Opinion ID: 1690853
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Exhaustion of Remedy.

Text: Following the arbitrators' awards, the State did not file a petition for judicial review pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 17A. The unions first point to holdings that an arbitrator's award is agency action. Maquoketa Valley Community Sch. Dist. v. Maquoketa Valley Educ. Ass'n, 279 N.W.2d 510, 512 (Iowa 1979); Moravia Community Sch. Dist. v. Moravia Educ. Ass'n, 460 N.W.2d 172, 177 (Iowa App. 1990). On the basis of these holdings and the requirement under Iowa Code section 17A.19(3) that a petition for judicial review must be filed within thirty days of final agency action, the unions contend jurisdiction was lost to even consider any State challenge to the arbitration awards. See Sioux City Brick & Tile v. Employment Appeal Bd., 449 N.W.2d 634, 638 (Iowa 1989) (timely petition is jurisdictional prerequisite for judicial review of final agency action). The trial court correctly rejected this contention because the cited authorities are not in point. The State's challenge is directed to matters that arose after the thirty-day period following action of the arbitrators. The language of section 20.17(6) suggests that an enforcement action may be brought or defended after the thirty-day period (No ... arbitrators' decision shall be valid or enforceable if its implementation would be inconsistent....) (emphasis added). The State does not seek review of agency action. Rather the State attempts to rely upon section 20.17(6), which provides a defense to the enforcement action established in section 20.17(5). There is a difference between judicial review of agency action and enforcement of an agency order. See City of Des Moines v. Iowa Civil Rights Comm'n, 343 N.W.2d 836, 840 (Iowa 1984) (orders finding civil rights discriminations under Iowa Code section 601A.17 res judicata on matters then in dispute, but not a bar to a later new proceeding for enforcement). The courts did not lose jurisdiction over the enforcement dispute under Iowa Code section 20.17(5) for lack of a judicial review proceeding.