OAR 845-004-0020: Public Records and Miscellaneous Fees

(1) Public Records Requests. The Commission charges the fees described in sections (2) through (7) of this rule for retrieving, copying and making records available in response to public records requests. Public records requests must be in writing. (2) Reimbursement of Commission staff time. An hourly rate of $25.00 will be assessed for any Commission staff time greater than 15 minutes spent locating records, reviewing records to delete exempt material, supervising the inspection of records, copying records, reproducing records onto a disk or other electronic format, certifying records, and mailing records. This charge is in addition to the charges for the copies of the documents. The Commission may charge for the cost of searching for records regardless of whether the Commission was able to locate the requested record. (3) Hard copy Records. The fee schedule listed below is reasonably calculated to reimburse the Commission for the actual costs of providing hard copies of records. (a) Hard copy (black and white, letter size): $0.25 per page. Costs for other sized or color copies will be the Commission’s actual cost. (b) Fax charges: $0.50 (per page up to a maximum of 20 pages). If the fax is over 20 pages the Commission will provide the records in another appropriate format or manner such as a disk or hard copies. (c) Archive Retrieval: actual cost. (d) Whenever feasible the Commission will provide double-sided copies of a record request. Each side of a double-sided copy will constitute one page. (4) Electronic Records. (a) Copies of requested electronic records may be provided in the format or manner maintained by the Commission. Some records maintained by the Commission are in hard copy format only and therefore not all records are available in electronic form. The Commission will perform all downloading, reproducing, formatting and manipulating of records. Records that are placed on a CD-ROM disk, including recorded proceedings, will incur a fee of $5.00 per disk. The Commission does not provide transcription service. In order to protect the integrity of the Commission’s records, the records requestor may not provide the disk or any other medium for the electronic records storage. The reimbursement of staff time to provide records in electronic form will be charged in accordance with section (2) of this rule. (b) Records that are sent via electronic mail will not be charged a fee for transmission up to a file size of 10 MB. If the file size is over 10 MB the Commission will provide the records in another appropriate format or manner such as a disk or hard copies. (5) Certification of Copies of Records. Certification of both hard and electronic copies of records may be provided upon request. The Commission will only certify that on the date copied the copy was a true and correct copy of the original record. The Commission cannot certify as to any subsequent changes or manipulation of the record. (6) Reasonable costs associated with responding to a request to review or copy a record not specifically addressed by this rule may be assessed, including but not limited to the actual costs for the Commission to have a person make copies of the records. (7) The Commission may not include in a fee charged under sections (2) through (6) of this rule the cost of time spent by an attorney for the public body in determining the application of the provisions of ORS 192.410 to 192.505. (8) Collection of Fees. (a) Method. Payment may be made in the form of cash, check, or money order. Make checks payable to “Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission”. Payments may be made in person at: OLCC, 9079 SE McLoughlin Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97222-7355. Payments may also be mailed to: OLCC, PO Box 22297, Milwaukie, Oregon 97269-2297. (b) Receipts. A receipt may be given, upon request, for charges incurred. (c) Prepayment and Notification of Copy Costs. (A) If a fee charged under sections (2) through (6) of this rule is estimated to be greater than $25.00, the Commission must provide the requestor with a written notification of the estimated amount of the fee. The Commission shall not process the public records request until it receives confirmation from the requestor that the requestor wants the Commission to proceed with making the public record available. (B) Depending on the volume of the records requested, the difficulty in determining whether any of the records are exempt from disclosure, and the necessity of consulting legal counsel, the Commission may preliminarily estimate the charges for responding to a record request and require prepayment of the estimated charges. If the actual charges are less than the prepayment, any overpayment will be refunded to the requestor. (d) Waiver of Fees. (A) Ordinarily there will be no waiver of fees. (B) The Commission will not charge a fee if a record can be provided at nominal expense. Nominal expense means costing less than $5.00, including the labor required to fulfill the request. (C) The Commission may furnish copies without charge or at a substantially reduced fee if the Commission determines that the waiver or reduction of fees is in the public interest because making the record available primarily benefits the general public. Examples include when the material requested is currently being distributed as part of the public participation process such as a news release or public notice, or the material requested has been distributed through mass mailing and is readily available to the Commission at the time of the request. (D) The Commission considers the following factors in determining whether to waive or reduce fees pursuant to subsection (8)(d)(C) of this rule: (i) Any financial hardship on the Commission; (ii) The extent of time, expense and interference with the Commission’s regular business; (iii) The volume of the records requested; or (iv) The necessity to segregate exempt from non-exempt materials. (9) Miscellaneous Distilled Spirits Fees: (a) Representatives of distilled spirits' suppliers may purchase monthly reports of sales and inventory by code number (brand) by retail outlet. The fee is $20.00 for preparation of the report, plus $2.00 for each code included in the report. The Commission will bill representatives monthly, with payment due within 30 days. (b) The Commission will charge the supplier or carrier, according to the responsibility for damage, a fee for recouping merchandise. The Commission sets this fee based on an annual review of the Commission's labor and materials cost. (c) The Commission's charge on special accounts that do not pay normal markup on liquor purchases is the landed cost plus a 5% handling fee per case. The handling fee for split cases will be 15% of the landed cost of each bottle ordered.