Bill Text: IA HF2226 | 2011-2012 | 84th General Assembly | Enrolled

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to child abuse reports and disposition data. Effective 7-1-12.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Passed) 2012-04-12 - Signed by Governor. H.J. 809. [HF2226 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2011-HF2226-Enrolled.html

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House File 2226
AN ACT
RELATING TO CHILD ABUSE REPORTS AND DISPOSITION DATA.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
Section 1. Section 232.71D, subsection 2, Code Supplement
2011, is amended to read as follows:
2. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 3 and 4 ,
and section 235A.19, subsection 2, if the department issues
a finding that the alleged child abuse meets the definition
of child abuse under section 232.68, subsection 2 , the names
of the child and the alleged perpetrator of the alleged child
abuse and any other child abuse information shall be placed in
the central registry as a case of founded child abuse.
Sec. 2. Section 235A.18, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code
Supplement 2011, is amended to read as follows:
a. Report and disposition data relating to a particular
case of alleged child abuse shall be sealed ten years after
the initial placement of the data in the registry unless good
cause be shown why the data should remain open to authorized
access. If a subsequent report of an alleged case of child
abuse involving the child named in the initial data placed in
the registry as the victim of abuse or a person named in the
data as having abused a child is received by the department
within this ten-year period, the data shall be sealed ten years
after receipt of the subsequent report unless good cause be
shown why the data should remain open to authorized access.
However, such report and a person named in the initial data
placed in the registry as having abused a child shall have the
person’s name removed from the registry if that person has
not had a subsequent case of alleged abuse which resulted in
the person’s name being placed in the registry as the person

House File 2226, p. 2
responsible for the abuse within the ten-year period. Report
and disposition data shall be made available to the department
of justice if the department requests access to the alleged
child abuse records for purposes of review by the prosecutor’s
review committee or commitment of sexually violent predators
under chapter 229A .
Sec. 3. Section 235A.19, subsection 1, Code Supplement
2011, is amended to read as follows:
1. A subject of a child abuse report, as identified in
section 235A.15, subsection 2 , paragraph “a” , shall have the
right to examine report data and disposition data which refers
to the subject. The department may prescribe reasonable
hours and places of examination. A subject of a child abuse
report may provide additional information to the department
that is relevant to the report data and disposition data and
may request that the department revise the report data and
disposition data.
Sec. 4. Section 235A.19, Code Supplement 2011, is amended by
adding the following new subsection:
NEW SUBSECTION . 1A. At the time the notice of the results
of an assessment performed in accordance with section 232.71B
is issued, the department shall provide notice to a person
named in the report as having abused a child of the right to
a contested case hearing and shall provide notice to subjects
other than the person named in the report as having abused a
child of the right to intervene in a contested case proceeding,
as provided in subsection 2.
Sec. 5. Section 235A.19, subsections 2 and 3, Code
Supplement 2011, are amended to read as follows:
2. a. A subject of a child abuse report may file with the
department within ninety days of the date of the notice of the
results of an assessment performed in accordance with section
232.71B , a written statement to the effect that report data and
disposition data referring to the subject is in whole or in
part erroneous, and may request a correction of that data or of
the findings of the assessment report.
b. The department shall provide the subject a person named
in a child abuse report as having abused a child, who has
been adversely affected by a founded child abuse disposition,
notwithstanding the placement of the report data in the central
registry pursuant to section 232.71D, with an opportunity for a
contested case hearing pursuant to chapter 17A to correct the
data or the findings, unless the department corrects the data

