Bill Text: IA HF753 | 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 529 and HF 4.)

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-04-24 - Committee report, recommending passage. S.J. 1112. [HF753 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2019-HF753-Introduced.html
House File 753 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 753 BY COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS (SUCCESSOR TO HF 529) (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 1214HZ (3) 88 as/rh
H.F. 753 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 of the documents 16 listed in subsection 1, paragraph “b” , in the possession of 17 the agency that the agency has the technological capability to 18 duplicate at a cost not to exceed ten dollars per document, 19 if the software license of the agency permits, upon written 20 request of the state public defender, a public defender office, 21 or an attorney or nonprofit legal organization appointed by 22 the court as a designee of the state public defender, if 23 the document relates to the charge or charges filed in the 24 trial information. If the production of a document that is a 25 videotape would require extensive editing for confidentiality 26 purposes, the court may issue a protective order restricting 27 access to the videotape to only the defendant, the state public 28 defender, a public defender office, the county attorney, law 29 enforcement, or an attorney or nonprofit legal organization 30 appointed by the court as a designee of the state public 31 defender. When a document is provided on a storage system, the 32 agency shall, upon request, include the software necessary to 33 access the storage system. 34 3. If the state public defender, a public defender office, 35 -1- LSB 1214HZ (3) 88 as/rh 1/ 3
H.F. 753 or an attorney or nonprofit legal organization appointed by the 1 court as a designee of the state public defender requests and 2 is provided a document under this section which would otherwise 3 be discretionary discovery, a defense attorney shall comply 4 with the rules of criminal procedure concerning reciprocal 5 discovery. 6 EXPLANATION 7 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 8 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 9 This bill relates to the assessment of fees when a public 10 defender or designee requests copies of certain documents. 11 The bill defines “agency” to mean the judicial branch, a 12 state department or agency, the office of a county attorney, a 13 criminal or juvenile justice agency, or a political subdivision 14 of the state. 15 The bill requires an agency to furnish copies of any document 16 in the possession of the agency that the agency has the 17 technological capability to duplicate at a cost not to exceed 18 $10 per document, upon request of the state public defender, 19 a public defender office, or an attorney or nonprofit legal 20 organization appointed by the court as a designee of the state 21 public defender. 22 The documents to be provided under the bill include copies 23 of police reports, photographs, audiotapes, videotapes, audio 24 or video files on storage systems, and reports prepared by the 25 department of human services. The document requested must 26 relate to the charge or charges filed in the trial information. 27 The bill provides that if the production of a videotape would 28 require extensive editing due to confidentiality concerns, the 29 court may issue a protective order restricting access to only 30 the defendant, the state public defender, a public defender 31 office, the county attorney, law enforcement, or an attorney 32 or nonprofit legal organization appointed by the court as a 33 designee of the state public defender. If a document requested 34 and provided would be classified as discretionary discovery, 35 -2- LSB 1214HZ (3) 88 as/rh 2/ 3
H.F. 753 a defense attorney must comply with the rules of criminal 1 procedure concerning reciprocal discovery. 2 Under the bill, when a document is provided on a storage 3 system, the agency shall, upon request, include the software 4 necessary to access the storage system. 5 -3- LSB 1214HZ (3) 88 as/rh 3/ 3
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