Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 6, September 18, 2024
(1)
Open records. Agency records are open for public inspection
and copying unless otherwise provided by rule or law.
(2)
Confidential records.
The following records may be withheld from public inspection. Records are
listed by category, according to the legal basis for withholding them from
public inspection.
a. Sealed bids received
prior to the time set for public opening of bids, Iowa Code section
72.3.
b. Tax records made available to the agency
under Iowa Code sections
422.20
and
422.72.
c. Any other record made confidential by
law.
d. Records which are part of
the long-term care resident's advocate/ombudsman complaint system under Iowa
Code section
231.43.
e. Any records which are client information
for the Senior Community Service Employment Program. Pursuant to authority
provided in Iowa Code section
231.51,
the department administers the SCSEP program, a federally funded employment
program. Federal law requires that personal information about participants be
kept confidential under 20 CFR 674.203b-3(1985). The department has determined
that the U.S. Department of Labor would not provide funding for the SCSEP
program unless the confidentiality of participants is maintained. In order,
therefore, to prevent the denial of these funds, the information will be kept
confidential and any requirements to the contrary in Iowa Code chapter 22 must
be waived as provided in Iowa Code section
22.9.
f. Records which are exempt from disclosure
under Iowa Code section
22.7.
g. Minutes of closed meetings of a government
body, Iowa Code section
21.5(4).
h. Identifying details of final orders,
decisions and opinions to the extent required to prevent a clearly unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy or trade secrets under Iowa Code section
17A.3(1)
"d. "
i. Those portions of agency staff manuals,
instructions or other statements issued which set forth criteria or guidelines
to be used by agency staff in auditing, in making inspections, in settling
commercial disputes or in the selection or handling of cases, such as
operational tactics or allowable tolerances or criteria for the defense,
prosecution or settlement of cases, when disclosure of these statements would:
(1) Enable law violators to avoid
detection;
(2) Facilitate disregard
of requirements imposed by law;
(3)
Give a clearly improper advantage to persons who are in an adverse position to
the agency, as indicated in Iowa Code sections
17A.2 and
17A.3.
j. Records which constitute
attorney work product, attorney-client communications, or which are otherwise
privileged. Attorney work product is confidential under Iowa Code sections
22.7(4),
622.10
and
622.11, Iowa
R.C.P 122(c), Fed. R. Civ. P 26(b)(3), and case law. Attorney-client
communications are confidential under Iowa Code sections
622.10
and
622.11, the rules
of evidence, the Code of Professional Responsibility, and case law.
(3)
Authority to release
confidential records. The agency may have discretion to disclose some
confidential records which are exempt from disclosure under Iowa Code section
22.7 or other law.
Any person may request permission to inspect records withheld from inspection
under a statute which authorizes limited or discretionary disclosure as
provided in rule 17-19.4 (17A,22). If the agency initially determines that it
will release such records, the agency may, where appropriate, notify interested
parties and withhold the records from inspection as provided in subrule
19.4(3).