Iowa § 9E.8 - 9E.8 Disclosure of program participant address in legal proceedings — protective order.

§ 9E.8. 9E.8 Disclosure of program participant address in legal proceedings — protective order.

1. If a program participant’s address is protected under section 9E.5, a person shall not be compelled to disclose the program participant’s address during discovery or during a proceeding before a court or other tribunal unless the court or other tribunal finds all of the following: a. A reasonable belief exists that the address is needed to obtain information or evidence without which the investigation, prosecution, or litigation cannot proceed. b. No other practicable means is available of obtaining the information or evidence from any other source. 2. The court or other tribunal shall provide the program participant with notice that disclosure of the program participant’s address is sought and provide the program participant an opportunity to present evidence at a hearing regarding the potential harm to the safety of the program participant if the program participant’s address is disclosed. In determining whether to compel disclosure, the court or other tribunal shall consider whether the potential harm to the safety of the program participant is outweighed by the interest in disclosure relating to the investigation, prosecution, or litigation. In a criminal proceeding, the court or other tribunal shall order disclosure of a program participant’s address if protecting the program participant’s address would violate a defendant’s constitutional right to confront a witness. 3. Disclosure of a program participant’s address under this section shall be limited under the terms of the order by the court or other tribunal to ensure that the disclosure and dissemination of the address will be no wider than necessary for the purposes of the investigation, prosecution, or litigation. 4. This section does not prevent the court or other tribunal from issuing a protective order to prevent disclosure of information other than the program participant’s address that could reasonably lead to the discovery of the program participant’s location. 5. This section shall apply to a participant in an out-of-state address confidentiality program substantially similar to the address confidentiality program established in this chapter. 2016 Acts, ch 1016, §2 Referred to in §9E.7 Wed Dec 10 21:50:27 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Section 9E.8 (10, 0)