Iowa Const. art. 12, § 25 — Iowa Constitution / Article 12 / Section 25
Rights reserved. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others, retained by the people.
Status: in_force

Sec. 25. Rights reserved. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others, retained by the people.

ARTICLE II.

RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE.

Section 1. Electors. Every citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one years, 
who shall have been a resident of this state for such period of time as shall be provided by 
law and of the county in which he claims his vote for such period of time as shall be provided 
by law, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or hereafter may be authorized 
by law. The general assembly may provide by law for different periods of residence in order 
to vote for various officers or in order to vote in various elections. The required periods of 
residence shall not exceed six months in this state and sixty days in the county. 
Repealed and rewritten by Amendment 30 (1970) 
See United States Constitution, Amendments 19 and 26 
Sec. 2. Privileged from arrest. Electors shall, in all cases except treason, felony, or 
breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest on the days of election, during their attendance 
at such election, going to and returning therefrom. 
Sec. 3. From military duty. No elector shall be obliged to perform military duty on the 
day of election, except in time of war, or public danger. 
Sec. 4. Persons in military service. No person in the military, naval, or marine service 
of the United States shall be considered a resident of this state by being stationed in any 
garrison, barrack, or military or naval place, or station within this state. 
Sec. 5. Disqualified persons. A person adjudged mentally incompetent to vote or a 
person convicted of any infamous crime shall not be entitled to the privilege of an elector. 
Repealed and rewritten by Amendment 47 (2008) 

Sec. 6. Ballot. All elections by the people shall be by ballot. Sec. 7. General election. The general election for state, district, county and township officers in the year 1916 shall be held in the same month and on the same day as that fixed by the laws of the United States for the election of presidential electors, or of president and

ART. II, §7, CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF IOWA (CODIFIED) viii

vice-president of the United States; and thereafter such election shall be held at such time as 
the general assembly may by law provide. 
Repealed and rewritten by Amendment 14 (1916) 
Statutory provisions, see Iowa Code §39.1 

ARTICLE III.

OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS.

1ST. THREE SEPARATE DEPARTMENTS.

Section 1. Departments of government. The powers of the government of Iowa shall be divided into three separate departments — the legislative, the executive, and the judicial: and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any function appertaining to either of the others, except in cases hereinafter expressly directed or permitted.

2ND. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

Section 1. General assembly. The legislative authority of this state shall be vested in a 
general assembly, which shall consist of a senate and house of representatives; and the style 
of every law shall be, “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa.” 
Sec. 2. Annual sessions of general assembly — special sessions. The general assembly 
shall meet in session on the second Monday of January of each year. Upon written request to 
the presiding officer of each house of the general assembly by two-thirds of the members of 
each house, the general assembly shall convene in special session. The governor of the state 
may convene the general assembly by proclamation in the interim. 
Repealed and rewritten by Amendment 36 (1974) 
Special sessions, see also this codified Iowa Constitution, Art. IV, §11 
Referred to in Iowa Code §2B.13 

Sec. 3. Representatives. The members of the house of representatives shall be chosen every second year, by the qualified electors of their respective districts, [* * *]* and their term of office shall commence on the first day of January next after their election, and continue two years, and until their successors are elected and qualified. *Language, relating to the time of holding the general elections, appears to have been superseded or made obsolete as a result of changes made to Art. II, §7, and has been omitted from this codified Iowa Constitution, see original Constitution, Art. III, §3, for omitted language For provisions relative to the time of holding the general election, see this codified Iowa Constitution, Art. II, §7; see also Iowa Code §39.1

Sec. 4. Qualifications. No person shall be a member of the house of representatives who 
shall not have attained the age of twenty-one years, be a citizen of the United States, and shall 
have been an inhabitant of this state one year next preceding his election, and at the time of 
his election shall have had an actual residence of sixty days in the county, or district he may 
have been chosen to represent. 
Amended by Amendment 6 (1880) and Amendment 15 (1926) 
Sec. 5. Senators — qualifications. Senators shall be chosen for the term of four years, 
at the same time and place as representatives; they shall be twenty-five years of age, and 
possess the qualifications of representatives as to residence and citizenship. 
Sec. 6. Senators — number and classification. The number of senators shall total 
not more than one-half the membership of the house of representatives. Senators shall be 
classified so that as nearly as possible one-half of the members of the senate shall be elected 
every two years. 
Repealed and rewritten by Amendment 26 (1968) 

ix CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF IOWA (CODIFIED), ART. III, §16 
See also this codified Iowa Constitution, Art. III, §34 
Referred to in Iowa Code §42.4 

