by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch September 22, 2023 A Navy veteran who says he has PTSD is the man responsible for triggering proposed new restrictions on Iowans’ access to government documents. The individual, Michael J. Merritt of Newton, calls himself “Cipher Hunter” and describes himself as a “creative writer/musician and information warfare specialist.” In […]
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Proposed bill would block ‘vexatious’ citizens from accessing public records
by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch September 15, 2023 The Iowa Public Information Board is considering legislation that would enable government agencies to ignore, for up to one year, any public-records requests made by “vexatious requesters.” The board’s legislative committee met Friday to discuss draft legislation aimed at addressing what the board’s executive director called […]
When ‘reasonable’ costs for public records become unreasonable
by Randy Evans, Iowa Capital Dispatch January 11, 2023 The Legislature wrote Iowa’s public records law 55 years ago, and one of the tenets of the statute was the belief people deserve to know how state and local governments spend their tax money. Another important concept in the law is that fees for copies of […]