Iowa government transparency board considers proposal to allow government to reject ‘vexatious’ records requests

DES MOINES — Government agencies in Iowa could reject a person’s open records requests if the agency and a state board deem the requests to be excessive under a proposal being considered by the state board.

The Iowa Public Information Board’s legislative committee during a telephonic meeting Friday discussed the proposal, which was introduced by the board’s executive director Erika Eckley and would require approval by state lawmakers.

The committee took no action other than to recommend discussion by the full board at its next meeting.

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Eckley said she proposed the legislation because of concerns raised by local government officials who have complained of excessive open records requests that Eckley described as “abusive and harassing” in nature.

Under the proposed legislation, which the board would provide to state lawmakers for their consideration, a governmental body in Iowa — like a city, county or school board, for example — could petition the board for relief from an individual who the government agency deems to be a “vexatious requester.”

Iowa Public Information Board Proposal 9-15-23 by Gazetteonline on Scribd

The Public Information Board then would determine the veracity of the agency’s petition. It would consider multiple factors, including the number and scope of requests; the nature, content language or subject matter of communications to the government agency; or conduct that the government agency believes creates an “unreasonable burden” or is intended to harass the agency.

The board then could deny the government agency’s petition, or determine the petition could have merit and schedule a hearing to allow the alleged “vexatious requester” an opportunity to respond.

If a hearing is held, the state board would then vote on the petition. If the board would vote to grant the petition, it could allow the government agency to reject the individual’s open records requests for up to one year.

The board’s decision would be final, and could be appealed only through the courts.

During Friday’s legislative committee hearing, the members fielded questions from two members of the state media: Clark Kauffman of Iowa Capital Dispatch and Laura Belin of the liberal political news site Bleeding Heartland.

Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, a government transparency advocacy group, submitted a letter to the state board expressing concern for how the proposal would “seriously erode” the state’s open records law. He wrote that the proposed legislation would run counter to the law by excluding individuals from exercising their right to public records.

“What a government employee believes is a vexatious person or that the IPIB adjudicates as such may in fact involve someone others see as persistent, especially if they have a common interest in the same records and information,” Evans wrote in the letter to the state board. “The Iowa FOI Council is concerned this legislation would empower government to block requests for documents from individual requesters or their organizations based on ‘the nature, content, language or subject matter of the requests.’”

Iowa Freedom of Information Council Letter 9-15-23 by Gazetteonline on Scribd

The nine-member Iowa Public Information Board is comprised of nine members, which must include three members each representing government, the media and the public.

Eckley and two members of the board’s three-person legislative committee — public representative E.J. Giovannetti of Urbandale and government representative Barry Lindahl of Dubuque — discussed the “vexatious requester” proposal during Friday’s meeting.

The legislative committee’s media representative, Joel McCrea, did not attend the meeting.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com