Democrats in the Iowa House are accusing House Republicans of engaging in political theater by assigning blame to the court system and to State Auditor Rob Sand — a Democrat — for the misallocation of about 25-million dollars in court fines and fees. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.
Computer software misdirected court fines and fees that should have gone to crime victims, county sheriffs’ departments and other agencies. House Republicans issued a report on Tuesday, blasting the court system for concealing the problem for three years and criticizing Sand for failing to fully investigate after his office was notified of the problem. House Democrats say Republicans on the House Government Oversight Committee are assigning blame to political opponents — Sand is running for governor — and they say House Republicans are failing to do a comprehensive, non-partisan investigation focused on solving a major problem in state government.
House Republicans on the Oversight Committee Tuesday called for a private company to take over distribution of court fines and fees And they suggested a private auditing firm should review how all the fines and fees paid to Iowa courts since the middle of 2020 were handled.
