House Bill 328 Summary

• Public agencies and independent public bodies may require written requests for public records that include the requester's name, mailing address, email address, and telephone number, with requests and delivery permitted via electronic mail.

• No fees shall be charged for the first two hours of labor or the first 100 pages of paper records; fees for additional labor and copying may only be charged under specific circumstances and must be itemized at the lowest paid administrative staff or attorney hourly rate.

• Agencies may not charge fees when a requester demonstrates the examination and copying will significantly contribute to public understanding of government operations or when the requester lacks sufficient financial resources to pay.

• Agencies may aggregate multiple related requests from the same requester made within a reasonable time period if they reasonably believe the requester is intentionally segregating requests to avoid fees, but may not aggregate unrelated requests.

• Custodians may require advance payment of authorized fees, with excess payments returned to requesters; the bill applies retroactively to all current, ongoing, and future public records requests and declares an emergency effective date.