HB 719 Summary

• Caps reproduction costs for government records at 25 cents per page (except maps, photographs, GIS data, audio recordings, and digital/electronic records which follow agency rules).

• Eliminates reproduction charges when records are provided to requesters in electronic format, unless the agency must manually convert or fax non-electronic records.

• Limits fees for searching records to $5 per 15 minutes and for review/segregation to $7.50 per 15 minutes.

• Allows agencies to withhold inter-agency and intra-agency deliberative pre-decisional records until a final decision is made or deliberation is abandoned (with a 3-year rebuttable presumption of abandonment).

• Provides for waiver of fees when disclosure serves the public interest by contributing significantly to understanding government operations and is not primarily for the requester's commercial benefit; appropriates funds for two permanent positions in the Office of Information Practices.