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A&A: Fees for “compiling” digital documents at UC?

Q: I am trying to obtain public records at my university which are stored in electronic format. I have been told that I will be charged $.20 per page for the electronic record and, upon inquiring about this fee have been referred to the following policy by the California State University: Public Records Act? The records that I am trying to obtain are in ready-made format and used for analysis by the CSU on a

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A&A: Required to pay research fee for building permit search

Q: I requested access to a building permit from 1973.  Our building department told me I  had to pay $55 for building research fee to cover ”staff time.” Copies, if asked for, are an additional 25 cents per page, but I guess copying fee of that amount is borderline legitimate. They have been charging this since at least 1995. I personally know at least 25 people who paid that fee over the years. I wonder

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A&A: Is it legal to charge fees for viewing a transcript?

Q: My organization is being charged a fee to view parole hearing transcripts–not copy; simply view. We are also told we will be charged to view the complete parole board’s response to a public hearing. We would like an opinion on the legality of this policy A: It sounds like you know that under the Public Records Act, “[p]ublic records are open to inspection at all times during the office hours of the state or

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