Iowa State Bar Association

Iowa Open Records Law

Iowa Code §22.1 et seq.

The Iowa Open Records Law is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of government bodies at all levels. The law includes all records of government agencies except where the documents have been deemed confidential. Exemptions include:

• Personal information on accepted students, current students, and past students
• Medical records
• Trade Secrets
• Records of attorneys who represent the state
• Reports that result in unfair competition
• Appraisal information for public land purchases
• Criminal files
• Military confidential records
• Personal information in records of employees and elected officials of public agencies
• Library records
• Information on the donors of charitable contributions
• Corrections department information that would jeopardize security.
• Communications made to the government but not required by statute
• Examinations
• Archaeological and historical ecologically sensitive material locations and information
• Marketing and advertising budgets and strategies for non-profits
• Information maintained by mediators employed to solve the disputes with government agencies

Anyone can request public records and the law does not require a statement of purpose for records requests. There are no restrictions for use of the records in the law and you must allow 10-20 days for a record request response to be completed.