DES MOINES - A proposed rewrite of Iowa's sunshine laws was unceremoniously dumped at about 1 a.m. Saturday, one of the final acts of the Legislative session.

Supporters of the bill are still trying to figure out what happened.

"It's disappointing, to say the least, that we didn't get that through," said Sen. Mike Connolly, D-Dubuque, one of the lead sponsors.

The Senate passed the plan late Friday and sent it to the House as part of a larger budget bill. After midnight, the House then amended the bill to delete any changes to the sunshine laws. It was the last bill of the session.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said in a statement Monday that he decided not to go forward with the measure because Republicans threatened to use stall tactics to force an all-night debate unless the item was removed. He said he hopes to see progress on the issue next year.

Connolly, who had no forewarning of the House's action, said the bill's demise is a victory for opponents of open government.

"There's pressure coming from places that we're not seeing," he said.

The main opponents were local governments, represented by groups like the Iowa League of Cities. Local government leaders had concerns that the proposed rules would lead to a flood of open-records requests and investigations of alleged violations of the law. Republicans shared many of those concerns.

A previous version of the bill passed the Senate on April 14. The 50-page bill was an attempt to improve openness in government by fixing a long list of loopholes in current law. The bill called for the creation of a new panel, the Iowa Public Information Board, to enforce the new rules.

The bill went to the House on April 15, where it was immediately stripped of all the changes to current sunshine laws. The only thing left in the bill was the creation of the new enforcement board. Under the House plan, the new board would recommend changes to sunshine laws.

The bill, now a fraction of its former size and scope, still didn't have enough support to be scheduled for debate on the House floor.

Fast forward to last Thursday. Senate leaders decided to tack the stripped-down version of the bill onto a larger budget bill. This is a common way for legislators to pass priorities that otherwise wouldn't make the cut.

Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, one of several legislators who worked on the sunshine measure, said Thursday that she was pleased to see the bill was still alive.

"I think the people want us to do something this year," she said.

Sometime after Mascher was interviewed, House leaders decided they would not support the item.

As late as 11 p.m. Friday, senators still thought the measure would become law.

In a flurry of activity, the House passed the massive budget bill, with an amendment that removed several parts, including the open meetings and open records changes.

The House sent the bill back to the Senate at about 2 a.m. Saturday.

Senators chose to accept the House changes rather than stay up and try to resolve the differences.

The final gavel fell at 2:38 a.m. and the 2008 legislative session was history.

On Monday, Gov. Chet Culver said he hopes lawmakers will revisit the issue next year.

"They tried and tried to find some consensus and common ground like they do on most issues. In the case of that piece of legislation, they ultimately could not settle on an agreeable bill," he said.

Whitney Woodward contributed to this story.

Contact Dan Gearino at (515) 243-0138 and dan.gearino@lee.net