This handbook is the 11th edition of a publication designed to help keep Iowans abreast of the requirements of the state’s open meetings and open records laws, Chapters 21 and 22 of the Code of Iowa. Iowa law assumes that meetings and records are open. Iowans do not have to make a case to attend a governmental meeting or to see a public record. To the contrary, meetings must be open and records must be available for inspection unless the case for closure is specified in law. The laws are relatively brief, general and written for public understanding and use. The laws provide a framework for managing business by public agencies. The provisions for posting tentative agendas, keeping minutes of meetings, and dealing with personnel issues, etc., are instructive for any organization, public or private. But the laws also provide a mechanism for an aggrieved citizen who believes a governmental agency has improperly denied access to a meeting or record.
