685.1 Definitions.

1. “Claim” means any request or demand, whether pursuant to a contract or otherwise, for money or property and whether the state has title to the money or property, which is presented to an officer, employee, agent, or other representative of the state or to a contractor, grantee, or other person if the money or property is to be spent or used on the state’s behalf or to advance a state program or interest, and if the state provides any portion of the money or property which is requested or demanded, or if the state will reimburse directly or indirectly such contractor, grantee, or other person for any portion of the money or property which is requested or demanded. “Claim” does not include any requests or demands for money or property that the state has paid to an individual as compensation for state employment or as an income subsidy with no restrictions on that individual’s use of the money or property.

2. “Custodian” means the custodian, or any deputy custodian, designated by the attorney general under section 685.6.

3. “Documentary material” includes the original or any copy of any book, record, report, memorandum, paper, communication, tabulation, chart, or other document, or data compilations stored in or accessible through computer or other information retrieval systems, together with instructions and all other materials necessary to use or interpret such data compilations, and any product of discovery.

4. “False claims law” means this chapter.

5. “False claims law investigation” means any inquiry conducted by a false claims law investigator for the purpose of ascertaining whether any person is or has been engaged in any violation of a false claims law.

6. “False claims law investigator” means any attorney or investigator employed by the department of justice who is charged with the duty of enforcing or carrying into effect any false claims law, or any officer or employee of the state acting under the direction and supervision of such attorney or investigator in connection with a false claims law investigation.

7. a. “Knowing” or “knowingly” means that a person with respect to information, does any of the following:

(1) Has actual knowledge of the information.

(2) Acts in deliberate ignorance of the truth or falsity of the information.

(3) Acts in reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of the information.

b. “Knowing” or “knowingly” does not require proof of specific intent to defraud.

8. “Material” means having a natural tendency to influence, or be capable of influencing, the payment or receipt of money or property.

9. “Obligation” means an established duty, whether or not fixed, arising from an express or implied contractual, grantor-grantee, or licensor-licensee relationship, from a fee-based or similar relationship, from statute or regulation, or from the retention of any overpayment.

10. “Official use” means any use that is consistent with the law, and the regulations and policies of the department of justice, including use, in connection with internal department of justice memoranda and reports; communications between the department of justice and a federal, state, or local government agency or a contractor of a federal, state, or local government agency, undertaken in furtherance of a department of justice investigation or prosecution of a case; interviews of any qui tam plaintiff or other witness; oral examinations; depositions; preparation for and response to civil discovery requests; introduction into the record of a case or proceeding; applications, motions, memoranda and briefs submitted to a court or other tribunal; and communications with government investigators, auditors, consultants and experts, the counsel of other parties, and arbitrators and mediators, concerning an investigation, case, or proceeding.

11. “Original source” means an individual who prior to a public disclosure under section 685.3, subsection 5, paragraph “c”, has voluntarily disclosed to the state the information on which the allegations or transactions in a claim are based; or who has knowledge that is independent of and materially adds to the publicly disclosed allegations or transactions, and has voluntarily provided the information to the state before filing an action under this chapter.

12. “Person” means any natural person, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, including any state or political subdivision of the state.

13. “Product of discovery” includes all of the following:

a. The original or duplicate of any deposition, interrogatory, document, thing, result of the inspection of land or other property, examination, or admission, which is obtained by any method of discovery in any judicial or administrative proceeding of an adversarial nature.

b. Any digest, analysis, selection, compilation, or derivation of any item listed in paragraph “a”.

c. Any index or other manner of access to any item listed in paragraph “a”.

14. “Qui tam plaintiff” means a private plaintiff who brings an action under this chapter on behalf of the state.

15. “State” means the state of Iowa.

2010 Acts, ch 1031, §338; 2011 Acts, ch 129, §100, 101, 156