Senate File 267 - Enrolled




                              SENATE FILE       
                              BY  COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

                              (SUCCESSOR TO SSB
                                  1163)
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                                   A BILL FOR
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                                        Senate File 267

                             AN ACT
 RELATING TO PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN CERTAIN PEER
    SUPPORT GROUP COUNSELORS AND OFFICERS.

 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
    Section 1.  Section 622.10, Code 2015, is amended by adding
 the following new subsection:
    NEW SUBSECTION.  9.  a.  A peer support group counselor
 who obtains information from an officer by reason of the
 counselor's capacity as a peer support group counselor
 shall not be allowed, in giving testimony, to disclose any
 confidential communication properly entrusted to the counselor
 by the officer while receiving counseling.
    b.  The prohibition in this subsection does not apply where
 the officer has consented to the disclosure of the information
 specified in paragraph "a" or where the peer support group
 counselor was an initial responding officer, a witness, or
 a party to the incident which prompted the delivery of peer
 support group counseling services to the officer.
    c.  For purposes of this subsection:
    (1)  "Officer" means a certified law enforcement officer,
 fire fighter, emergency medical technician, paramedic,
 corrections officer, detention officer, jailer, probation or
 parole officer, communications officer, dispatcher, emergency
 management coordinator under chapter 29C, or any other law
 enforcement officer certified by the Iowa law enforcement
 academy and employed by a city, county, or state agency.
    (2)  "Peer support group counselor" means a law enforcement
 officer, fire fighter, civilian employee of a law enforcement
 agency or fire department, or a nonemployee counselor who
 has been designated as a peer support group counselor by a
 sheriff, police chief, fire chief, or department head of a
 law enforcement agency, fire department, or emergency medical
 services agency and who has received training to provide
 emotional and moral support and counseling to an officer who
 needs those services as a result of an incident in which the
 officer was involved while acting in the officer's official
 capacity.


                                                             
                               PAM JOCHUM
                               President of the Senate


                                                             
                               KRAIG PAULSEN
                               Speaker of the House
    I hereby certify that this bill originated in the Senate and
 is known as Senate File 267, Eighty=sixth General Assembly.


                                                             
                               MICHAEL E. MARSHALL
                               Secretary of the Senate
 Approved                , 2015


                                                             
                               TERRY E. BRANSTAD
                               Governor

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