Sec. 7. Officers — elections determined. Each house shall choose its own officers, and 
judge of the qualification, election, and return of its own members. A contested election shall 
be determined in such manner as shall be directed by law. 
Sec. 8. Quorum. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to transact business; 
but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent 
members in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide. 
Sec. 9. Authority of the houses. Each house shall sit upon its own adjournments, keep 
a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same; determine its rules of proceedings, punish 
members for disorderly behavior, and, with the consent of two thirds, expel a member, but not 
a second time for the same offense; and shall have all other powers necessary for a branch 
of the general assembly of a free and independent state. 
Sec. 10. Protest — record of vote. Every member of the general assembly shall have the 
liberty to dissent from, or protest against any Act or resolution which he may think injurious 
to the public, or an individual, and have the reasons for his dissent entered on the journals; 
and the yeas and nays of the members of either house, on any question, shall, at the desire 
of any two members present, be entered on the journals. 
Sec. 11. Privileged from arrest. Senators and representatives, in all cases, except 
treason, felony, or breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest during the session of 
the general assembly, and in going to and returning from the same. 
Sec. 12. Vacancies. When vacancies occur in either house, the governor or the person 
exercising the functions of governor, shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. 
Sec. 13. Doors open. The doors of each house shall be open, except on such occasions, 
as, in the opinion of the house, may require secrecy. 
Sec. 14. Adjournments. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn 
for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which they may be sitting. 
Referred to in Iowa Code §2.1 
Sec. 15. Bills. Bills may originate in either house, and may be amended, altered, or 
rejected by the other; and every bill having passed both houses, shall be signed by the 
speaker and president of their respective houses. 
Sec. 16. Executive approval — veto — item veto by governor. Every bill which shall 
have passed the general assembly, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the 
governor. If he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his objections, 
to the house in which it originated, which shall enter the same upon their journal, and 
proceed to reconsider it; if, after such reconsideration, it again pass both houses, by yeas 
and nays, by a majority of two thirds of the members of each house, it shall become a law, 
notwithstanding the governor’s* objections. If any bill shall not be returned within three 
days after it shall have been presented to him, Sunday excepted, the same shall be a law in 
like manner as if he had signed it, unless the general assembly, by adjournment, prevent 
such return. Any bill submitted to the governor for his approval during the last three days 
of a session of the general assembly, shall be deposited by him in the office of the secretary 
of state, within thirty days after the adjournment, with his approval, if approved by him, and 
with his objections, if he disapproves thereof. 
The governor may approve appropriation bills in whole or in part, and may disapprove 
any item of an appropriation bill; and the part approved shall become a law. Any item of 
an appropriation bill disapproved by the governor shall be returned, with his objections, to 

ART. III, §16, CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF IOWA (CODIFIED) x

the house in which it originated, or shall be deposited by him in the office of the secretary of 
state in the case of an appropriation bill submitted to the governor for his approval during the 
last three days of a session of the general assembly, and the procedure in each case shall be 
the same as provided for other bills. Any such item of an appropriation bill may be enacted 
into law notwithstanding the governor’s objections, in the same manner as provided for other 
bills. 
*In the original text, the word was “Governors”, see original Constitution, Art. III, §16 
Paragraph 2 added by Amendment 27 (1968) 
Statutory provisions, see Iowa Code §3.4, 3.5 
Referred to in Iowa Code §3.7 
Sec. 17. Passage of bills. No bill shall be passed unless by the assent of a majority of all 
the members elected to each branch of the general assembly, and the question upon the final 
passage shall be taken immediately upon its last reading, and the yeas and nays entered on 
the journal. 
Referred to in Iowa Code §3.7 
Sec. 18. Receipts and expenditures. An accurate statement of the receipts and 
expenditures of the public money shall be attached to and published with the laws, at every 
regular session of the general assembly. 
Referred to in Iowa Code §2B.10 
Sec. 19. Impeachment. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of 
impeachment, and all impeachments shall be tried by the senate. When sitting for that 
purpose, the senators shall be upon oath or affirmation; and no person shall be convicted 
without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present. 
Referred to in this codified Iowa Constitution, Art. V, §19 
Sec. 20. Officers subject to impeachment — judgment. The governor, judges of the 
supreme and district courts, and other state officers, shall be liable to impeachment for any 
misdemeanor or malfeasance in office;* but judgment in such cases shall extend only to 
removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit, under 
this state; but the party convicted or acquitted shall nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial, 
and punishment, according to law. All other civil officers shall be tried for misdemeanors and 
malfeasance in office, in such manner as the general assembly may provide. 
*In the original text, a colon was used, see original Constitution, Art. III, §20 
Referred to in this codified Iowa Constitution, Art. V, §19 

Sec. 21. Members not appointed to office. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office of profit under this state, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during such term, except such offices as may be filled by elections by the people.

Sec. 22. Disqualification. No person holding any lucrative office under the United 
States, or this state, or any other power, shall be eligible to hold a seat in the general 
assembly;* but offices in the militia, to which there is attached no annual salary, or the office 
of justice of the peace,** or postmaster whose compensation does not exceed one hundred 
dollars per annum, or notary public, shall not be deemed lucrative. 
*In the original text, a colon was used, see original Constitution, Art. III, §22 
**The office of justice of peace was abolished by 1972 Acts, ch 1124 

Sec. 23. Failure to account. No person who may hereafter be a collector or holder of public monies, shall have a seat in either house of the general assembly, or be eligible to hold any office of trust or profit in this state, until he shall have accounted for and paid into the treasury all sums for which he may be liable.

Sec. 24. Appropriations. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law.

xi CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF IOWA (CODIFIED), ART. III, §32

Sec. 25. Compensation and expenses of general assembly. Each member of the general 
assembly shall receive such compensation and allowances for expenses as shall be fixed by 
law but no general assembly shall have the power to increase compensation and allowances 
effective prior to the convening of the next general assembly following the session in which 
any increase is adopted. 
Repealed and rewritten by Amendment 28 (1968) 
Statutory provisions, see Iowa Code §2.10 – 2.14