Question
In your CPRA Primer (linked from your web page), it says that agencies may charge for the “direct costs” of copying a document but not for anything else. Is this in statute somewhere? I have tried to find it with no success.
Answer
The statute is California Government Code section 6253(b). A court has held that “direct cost” generally does not include search and retrieval time. North County Parents Organization v. Dep’t of Education, 23 Cal. App. 4th 144, 146 (1994). “Direct cost” does include maintenance costs and the salary of the clerk for time spent copying (essentially, what a copy shop would charge — usually 10-25 cents per page, except for unusual copies).
Asked & Answered posts should not be relied on as legal advice, and FAC makes no guarantees about their completeness or accuracy. All posts carry a date of publication that readers should take note of in assessing their usefulness, given that laws and interpretations of them may change over time. Posts predating Jan. 1, 2023, that discuss the California Public Records Act may contain statute numbers no longer in use. Please see this page for a table showing how the California Public Records Act has been renumbered.