Opinion ID: 1274318
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Probable cause standards for administrative search warrants.

Text: In Barlow's, the Supreme Court explained that the secretary of labor's entitlement to inspect will not depend on his demonstrating probable cause to believe that conditions in violation of OSHA exist on the premises. Probable cause in the criminal sense is not required. For purposes of an administrative search such as this, probable cause justifying the issuance of a warrant may be based not only on specific evidence of an existing violation but also on a showing that reasonable legislative or administrative standards for conducting an ... inspection are satisfied with respect to a particular [establishment]. Barlow's, 436 U.S. at 320, 98 S.Ct. at 1824, 56 L.Ed.2d at 316 (quoting Camara, 387 U.S. at 538, 87 S.Ct. at 1736, 18 L.Ed.2d at 941). For a period of time after Barlow's, there was some discrepancy over whether the administrative probable cause standard applied to issuance of administrative search warrants based on specific evidence of an existing violation, i.e., OSHA inspections based on employee complaints. The Supreme Court cleared up the discrepancy, holding the standard did apply. See Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U.S. 499, 507, 511-12, 98 S.Ct. 1942, 1949, 1951, 56 L.Ed.2d 486, 496-97, 500 (1978) (administrative probable cause is the standard for obtaining a warrant when probable cause is based on specific evidence, i.e., proof that a fire has occurred); Burkart Randall Div. of Textron, Inc. v. Marshall, 625 F.2d 1313, 1318 n. 6 (7th Cir.1980) (citing cases). Thus, administrative probable cause justifying the issuance of an OSHA inspection warrant may be based either on (1) specific evidence of an existing violation; or (2) a showing that reasonable legislative or administrative standards for conducting an inspection are satisfied with respect to a particular establishment. We apply these same standards to any administrative search warrant authorized under Iowa Code section 808.14. We do so because such warrants must pass constitutional muster under the Fourth Amendment of the Federal Constitution, which is made binding on the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366, 372, 113 S.Ct. 2130, 2135, 124 L.Ed.2d 334, 343 (1993); State v. Brecunier, 564 N.W.2d 365, 367 (Iowa 1997). See U.S. Const. amend. IV (providing that the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause).