GLOGood Lookin’ Out

Iowa regulations: details

Copied from the state’s website on September 26, 2026. Check the official page before you rely on a rule.

What is here

18,001 numbers of the Iowa Administrative Code, from 1,784 chapter files of 76 agencies, converted by us from the Word edition the Iowa Legislative Services Agency posts (the 09-16-2026 edition, fetched September 26, 2026): 16,840 rules, 601 numbers printed as Rescinded, 152 printed as Reserved, 368 reserved ranges and 40 reserved pairs of numbers.
It is not the official text. The Legislative Services Agency designates the chapter PDF as the official Iowa Administrative Code; this is GLO's conversion of the unofficial Word edition it posts. Official, authenticatable copies are the chapter PDFs at pdf_url.
Every rule shows the edition date and the date its chapter's official PDF prints in its footer. Neither date means the rule is current.
Citations are agency, chapter and rule, as in 201-45.1 or 201 IAC 45.1. Asking for a chapter and number with no agency, as in 45.1, lists every agency's rule with that number; we never pick one for you. Asking for a chapter, as in 201-45, lists its numbers and shows the chapter's heading and closing.
Some chapters print lines after a rule: history notes, captions for the next group of rules, implement lines and appendices. They come back labelled as what they are, never as part of the rule.
Asking for a number that falls inside a reserved range or pair returns that range or pair, marked as such.

How we checked it

Two programs written separately read every Word file. Every place they disagreed was read by hand and named.
We tested under a plan frozen before the test. The result was CLEAN.
A person read 150 random rules against the Word edition and found none converted wrongly. At that sample size the true error rate could still be as high as 2.5%. This checks our copying, not the publisher's text. 141 more rows and chapters, chosen for their harder features, were read the same way: one had a wrong number (1371-3.4, a note mark we had glued onto the rule number, now fixed), and none of the rest was wrong.
The Word text was compared with the official PDF's text for every chapter: 17,765 of 18,001 rules and 1,694 of 1,784 closings agree, 190 rules and 78 closings nearly agree, 46 rules and 12 closings differ. Both come from the publisher's one repository, so agreement does not show a rule is in force or current. This is never combined with the check above.
Where the Word file breaks a line right after an abbreviation such as No. or p.m. and a non-breaking space, GLO joins the two lines as the printed page runs them on: 1,196 places, and all 43 checked on the page ran on. Other such breaks are shown as stored (178 places; of 24 checked on the page, 10 ran on and 14 started a new line), and those rules say so.

What it can't tell you

Whether a rule is current, valid or in force.
Whether the text matches the official PDF beyond what the comparison above measured.
Anything the publisher changed after the 09-16-2026 edition.

Known gaps

Superscript, subscript and underlined text is shown marked, and note marks are shown as note marks. No other formatting is shown.
Tables are shown with merged and empty cells kept and shaded cells marked. No second reader checks shading. A table whose layout could not be checked is not shown as a table, and the rule or chapter that prints it says so.
Small capitals on the printed page, such as the labels Example or Note, are shown in full capitals, as the Word file types them.
Fill-in blanks drawn as lines or dots are not shown; the rules where a check found them say so.
115 images in 29 chapters are not shown; each rule that holds one says so.
A comparison of the Word text with the official PDF text over every chapter found 225 rules and 50 closings where the PDF has a symbol or mark the Word text lacks. Which rule holds each one is not reliable, so no rule is marked for it.
Three chapters are not loaded because their posted files are RTF, which this conversion does not read: 141-5, 141-6 and 261-417. Their official PDFs are the source.
41 rows print more than 40,000 characters and come back cut off, marked as cut off.
Keyword search over Iowa rule text: each rule's printed heading line and its body. Exact words, no stemming, not concept search. Not searched: history lines, text printed after a rule, chapter closings, and rescinded or reserved numbers. A rule not found may still exist.

