Iowa Code § 17A.3

This is the official text of Iowa Code § 17A.3, part of Iowa’s Code — part of the compiled statutory law of Iowa, published by the state as "Code." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Public information — availability of rules and orders.

Official statutory text

(1) In addition to other requirements imposed by Constitution or statute, each agency shall:

(1) (a) Make available for public inspection all rules, and make available for public inspection and index by subject, all other written statements of law or policy, or interpretations formulated, adopted, or used by the agency in the discharge of its functions. Except as otherwise required by Constitution or statute, or in the use of discovery under the Iowa rules of civil procedure or in criminal cases, an agency shall not be required to make available for public inspection those portions of its staff manuals, instructions, or other statements excluded from the definition of “rule” by section 17A.2, subsection 11, paragraph “f”.

(1) (b) Make available for public inspection and index by name and subject all final orders, decisions, and opinions:Provided that to the extent required to prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or trade secrets, an agency shall delete identifying details when it makes available for public inspection any final order, decision, or opinion; however, in each case the justification for the deletion shall be explained fully in writing.

(2) No agency rule or other written statement of law or policy, or interpretation, order, decision, or opinion is valid or effective against any person or party, nor shall it be invoked by the agency for any purpose, until it has been made available for public inspection and indexed as required by subsection 1, paragraphs “a” and “b”. This provision is not applicable in favor of any person or party who has actual timely knowledge thereof and the burden of proving such knowledge shall be on the agency.

[C75, 77, 79, 81, §17A.3]86 Acts, ch 1245, §2037; 98 Acts, ch 1202, §7, 462024 Acts, ch 1169, §4

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

Need a lawyer in Iowa?

Find a Iowa lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.