House File 2490 amends existing laws regarding public meetings and records in Iowa, focusing on enhancing public notice requirements and clarifying the handling of public records requests. The bill mandates that governmental bodies provide notice of meetings in a manner that includes advising news media and posting the information in a prominent location, as well as on their primary internet site. It also stipulates that if a tentative agenda is amended, it must be marked as such and the changes communicated. Additionally, the bill outlines the responsibilities of lawful custodians of public records, including the requirement to fulfill requests for records without necessitating the requester's physical presence and to provide records at no cost for requests that take less than thirty minutes to produce.

Furthermore, the bill introduces provisions to address vexatious requesters, allowing district courts to issue injunctions against individuals whose public records requests are deemed harassing or burdensome to governmental operations. The criteria for such injunctions include demonstrating that the requests are not in the public interest and that they constitute a pattern of vexatious conduct. The bill also clarifies the definition of vexatious conduct and establishes that a large volume of requests alone does not qualify as such. If a court finds that a requester has not engaged in vexatious conduct, the government body may be required to pay the requester's legal costs.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 21.4
Enrolled: 21.4, 22.3, 22.7