New Legislative Services Bureau leader

Legislative leaders today announced the new director of the Legislative Services Agency will be Glen Dickinson.

Here's some context:  there used to be three agencies which served lawmakers in the crafting of legislation and the act of passing it. One was called the Legislative Service Bureau.  LSB was the agency that drafted the legislation. One was called the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.  LFB was the agency that developed the budget, line-by-line. The other was called the Legislative Computer Support Bureau.

A couple of years ago, legislative leaders decided to merge the three agencies into one. Longtime Legislative Fiscal Bureau chief Dennis Prouty became director of the new agency, which was (and still is) named the Legislative Services Agency. Prouty retired earlier this year, legislative leaders interview applicants for the job and today announced Dickinson will be the new director of the Legislative Services Agency.  The head of this agency is one of three members of the State Revenue Estimating Conference which meets a few times a year to review projections and set an official estimate of state tax revenue.  It is this estimate of tax receipts in the coming year which legislators are required by law to use as the basis for the budget -- for state spending. 

Read the news release below.

Legislative leaders select veteran staffer as new director of Legislative Services Agency

DES MOINES – Legislative leaders today announced the selection of Glen Dickinson as the new Director of the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA).

Dickinson replaces Dennis Prouty, who retired June 30.

Dickinson has served as Director of LSA’s Computer Services Division, which provides technology training and support to the legislators and legislative staff, since 2002. He previously served as Division Director of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau from 1988 to 2002, Associate Director of Business & Finance for the Iowa Board of Regents from 1987 to 1988, and as a Legislative Analyst for the Legislative Fiscal Bureau from 1981 to 1987.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Geography and a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Iowa.