.
Coordinates responses to legislative information requests and fiscal notes.
Competencies Required
Knowledge:
- Customer Service – Principles and processes for providing customer services, including customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluating customer satisfaction.
- Law and Government – Laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- English Language – The structure and content of the English language, including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Basic Arithmetic – Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
- Clerical Procedures – Word processing, managing files and records, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
Abilities:
Law and Government – Understand and adhere to applicable laws, legal codes, administrative rules, and regulations.
Clerical – Maintain complex clerical records.
Written Expression – Communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Written Comprehension – Read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Oral Expression – Communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Oral Comprehension – Listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Deductive Reasoning – Apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning – Combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions.
Information Ordering – Arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Problem Sensitivity – Tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Skills:
Active Listening – Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Critical Thinking – Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Reading Comprehension – Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Speaking – Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Writing – Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Negotiation – Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Active Learning – Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Judgment and Decision Making – Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Service Orientation – Actively looking for ways to help people.
Complex Problem Solving – Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Minimum Qualification Requirements
Applicants must meet at least one of the following minimum requirements to qualify for positions in this job classification:
Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a degree in any field, and experience equal to five years of full-time work in legislative affairs, lobbying, government relations, or public policy advocacy; professional work for a legislative body or legislator at state or federal level; or in professional-level program administration, program development, program operations, or management.
A total of ten years of education and/or full-time experience (as described in number one), where thirty semester hours of accredited college or university course work in any field equals one year of full-time experience.
All of the following (a, b, and c):
Four years of full-time work in legislative affairs, lobbying, government relations, or public policy advocacy; professional work for a legislative body or legislator at state or federal level; or in professional-level program administration, program development, program operations, or management; and
A total of four years of education and full-time experience (as described in part a), where thirty semester hours of accredited college or university course work in any field equals one year of full-time experience; and
A total of two years of graduate-level education and full-time experience (as described in part a), where twenty-four semester hours of accredited graduate college or university course work in a public-service-related area (e.g., public or business administration, social work, public health, law, education, engineering) equals one year of full-time experience. Graduation from the Iowa Certified Public Manager Program is also equivalent to one year of full-time experience or education.
Effective date: 09/26 KC