FOIA admin fee?

[k8m4]

Hey all, I tried to FOIA some pretty standard material from Univ. of Oregon and they sent me back a letter saying that they would charge me for the manpower it took to put the materials together. I've done like 50 FOIAs with other public universities in the last year and no one has ever charged me an administrative fee to compile the information.

I could understand the cost of copying and mailing, but this is a separate charge from that. From the school's reply:

The office also charges for the actual cost of making public records available. The charge includes, but is not limited to, staff costs for locating, gathering, summarizing, compiling, reviewing, tailoring or redacting the public records to respond to a request. The charge may also include the cost of time spent by an attorney in reviewing the public records, redacting material from the public records, or segregating the public records into exempt and nonexempt records.​

Has anyone else ever run into this situation? How did you respond? TIA.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

According to this, they can:

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=185830

Check page 15.

 

[k8m4]

According to this, they can:

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=185830

Check page 15.

Thanks, definitely helpful. I'd argue that my request falls under the "media representatives" qualification to have this fee waived, so I'm interested to know if any other media outlet had success with that argument.

 

[Matt Stephens]

First off, don't let them charge you for paper/copying. Tell them you'll take electronic copies and if they say they files are too big to email, bring them a USB drive. As for the fees, that's not unheard of. The main thing I'd do first is to keep on them to show you're serious about wanting these records. Often, an institution will threaten fees as a scare tactic to get you to back off before eventually caving or doing it at a much lower rate. Ask them about a fee waiver.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Totally legal. Welcome to big time Division I athletics and get used to it. It's a nice way they've learned to squash investigative reporting. They know newspapers, etc., are too cheap to actually pay the administrative fees. I've been threatened with this type of stuff many times.

Ain't college athletics wonderful. Sure they're all about love of the game, honor, loyalty, blah, blah, blah, bull****. ****in' hypocrites.

 

[JohnHammond]

Ain't college athletics wonderful. Sure they're all about love of the game, honor, loyalty, blah, blah, blah, bull****. ****in' hypocrites.

People sometimes say things they don't really mean.

 

[k8m4]

Sure they're all about love of the game, honor, loyalty, blah, blah, blah, bull****.

Well, no. They're a business with an operating budget, too. That seems to be the hardest thing for our industry to grasp, and it's not like they try very hard to hide this fact.

 

[User 4332]

Every state is a little different in how they handle public records issues. I'm guessing based on your OP that you're not super familiar with Oregon's public records law. I'm not either, although I do a lot of open government work in my part of the country.

My suggestion is to start with the Open Oregon group (Open Oregon - A Freedom of Information Coalition) to get a better understanding of what is allowed in Oregon. In most states where they have that "actual cost" language in the statute, that is not understood to mean staff time but to only include the "actual cost," e.g. paper and ink, for making the copy. Also, many state's offer a no-cost option to "inspect" the record, which should allow you to see it free and bring your own scanner/copier if you need copeis of specific pages.

 

[User 4332]

Well, no. They're a business with an operating budget, too. That seems to be the hardest thing for our industry to grasp, and it's not like they try very hard to hide this fact.

No, they are not. If we cede ground that government is a business, then we will lose the battle on access. It is not in the best interest of any business to be completely transparent. Government, on the other hand, should be transparent so that our democracy can function. At a bare minimum voters need access to information so voters can decide whether or not their democracy is functioning the way they expect.

 

[Alma]

Well, no. They're a business with an operating budget, too. That seems to be the hardest thing for our industry to grasp, and it's not like they try very hard to hide this fact.

Not a business, actually. If it were, it'd pay taxes.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Well, no. They're a business with an operating budget, too. That seems to be the hardest thing for our industry to grasp, and it's not like they try very hard to hide this fact.

If you really believe this, you're full of crap. They're an arm of the government that runs on state and federal tax dollars. As much damn government waste as there is and they want to charge for a few copies on an FOI request is bull****. I think they can spare a few nickels to fulfill an FOI request.

Sometimes the ignorance here is unbelievable.

 

[k8m4]

No, they are not. If we cede ground that government is a business, then we will lose the battle on access. It is not in the best interest of any business to be completely transparent. Government, on the other hand, should be transparent so that our democracy can function. At a bare minimum voters need access to information so voters can decide whether or not their democracy is functioning the way they expect.

How did we get from a university to the government? Anyway, I appreciate your mention of the Open Oregon group. I'll check that out.

 

[User 4332]

How did we get from a university to the government? Anyway, I appreciate your mention of the Open Oregon group. I'll check that out.

I thought we were talking about the University of Oregon. Last I checked that's a public university and public universities are among the largest - if not the largest - government agencies in each state.

 

[JRoyal]

I kinda worry about the fact that a journalist can't see the difference between a public university which receives taxpayer support and a private business.

 

[Ace]

Not only do many charge the fee, one certain large and successful state university we covered hated getting FOIA requests. The SID/assistant vice president of whatever would complain whenever he could and would threaten access.

Also, if you ever asked for any type of consideration or extra access, the first think he would bring up is could we limit the requests.

And it's not because they had anything to hide. They only had so many people in the office and he was worried about their workload.

 

[PaperClip529]

I wonder if there are any SIDs or PIOs lurking on this board, because I would be interested in hearing how many times they've fulfilled a FOIA request only to have nothing published by the requester. I know that there has been a time or two where I've requested the salaries of a few coaches, received the information, been like "Hmmm, that's what I expected," and moved on with my life.

There is a reasonable line when it comes to responding to a FOIA request with a bill. If someone is asking for something as simple as the salaries of your university's coaching staff? That should be free, because I can't imagine the workload is that strenuous. If you're the McKinney police department and Gawker comes knocking? Yes, $79,000 is a liiiiittle excessive, but I have no problem with them demanding some money. A lot of work needs to be done on the behalf of the media outlet.

 

[Ace]

I wonder if there are any SIDs or PIOs lurking on this board, because I would be interested in hearing how many times they've fulfilled a FOIA request only to have nothing published by the requester. I know that there has been a time or two where I've requested the salaries of a few coaches, received the information, been like "Hmmm, that's what I expected," and moved on with my life.

There is a reasonable line when it comes to responding to a FOIA request with a bill. If someone is asking for something as simple as the salaries of your university's coaching staff? That should be free, because I can't imagine the workload is that strenuous. If you're the McKinney police department and Gawker comes knocking? Yes, $79,000 is a liiiiittle excessive, but I have no problem with them demanding some money. A lot of work needs to be done on the behalf of the media outlet.

OTOH, if you request a coach's emails over a certain period, I am convinced they spent a lot of time weeding out anything juicy because of "student confidentiality" and work hard to find a pile of boring emails to send.

 

[k8m4]

I kinda worry about the fact that a journalist can't see the difference between a public university which receives taxpayer support and a private business.

Nah, just enjoying trolling all of you.

 

[Doc Holliday]

How did we get from a university to the government? Anyway, I appreciate your mention of the Open Oregon group. I'll check that out.

God, you're kidding right? Seriously. Are you really that dense?