High fees for records are common across Oregon

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — It took three years for the Mail Tribune newspaper in Medford to win a court order telling the local sheriff to release copies of concealed-weapons permits.

The battle still wasn’t over. Then-Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters demanded at least $18,000 in fees to produce the records — most of it to pay lawyers to black out personal information.

In the 10th annual Sunshine Week, highlighting the accountability of government through access to public records, news organizations in Oregon report that government bodies increasingly charge high fees, despite requests to waive them in the public interest.

“It’s an easy way, if you are an agency and you don’t want to provide documents, to say, ‘Sure, we’ll do it, but it will cost you $10,000,’ and a lot of people are not able to do that,” said Katie Townsend, director of litigation at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Oregon’s public-records law gives government bodies the power to recoup their costs for pulling together, copying and redacting public records of confidential information. If the public body wants to hire a lawyer to review the redactions, the costs quickly mount up.

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said she is organizing a task force to propose updates to the public-records law. “I am concerned that it often takes too long and costs too much to obtain records that shine light on the workings of government,” her office said.

The Mail Tribune’s request came after a teacher sued for the right to bring a concealed handgun to class. The newspaper wanted to find out how many teachers had such permits.

High fees regularly make news organizations think hard about spending the money.

The Oregonian asked the Oregon Department of Energy for databases on business energy tax credits and loans granted to solar energy projects from Jan. 1, 2003, through May 28, 2013. The department responded that request would cost $9,830 for 160 hours of staff time and 10 hours of legal review. The newspaper scaled back its request to a database costing about $500.

“The Oregon Department of Energy seems to have perfected the art of constructive denial,” said reporter Ted Sickinger. “Seemingly straightforward keyword searches of their email database, which they’ve outsourced to a third party to manage, result in cost estimates of hundreds or even thousands of dollars for IT and staff review time.”

About 1½ years ago, the department started charging for public records that take more than 30 minutes to prepare, Energy spokeswoman Rachel Wray said. The agency gets no general funds and depends on fees for revenues. Applications for tax credits contain confidential information, such as financial statements, sales figures, customer lists and marketing strategies, which must be redacted, she said.

Last summer, several news organizations wanted to know more about a high school shooting in Troutdale, where freshman Jared Michael Padgett killed a student and wounded a teacher before killing himself. KGW-TV reporter Kyle Iboshi asked for all the police records and was told it would cost at least $12,000. His request for a fee waiver was denied, but he was told that if he could narrow the request the cost would be less. He is considering his options.

“You cast a wide net in hopes there will be something of value in there,” he said. “You don’t know what you are going to get until you actually have access.”

Troutdale police Lt. Joel Wendland said that wide net is the problem. The reports could run 2,500 to 5,000 pages, each of which has to be copied and examined to remove the names of juveniles, Social Security numbers, and other confidential information, he said. The PDF files can’t be searched by keywords, the department has only two support staff, and they have other duties that keep them busy, Wendland said. Failure to do it right has meant lawsuits, he said.

Sometimes a fee waiver is granted. Last fall, The Register-Guard newspaper in Eugene asked the University of Oregon for records related to a nonprofit group trying to bring a major track meet to campus. The university said it would cost $2,163.58 to produce them.

After the newspaper complained, interim University President Scott Coltrane waived the fee, but much of the information was blacked out, said Christian Wihtol, a senior editor at the newspaper.

Dave Hubin, senior assistant to the president of the university, said they waive all fees on about 80 percent of the estimated 370 public records requests they get annually, and all redactions are made following the state attorney general’s public records manual.

“President Coltrane has emphasized that our default position should be to make as much public as quickly, and at as little cost, as possible,” he said.