Legislative Operations Specialist

State of Iowa•Des Moines - 50319 - Polk County, IA

7d•Onsite

About The Position

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking a full-time Legislative Operations Specialist to join the External Relations – Government Relations team. This role is for a motivated and detail-oriented professional who enjoys working in a dynamic environment and takes pride in delivering accurate, high-quality work. The position requires adaptability, organization, and a commitment to excellent communication and collaboration. The Legislative Operations Specialist supports the Department’s legislative, regulatory, and policy-related activities by leading and coordinating complex, multi-division projects, managing SharePoint resources, and overseeing legislative assignments and reporting. This position requires strong project management skills to ensure timely and accurate tracking of legislation, responses, and reporting requirements, while also serving as a primary trainer and point of contact for division legislative liaisons. The role provides essential analytical, research, and coordination support to the External Relations (ER) team.

Requirements

Ability to maintain composure and manage multiple complex projects under severe time constraints with minimal supervision.
Strong analytical, research, decision-making, project management, and critical-thinking skills.
Demonstrated ability to plan, organize, and monitor work across multiple teams, using structured processes and tools to track tasks and deadlines.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to summarize complex information clearly and concisely.
Strong customer service orientation and ability to build productive working relationships across varied levels of expertise.
Knowledge of HHS legislative interests, state and federal laws, administrative code, and the Iowa legislative process.
Demonstrates integrity, reliability, and a proactive, independent work style.
Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a degree in any field, and experience equal to four years of full-time professional-level work in program administration, program development, program operations, or management.
A total of eight 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.
Two years of full-time professional-level work experience in 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.
Current, continuous experience in the state executive branch that includes twelve months of full-time work as an Executive Officer 1 or comparable specific management-level position.

Responsibilities

Serves as the site owner for the Government Relations (GR) SharePoint site, maintaining all content, lists, permissions, and user groups.
Manages division liaison listings, Requests for Information (RFI) and Legislative Tracking List permissions, subject matter expert listings, and related permission groups.
Ensures appropriate read/edit access for agency staff.
Maintains all GR SharePoint tracking lists, including RFI lists, the Legislative Tracker, and SME directories.
Manages all Legislative Services Agency (LSA)-assigned legislative reports, verifying assignments annually, scheduling division responsibilities, tracking completion, and uploading reports to the LSA portal.
Provides training, guidance, and technical support to division legislative liaisons and subject matter experts regarding legislative processes and assignments.
Maintains legislative manuals and desk guides, ensuring annual updates and providing training as needed, including leading weekly meetings during Session.
Serves as Lead RFI Coordinator by receiving requests, making assignments, managing approved responses, and providing training and support to liaisons and backup coordinators.
Coordinates Director Memos by logging requests, tracking progress through approval, and leading weekly status discussions with HHS Operations staff.
Develops and manages structured project plans, monitors division progress on post-session implementation of legislative requirements, and ensures deadlines and deliverables are met.
Identifies risks, tracks milestones, and proactively coordinates with divisions to resolve barriers.
Conducts broad research on legislative activities, state and federal regulations, compliance matters, and policy issues affecting the Department.
Identifies and communicates emerging issues to Department leadership and staff.
Provides additional support to the GR team as needed and performs other duties as assigned.
Serves as the primary coordinator for tracking legislative bills relevant to the Department.
Posts daily updates from legislative communications to the SharePoint site.
Reviews all new bills introduced, identifying those with actual or potential HHS impact and determining likely lead divisions.
Tracks companion and successor bills, amendments, debate calendars, scheduled subcommittees and committees, bills passed, and fiscal notes.
Leads the daily Legislative Huddle meeting.
Prepares and distributes a daily email (prior to 8 a.m.) summarizing legislative activity, including new bills, scheduled debates, companion bills, and priority assignments.
Updates the SharePoint Legislative Tracker with new assignments and last actions, performing weekly comprehensive updates and additional updates as required.
Manages LSA fiscal note requests, including confirming lead divisions, preparing Legislative Assessment Package (LAP) templates, creating folders in the LAP document library, uploading legislative documents, and assigning items in SPO.
Tracks non-assigned fiscal note requests separately for reference.
Forwards meeting calendar updates to the Government Relations team.
Updates items on the IGOV Tracker and provides weekly updates each Friday.
Monitors the RFI mailbox and assignments.
Sends daily updates to the GR team at 2 p.m. with assignments, meetings, required approvals, and due dates.
Leads weekly meetings with division liaisons to review pending assignments, discuss Capitol activity, and provide status updates.