Notes you may see on an entry

371-3.4, whose file glues a note mark onto its number: “The Word file prints a note mark glued before this rule's number, so its text reads 1371-3.4. GLO keys the rule 371-3.4 and shows the mark as a note mark. The file prints no rule 1371-3.4.”
173 numbers with text printed after their heading: “Text printed after this heading is shown as the chapter prints it. A caption there heads the rules that follow; an implement line there closes the group of rules before it. Neither is part of this number.”
70 rules with a line break the page may run on: “The Word file ends a line inside this rule right after a non-breaking space, and GLO shows that break as stored. The printed page sometimes runs such lines on as one sentence; if a sentence looks cut in two, check the chapter PDF.”
34 rules holding an image: “The Word file places one or more images in this rule. GLO does not show images; see the chapter PDF.”
721-26.17, whose operative list is an image: “This rule's operative list is an image in the Word file. GLO does not show images, so the rule's content is not in this text; see the chapter PDF.”
252 rules whose table layout carries meaning: “A table in this rule uses merged, empty or shaded cells, and its layout carries meaning. The table is shown with that layout; the plain text lines flatten it.”
7 rules with a table that could not be checked: “A table in this rule could not be shown with its layout checked, so it is not usable as stored here. Use the chapter PDF for that table.”
12 rules whose list labels differ from the page: “The Word file numbers a list in this rule differently from the printed page, so a cross-reference may name a label shown differently here. The page's labels are in the chapter PDF.”
28 rules with fill-in blanks: “The printed page has fill-in blanks in this rule, drawn as lines or dots, that are not shown here.”
8 rules with a web address stored without http: “A web address in this rule is stored by the publisher without http or https. It is shown as stored and is not a link.”
761-920.8: “What the chapter prints after this rule is the Appendix to 761-920.5, shown labelled as that appendix. It is not part of 761-920.8.”
761-920.5: “This rule's appendix is printed after 761-920.8 in the chapter and is shown there, labelled Appendix to 761-920.5.”
761-910.8: “What the chapter prints after this rule is the appendix to 761-910.4, a form. The Word file lacks its fill-in blanks, so it is not usable as a form here; fill it from the chapter PDF.”
761-910.4: “This rule's appendix, a form, is printed after 761-910.8 in the chapter and is shown there. The Word file lacks its fill-in blanks; use the chapter PDF to fill it.”
191-38.19: “This number is rescinded. What the chapter prints after it is the chapter's Appendices A and B, shown labelled as the chapter's appendices; they are not this rule's text.”
641-42.20: “The page prints 0.25 millirem (2.5 mSv). By the ratio this rule itself gives, the metric figure is 1,000 times the millirem figure. Shown as printed, not corrected.”
641-39.18: “The page prints mu 1 as a bound in Appendix E. Shown as printed, not corrected; GLO has not established what the publisher meant.”
567-69.8: “The page prints Tm where micrometres are meant. Shown as printed, not corrected.”
Chapter 261-195: “The closing prints [Filed 6/20/03, Notice 4/16/04—published 7/9/03, effective 8/13/03], a Notice dated after its own filing, publication and effective dates. Shown as printed, not corrected; the intended date is not verified.”
Chapter 441-200: “The printed chapter repeats its caption and its 25 Filed lines from 2/11/77 to 9/12/07; both copies are shown as printed. Count each filing once.”
Lines printed after a rule: “Printed after this rule in the chapter; not part of the rule.”
A caption printed after a heading: “Printed here as a heading for the rules that follow; not part of this number.”
An implement line printed after a heading: “Printed here as the implement line for the rules before it; not part of this number.”
A chapter's closing: “What the chapter prints after its last rule: history lines, the publisher's notes and, in some chapters, appendices. Not any rule's text.”
601 numbers printed as Rescinded: “The publisher prints this rule as Rescinded. Its heading, and any text under it, are shown as printed.”
152 numbers printed as Reserved: “The publisher prints this number as Reserved. Its heading, and any text under it, are shown as printed.”
368 reserved ranges: “The publisher's heading reserves this range of numbers. No rule text is printed under it.”
40 reserved pairs: “The publisher's heading reserves these two numbers. No rule text is printed under them.”
A number inside a reserved range or pair: “No rule is printed under this number; it falls inside this reserved range or pair, shown as the publisher prints it.”
A number with no agency: “No agency was given. These are every rule printed with that chapter and number under any agency; choose by agency. None is chosen for you.”
A subrule asked for: “The answer is the whole rule; the subrule or paragraph asked for is named, not cut out.”
A number not in this copy: “Not printed in this copy of the Iowa Administrative Code (the Word files of the 09-16-2026 edition, fetched 2026-09-26). That never means the rule does not exist: a rule adopted, changed or rescinded after this edition may differ or be absent here.”
A lookup of the Iowa Code: “That is Iowa statute law, not the Iowa Administrative Code. The lookup says so rather than returning nothing.”

Nothing here is legal advice or a judgment that a rule is in force. Full counts for software: the defect_floor field on every Iowa result (source=ia).