Editorial from the Idaho Mountain Express
A local citizens’ group has asked the 5th District Court to determine whether the Blaine County School District was right to charge fees totaling nearly $3,200 to produce public records in response to six requests.
Neither the motives of the group, which has been highly critical of the district, nor the actions of the School District are at issue in the lawsuit. Instead, it is about major issues in the Idaho Open Records Law that have gone unresolved for years.
When legislators passed the law, they knew that portions were unclear. They left them that way to get enough votes to get the law passed. A court decision that clarifies the law or makes it apparent that the law needs to be changed would be a great public service.
The large fees and if the School District imposed them legally are the issues the group asked the court to weigh in on.
Idaho law clearly allows public agencies to charge fees to recover labor costs for large or complex requests, or for locating archival information. However, the law says that the fees can’t exceed the actual cost to the agency for meeting the requests. The first 100 pages of information are to be free. The law is murky on how much an agency can charge to provide electronic information.
Fees can be waived if the requester demonstrates that records are likely to contribute significantly to the public understanding of government activities.
The law’s stated intent is to ensure that the public has access to public records. However, the law contains no limit on what agencies can charge.
When are agency fees so high that they defeat the intent of the law and enable the government to hide information? At what point do the fees become punitive and create insurmountable financial hurdles contrary to the public interest?
These are reasonable questions. It would be helpful for government and the public if the court answers them.
Editorial from the Idaho Mountain Express