Bill Text: IA HF529 | 2019-2020 | 88th General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to the assessment of fees when a public defender or designee requests copies of certain documents. (Formerly HF 4; See HF 753.)

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-18 - Withdrawn. H.J. 922. [HF529 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2019-HF529-Introduced.html
House File 529 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 529 BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY (SUCCESSOR TO HF 4) A BILL FOR An Act relating to the assessment of fees when a public 1 defender or designee requests copies of certain documents. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 1214HV (3) 88 as/rh
H.F. 529 Section 1. NEW SECTION . 815.16 Fees for requests for copies 1 of documents. 2 1. As used in this section: 3 a. “Agency” means the judicial branch, a state department or 4 agency, the office of a county attorney, a criminal or juvenile 5 justice agency, or a political subdivision of the state. 6 b. “Document” includes a copy of any of the following: 7 (1) Police reports. 8 (2) Photographs. 9 (3) Audiotapes. 10 (4) Videotapes. 11 (5) Audio or video files on storage systems, including 12 but not limited to disk, tape, optical, and other structured 13 repositories for storing digital information. 14 (6) Reports prepared by the department of human services. 15 2. An agency shall furnish copies of any document in the 16 possession of the agency that the agency has the technological 17 capability to duplicate, at no cost, upon request of the state 18 public defender, a public defender office, or an attorney 19 or nonprofit legal organization appointed by the court as a 20 designee of the state public defender, if the document is 21 relevant to an investigation or legal representation being 22 conducted by the state public defender, a public defender 23 office, or an attorney or nonprofit legal organization 24 appointed by the court as a designee of the state public 25 defender. When a document is provided on a storage system, the 26 agency shall, upon request, include the software necessary to 27 access the storage system. 28 EXPLANATION 29 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 30 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 31 This bill relates to the assessment of fees when a public 32 defender or designee requests copies of certain documents. 33 The bill defines “agency” to mean the judicial branch, a 34 state department or agency, the office of a county attorney, a 35 -1- LSB 1214HV (3) 88 as/rh 1/ 2
H.F. 529 criminal or juvenile justice agency, or a political subdivision 1 of the state. 2 The bill requires that an agency furnish copies of any 3 document in the possession of the agency, at no cost, upon 4 request of the state public defender, a public defender office, 5 or an attorney or nonprofit legal organization appointed by the 6 court as a designee of the state public defender. 7 The documents to be provided under the bill includes copies 8 of police reports, photographs, audiotapes, videotapes, audio 9 or video files on storage systems, and reports prepared by the 10 department of human services. 11 The document requested must be relevant to an investigation 12 or legal representation being conducted by the public defender 13 or designee. 14 Under the bill, when a document is provided on a storage 15 system, the agency shall, upon request, include the software 16 necessary to access the storage system. 17 -2- LSB 1214HV (3) 88 as/rh 2/ 2
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