7.14 Disability of governor to act.
1. Whenever it appears that the governor is unable to discharge the duties of office for reason of disability pursuant to
Article IV, section 17, Constitution of the State of Iowa
, the person next in line of succession to the office of the governor, or the chief justice, may call a conference consisting of the person who is chief justice, the person who is director of mental health, and the person who is the dean of medicine at the state university of Iowa. Provided, if either the director or dean is not a physician duly licensed to practice medicine by this state the director or dean may assign a member of the director’s or dean’s staff so licensed to assist and advise on the conference. The three members of the conference shall within ten days after the conference is called examine the governor. Within seven days after the examination, or if upon attempting to examine the governor the members of the conference are unable to examine the governor because of circumstances beyond their control, they shall conduct a secret ballot and by unanimous vote may find that the governor is temporarily unable to discharge the duties of the office.
2. The finding of or failure to find a disability shall be immediately made public, and if the governor is found to be unable to discharge the duties of the office, the person next in line of succession to the office of governor shall be immediately notified. After receiving the notification that person may, under Article IV, sections 17 and 19, Constitution of the State of Iowa, become governor until the disability is removed.
3. Whenever a governor who is unable to discharge the duties of the office believes the disability to be removed, the governor may call a conference consisting of the three persons referred to as members of such a conference in subsection 1. The three members of the conference shall within ten days examine the governor. Within seven days after the examination they shall conduct a secret ballot and by unanimous vote may find the disability removed.
4. The finding of or failure to find the disability removed shall be immediately made public.
[C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §7.14]
91 Acts, ch 97, §2; 96 Acts, ch 1129, §2; 2017 Acts, ch 54, §4