A new Iowa law passed in the 2025 legislative session is putting transparency front and center. It now requires all newly elected or appointed city officials to complete open meetings and public records training.
Mickey Shields is the Deputy Director at the Iowa League of Cities and tells RadioOnTheGo News this law pertains to those elected to a variety of positions; including those on library boards, planning and zoning commissions and other local government bodies.
“I think the impetus behind it is many of our elected officials at really all levels of government, but local government certainly come from all walks of life. And it’s probably fair to say that many of them do not come into their roles with a lot of knowledge on the open meetings and open records laws that govern the state of Iowa and all the governmental entities within it. And so there’s just a need to get those folks educated so they understand the basics of the law and that transparency is at the heart of governmental activities and so we definitely support the notion that we need to get local officials trained on these really important laws and open meetings and open records laws are again very very important for everyone to understand and to follow.”
Officials have 90 days from taking office to complete a state-approved course. The Iowa Public Information Board, or IPIB, will oversee and offer the training, which must last at least one hour but no more than two. Shields says this training is beneficial but not time-consuming.
“So I think it’s fairly practical and reasonable to get this really important training done. And then the training itself, Iowa Public Information Board has also kind of given a list to all the approved trainers on the items they need to cover within chapter 21 of the state code of Iowa, which is the open meetings laws, as well as chapter 22, which is the open records laws. And so it’s probably, again, somewhere between 60 minutes and two hours. The League of Cities training, ours usually runs about 90 minutes, but we also give time for questions, of course, because there’s a lot of nuances to these laws and how they are applied when it comes to city council meetings and planning and zoning commission meetings and so on.”
Certificates of completion will be issued and must be kept on file, and made publicly accessible. The law also strengthens penalties for violations. Accidental breaches of open records laws now carry fines up to $2,500, while knowing violations could cost up to $12,000. Repeat offenders may even be removed from office, all part of a push to ensure greater accountability and public access to government actions. More information here.