House File 2226, p. 3
or findings as requested.
c. The department shall provide a subject of a child
abuse report, other than the person named in the report as
having abused a child, with an opportunity to file a motion to
intervene in the contested case proceeding.
d. The department may defer the hearing until the conclusion
of the adjudicatory phase of a pending juvenile or district
court case relating to the data or findings. Upon request
of any party to the contested case proceeding, the presiding
officer may stay the hearing until the conclusion of the
adjudicatory phase of a pending juvenile or district court case
relating to the data or findings. An adjudication of a child
in need of assistance or a criminal conviction in a district
court case relating to the child abuse data or findings may be
determinative in a contested case proceeding.
e. A party to a contested case proceeding shall file an
appeal of the presiding officer’s proposed decision to the
director within ten days of the presiding officer’s proposed
decision. If an appeal is not filed within ten days from the
date of a proposed decision, the proposed decision shall be
the final agency action. If a party files an appeal within
ten days from the date of the proposed decision, the director
has forty-five days from the date of the proposed decision to
issue a ruling. Upon the director’s failure to issue a ruling
within forty-five days of the date of the proposed decision,
the proposed decision shall be the final agency action.
b. f. The department shall not disclose any report data
or disposition data until the conclusion of the proceeding to
correct the data or findings, except as follows:
(1) As necessary for the proceeding itself.
(2) To the parties and attorneys involved in a judicial
proceeding.
(3) For the regulation of child care or child placement.
(4) Pursuant to court order.
(5) To the subject of an assessment or a report.
(6) For the care or treatment of a child named in a report
as a victim of abuse.
(7) To persons involved in an assessment of child abuse.
(8) For statutorily authorized record checks for employment
of an individual by a provider of adult home care, adult health
facility care, or other adult placement facility care.
(9) For others identified in section 235A.15, subsection
2 , paragraph “d” , subparagraph (7), and paragraph “e” ,

House File 2226, p. 4
subparagraphs (9) and (16).
3. The subject of a A person named in a child abuse report
as having abused a child, who has been adversely affected by a
founded child abuse disposition, notwithstanding the placement
of the report data in the central registry pursuant to section
232.71D, may appeal the decision resulting from a hearing held
pursuant to subsection 2 to the district court of Polk county
or to the district court of the district in which the subject
of the child abuse person named in the report as having abused
a child resides. Immediately upon appeal the court shall order
the department to file with the court a certified copy of the
report data or disposition data. Appeal shall be taken in
accordance with chapter 17A .
Sec. 6. CHILD ABUSE REPORTS —— DIFFERENTIAL RESPONSE
REVIEW.
1. The department of human services shall conduct a
comprehensive review to determine whether to recommend
implementation of a differential response to child abuse
reports when the initial report is received by the department
pursuant to section 232.70. The department of human services
shall also review and recommend the length of time a person
named in a child abuse report as having abused a child should
remain on the child abuse registry and the circumstances under
which the department may remove the name of a person named
in the report as having abused a child from the report and
disposition data prior to the expiration of a ten-year period.
2. “Differential response”, as used in this section, means
at least two discrete response options for the screening of
cases constituting a child abuse allegation pursuant to the
department’s assessment process. One of the options shall
include a voluntary, noninvestigative response.
3. The department shall, by December 1, 2012, submit a
report of its review including findings and recommendations to
the governor and general assembly.
Sec. 7. REPORT ON CHILD ABUSE ASSESSMENTS ADMINISTRATIVE
APPEALS. The department of human services and the department
of inspections and appeals shall, by December 1, 2012, submit
a preliminary report to the governor and general assembly
regarding the length of time for appeals of placement on
the child abuse registry within the last five years. The
department of human services and the department of inspections
and appeals shall submit a final report to the governor and
the general assembly by December 1, 2013. The preliminary

House File 2226, p. 5
and final reports shall include information on the number of
persons appealing, the alleged reason for the placement, the
length of time for an appeal including the time between a
request for a contested case hearing and the occurrence of the
contested case hearing, the proposed decision of the presiding
officer, and, if the proposed decision was appealed, the review
of the director, and the reasons for outliers in the length of
time for an appeal.
______________________________
KRAIG PAULSEN
Speaker of the House
______________________________
JOHN P. KIBBIE
President of the Senate
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the House and
is known as House File 2226, Eighty-fourth General Assembly.
______________________________
W. CHARLES SMITHSON
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved _______________, 2012
______________________________
TERRY E. BRANSTAD
Governor