House File 400 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 400 BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT (SUCCESSOR TO HSB 76) A BILL FOR An Act relating to public records requests. 1 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 2 TLSB 1294HV (1) 91 cm/ns
H.F. 400 Section 1. Section 22.3, subsection 1, Code 2025, is amended 1 to read as follows: 2 1. The examination and copying of public records shall 3 be done under the supervision of the lawful custodian of the 4 records or the custodians authorized designee. The lawful 5 custodian shall not require the physical presence of a person 6 requesting or receiving a copy of a public record and shall 7 fulfill requests for a copy of a public record received in 8 writing, by telephone, or by electronic means. Although 9 fulfillment of a request for a copy of a public record may be 10 contingent upon receipt of payment of reasonable expenses, the 11 lawful custodian shall make every reasonable effort to provide 12 the public record requested at no cost other than copying costs 13 for a record which takes less than thirty minutes to produce. 14 In the event expenses are necessary, such expenses shall be 15 reasonable and communicated to the requester upon receipt of 16 the request in accordance with section 22.4, subsection 3 . 17 A person may contest the reasonableness of the custodians 18 expenses as provided for in this chapter . The lawful 19 custodian may adopt and enforce reasonable rules regarding the 20 examination and copying of the records and the protection of 21 the records against damage or disorganization. The lawful 22 custodian shall provide a suitable place for the examination 23 and copying of the records, but if it is impracticable to do 24 the examination and copying of the records in the office of 25 the lawful custodian, the person desiring to examine or copy 26 shall pay any necessary expenses of providing a place for the 27 examination and copying. 28 Sec. 2. Section 22.4, Code 2025, is amended by adding the 29 following new subsection: 30 NEW SUBSECTION . 3. Upon receipt of a request for a copy of 31 a public record, the lawful custodian or the lawful custodians 32 authorized designee shall do all of the fo11owing: 33 a. Promptly acknowledge the request and provide contact 34 information for the lawful custodians authorized designee. 35 -1- LSB 1294HV (1) 91 cm/ns 1/ 2
H.F. 400 For purposes of this paragraph, promptly means performing 1 the action using reasonable, good-faith efforts to respond, 2 taking into account the circumstances at the time the request 3 was received. 4 b. Provide an approximate date by which an estimate for any 5 reasonable expenses and the release of a copy of the public 6 record or a response to the request will be provided to the 7 requester. 8 c. Inform the requester of any expected delay in the 9 production of the public record. 10 EXPLANATION 11 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 12 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 13 This bill provides that upon receipt of a public records 14 request, the lawful custodian shall (1) promptly, as defined 15 in the bill, acknowledge the request and provide the contact 16 information of the lawful custodians authorized designee, (2) 17 provide an approximate date for a response and an estimate of 18 any reasonable fees associated with the request, and (3) inform 19 the requester of any expected delay in production of the public 20 record. 21 -2- LSB 1294HV (1) 91 cm/ns 2/ 2