669.2 Definitions.

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. “Acting within the scope of the employee’s office or employment” means acting in the employee’s line of duty as an employee of the state.

2. “Award” means any amount determined by the attorney general to be payable to a claimant under section 669.3, and the amount of any compromise or settlement under section 669.9.

3. “Claim” means:

a. Any claim against the state of Iowa for money only, on account of damage to or loss of property or on account of personal injury or death, caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the state while acting within the scope of the employee’s office or employment, under circumstances where the state, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant for such damage, loss, injury, or death.

b. Any claim against an employee of the state for money only, on account of damage to or loss of property or on account of personal injury or death, caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the state while acting within the scope of the employee’s office or employment.

4. a. “Employee of the state” includes any one or more officers, agents, or employees of the state or any state agency, including members of the general assembly, and persons acting on behalf of the state or any state agency in any official capacity, temporarily or permanently in the service of the state of Iowa, whether with or without compensation, but does not include a contractor doing business with the state. Professional personnel, including physicians, osteopathic physicians and surgeons, osteopathic physicians, optometrists, dentists, nurses, physician assistants, and other medical personnel, who render services to patients or inmates of state institutions under the jurisdiction of the department of human services or the Iowa department of corrections, and employees of the department of veterans affairs, are to be considered employees of the state, whether the personnel are employed on a full-time basis or render services on a part-time basis on a fee schedule or other arrangement. Criminal defendants while performing unpaid community service ordered by the district court, board of parole, or judicial district department of correctional services, or an inmate providing services pursuant to a chapter 28E agreement entered into pursuant to section 904.703, and persons supervising those inmates under and according to the terms of the chapter 28E agreement, are to be considered employees of the state. Members of the Iowa national guard performing duties in a requesting state pursuant to section 29C.21 are to be considered employees of the state solely for the purpose of claims arising out of those duties in the event that the requesting state’s tort claims coverage does not extend to such members of the Iowa national guard or is less than that provided under Iowa law.

b. “Employee of the state” also includes an individual performing unpaid community service under an order of the district court pursuant to section 598.23A.

c. “Employee of the state” also includes an architect licensed pursuant to chapter 544A or a professional engineer licensed pursuant to chapter 542B who voluntarily and without compensation provides initial structural or building systems inspection services for the purposes of determining human occupancy at the scene of a disaster as defined in section 29C.2, subsection 4. To be considered an employee of the state, the architect or engineer shall be acting at the request and under the direction of the commissioner of public safety and in coordination with the local emergency management commission established under chapter 29C. For purposes of this paragraph, “compensation” does not include reimbursement for expenses.

5. “State agency” includes all executive departments, agencies, boards, bureaus, and commissions of the state of Iowa, and corporations whose primary function is to act as, and while acting as, instrumentalities or agencies of the state of Iowa, whether or not authorized to sue and be sued in their own names. This definition does not include a contractor with the state of Iowa. Soil and water conservation districts as defined in section 161A.3, subsection 6, and judicial district departments of correctional services as established in section 905.2 are state agencies for purposes of this chapter.

6. “State appeal board” means the state appeal board as defined in section 73A.1.

[C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §25A.2]

83 Acts, ch 96, §56, 159; 84 Acts, ch 1259, §1; 86 Acts, ch 1172, §1; 87 Acts, ch 23, §1; 89 Acts, ch 83, §13; 90 Acts, ch 1251, §2

C93, §669.2

93 Acts, ch 48, §53; 94 Acts, ch 1171, §51; 96 Acts, ch 1165, §1; 97 Acts, ch 33, §12, 15; 98 Acts, ch 1086, §1; 2001 Acts, ch 158, §37; 2005 Acts, ch 115, §36, 40; 2006 Acts, ch 1185, §104; 2011 Acts, ch 47, §11; 2011 Acts, ch 132, §64, 106; 2014 Acts, ch 1028, §1; 2015 Acts, ch 30, §191; 2017 Acts, ch 131, §7

Referred to in §25.1, 80.9A, 135C.30, 203.12B, 203C.3, 203C.4, 669.21