OAR 291-037-0035: Fees and Payment for Public Records

(1) The department’s fees for processing and making available nonexempt records include, but is not limited to, employee time to search, gather, review, and copy the records. The department fee schedule is set out below: (a) Clerical work at $25.00 per hour; (b) Managerial work at $40.00 per hour; (c) Professional work at $75.00 per hour; (d) Copies at current state printing and distribution price list; (e) Media costs set in statewide price agreement; (f) Postage at current postal rates; (g) Actual additional costs for services for which no fee has been established (for example, computer time; travel, shipping, or communication costs; fees to retrieve records from archives; etc.) shall be determined by the department; and (h) Department of Justice and other applicable legal fees shall be assessed at the actual hourly rate charged for public records related services (such as, reviewing public records, redacting material from the records, or segregating the records into exempt and nonexempt records). Fees are subject to statutory limitations described in ORS 192.440. (2) If the department can process a request for records in less than 30 minutes of employee time, the department will not charge to search, gather, and review the records. (a) Copy and media costs will be assessed as appropriate. (b) For audio recordings, a flat rate of $5.00 plus the cost of the media will be charged when it takes less than 30 minutes of employee time to search, gather, copy, and review the records. Actual time and fees for media will be charged if over 30 minutes of employee time to search, gather, copy, and review records. (c) Only one 30-minute fee waiver will be granted to a requester who files fragmented or multiple small requests within a 60-day period that in the aggregate requires more than 30 minutes of employee time to process. (3) Except as noted below, no inspection or duplication of a record is authorized until payment has been received. (a) Payments must be received in the form of a money order, cashier's check, or business check made payable to the Oregon Department of Corrections. (b) An adult in custody must submit a signed Withdrawal of Funds form (CD 28D) and have sufficient funds on their trust account at the time they make a public records request. The Withdrawal of Funds form (CD 28D) must be successfully processed and the funds received prior to the release of records. (4) Fees for inspection or duplication by other government agencies or contractors responsible for the treatment of adults in custody or adults on supervision may be waived as outlined in 291-037-0040. (5) The fee schedule for copies of adult in custody health records is established in OAR 291-124. (6) The fee schedule for copies of adult in custody trust records is established in OAR 291-158.