Iowa Admin. Code r. 701-151.9

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 8, October 30, 2024

Rule 701-151.9 - Subpoena of records from public or private utility companies

The director may, to the extent permissible by federal law, subpoena certain records held by a public or private utility company with respect to an individual who has a debt or obligation placed with the centralized collection unit of the department. This authority may be used only after reasonable efforts have been made by the centralized collection unit of the department to locate the individual.

(1)Definitions.

a. "Public or private utility company" means a public utility, cable, video, or satellite television company, cellular telephone company, or Internet service provider

b. "Reasonable efforts," for purposes of this rule, will be considered complete when the following procedures have been performed by the department:

(1) The department has received returned and undeliverable mail sent to the individual's most recent address known to the department; and

(2) The department has attempted to reach the individual at the listed telephone number and discovered that the telephone number is incorrect or the telephone has been disconnected.

c. "Utility" means the same as "public or private utility company" as defined in paragraph 151.9(1)"a."

(2)Procedure for issuing a subpoena; data transfer

a. The department will contact the utility to obtain agreement upon the subpoena process; the form, format and transmission method of a secure data file; and the schedule for both the subpoena and the data.

b. The department shall submit the subpoena to the utility's designated recipient on or before the date a secure data file is submitted for processing. The subpoena will include the director's authority to make the request, the name of the file submitted for processing, the information to be provided for each individual, the expected response date, and the department's contact information. The data file provided to the utility by the department will include social security numbers, names, and last-known addresses in the mutually agreed-upon format.

c. Upon receipt of the department's data file, the utility will match the data file against its current customer information and return to the department the current last name, first name, middle name, address 1, address 2, city, state, ZIP code and telephone number for any current customer information that matches the social security number and designated characters of the last name as provided by the department. The department will not request or require any information from the utility other than the current address and telephone number

d. Within 30 days of receiving the department's data file, the utility will process and return the data file to the department using the agreed-upon secure file transfer process.

e. When the data file is returned, the department will match the returned data with the social security number and designated characters of the current customer's last name before updating its collections system with the new address or telephone number.

f. The department will use the address and telephone number received from the utility to contact the individual for collection purposes.

(3)Confidentiality. The utility must keep confidential all records received from the department. After the department has received the requested information from the utility, the utility must delete the data files it received in a secure manner The department must keep confidential all records received from the utility in compliance with all applicable state and federal laws regarding individual privacy and the privacy rights of public and private utility companies.

This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code section 421.17(32).

Iowa Admin. Code r. 701-151.9

ARC 0124C, lAB 5/16/12, effective 6/20/12