Search

Categories

Total Results

No Record Found

View All Results
DONATE

fees

A&A: Agency charging $2k for redacting electronic records

FAC April 12, 2012

Q: I received a cost breakdown from a California State Agency, which proposes to charge me more than $2,000 to produce what is essentially a list of names. Much of the cost involves redaction. Initially, the cost was presented to me as ”programming costs,” which are allowed for electronic records, but their cost breakdown covers mostly staff time for a massive redaction effort.  Are they abiding by the Public Records Act? A: The Public Records

Read More »

A&A: Agency’s proposed fees for producing electronic records–$2,000!

FAC March 28, 2012

Q: I received a cost breakdown from a California state agency, which proposes to charge me more than $2,000 to produce what is essentially a list of names. Much of the cost involves redaction. Initially, the cost was presented to me as “programming costs,” which are allowed for electronic records, but their cost breakdown covers mostly staff time for a massive redaction effort. Could I  get advice on whether they are abiding by the Public

Read More »

A&A: Same fees assessed for electronic data as photocopies

FAC March 23, 2012

Q: I’m trying to obtain the school district’s 2010 spending records in digital form, but the USD’s General Counsel is asking for 25 cents per page to send the digital information to us. They’ve explained that this is based on the usual fee rate for pages that are photocopied, but as we aren’t asking for any physical copies this rate seems inappropriate. I’ve looked at California’s FOI laws and I don’t think the 25 cents

Read More »

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

FAC March 4, 2012

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

Read More »

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

FAC October 21, 2011

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

Read More »