Gov. Rick Scott Establishes New Fees for Public Records

Gov. Rick Scott has issued an executive order re-establishing the Office of Open Government in an effort to recover costs stemming from public records requests.

Those seeking public records will be required to pay for materials and the labor of researching documents and reviewing them for any information exempt from the public record laws.

Here are some of the new rules and charges for public records requests:

- A special service charge will be warranted if the nature or volume of the public records requested to be inspected or copied requires more than 30 minutes of agency resources.

- If multiple agency divisions are involved, the special service charge will be based on the aggregate amount of time expended by all personnel and information technology resources, if applicable.

- The charge for clerical or supervisory resources will be no greater than the hourly rate, including benefits, of the lowest paid personnel capable of providing such services.

- In those cases where legal review is necessary, the charge will be at the lowest attorney rate (salary and benefits) in the Office of General Counsel.

One-sided copies of documents will cost $0.15, for double-sided copies the charge will be $0.20 per page, and information that comes on CD-ROMs or DVDs will cost $0.85 and $1.15, respectively.