OAR 943-003-0010: Fees for Inspection or Copies of Public Records and Oregon Health Authority Publications; Other Services

(1) The Authority may charge a fee reasonably calculated to reimburse the Authority for the cost of making public records available: (a) Costs include but are not limited to: (A) The services and supplies used in making the records available; (B) The time spent locating the requested records, reviewing the records, and redacting, or separating material exempt from disclosure; (C) Supervising a person's inspection of original documents; (D) Copying records; (E) Certifying copies of records; (F) Summarizing, compiling, or organizing the public records to meet the person's request; (G) Searching for and reviewing records even if the records subsequently are determined to be exempt from disclosure; (H) Postal and freight charges for shipping the copies of the public records, sent first class or bulk rate based on weight; (I) Indirect costs or third party charges associated with copying and preparing the public records; and (J) Costs associated with electronic retrieval of records. (b) When a Department of Justice review of the records is requested by the Authority, the Authority may charge a fee equal to the Attorney General's charge for the time spent by the attorney reviewing the public records, redacting material from the records, and segregating the public records into exempt and nonexempt records. A fee will not be charged for the cost of time spent by an attorney in determining the application of the provisions of ORS 192.410 to 192.505; (c) Staff time shall be calculated based on the hourly rate of pay and fringe benefits for the position of the person performing the work; (d) The cost for publications shall be based on the actual costs of development, printing, and distribution, as determined by the Authority; (e) The cost for a public records request requiring the Authority to access the State's mainframe computer system, may include but not be limited to costs for computer usage time, data transfer costs, disk work space costs, programming, and fixed portion costs for printing and tape drive usage. (2) The Authority shall establish a list of fees used to charge requestors for the costs of preparing and making available public records for the following: (a) Photocopies; (b) Facsimile copies. The Authority may limit the transmission to thirty pages; (c) Electronic copies, diskettes, DVDs, and other electronically generated materials. The Authority shall determine what electronic media for reproduction of computer records shall be used and whether the electronic media is to be provided by the Authority or the requestor; (d) Audio or video cassettes; (e) Publications. (3) The Authority shall review the list of fees established in policy from time to time in order to assure that the fees reflect current Authority costs. (4) No additional fee shall be charged for providing records or documents in an alternative format when required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. (5) The Authority shall notify requestors of the estimated fees for making the public records available for inspection or for providing copies to the requestor. If the estimated fees exceed $25, the Authority shall provide written notice and will not act further to respond to the request until the requestor notifies the Authority, in writing, to proceed with making the records available: (a) The Authority may require that all or a portion of the estimated fees be paid before the Authority may proceed with making the record available; (b) The Authority may require that actual costs of making the record available be paid before the record is made available for inspection or copies provided. (6) The Director or designee may reduce or waive fees when a determination is made that the waiver or reduction of fees is in the public interest because making the records available primarily benefits the general public. Factors that may be taken into account in making such a determination include, but are not limited to: (a) The overall costs to be incurred by the Authority is negligible; or (b) Supplying the requested records or documents is within the normal scope of Authority activity; or (c) Requiring payment would cause extreme or undue financial hardship upon the requestor; or (d) Discovery requests made as part of pending administrative, judicial, or arbitration proceedings. (7) If the Authority denies an initial verbal request for waiver or reduction of fees, the requestor may submit a written request. If the Authority subsequently denies the written request for a waiver or reduction of fees, the requestor may petition the Attorney General for a review of the denial pursuant to the provisions of ORS 192.440(6) and 192.450.