House passes $20 hourly fee for public records searches

  • Print

The Indiana House on Thursday passed a measure that would bill journalists and the public a $20-per-hour rate for records requests under open government laws if the requests take more than two hours to complete.

The measure by Republican Rep. Kathy Richardson of Noblesville was approved on a 62-25 vote. It now goes to the Senate.

Richardson said public records requests can be a burdensome annoyance that take up an excessive amount of government workers’ time.

Democrats including Rep. Matt Pierce of Bloomington blasted the proposal as “not a good policy, not a good principle.” He said government employees are paid by taxpayers who should not have to pay for documents.

Please enable JavaScript to view this content.

{{ articles_remaining }}
Free {{ article_text }} Remaining
{{ articles_remaining }}
Free {{ article_text }} Remaining Article limit resets on
{{ count_down }}