House Study Bill 503 - Introduced HOUSE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT BILL BY CHAIRPERSON KAUFMANN) A BILL FOR An Act concerning the determination of fees charged for 1 examining and copying public records. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 5297YC (2) 88 ec/rh
H.F. _____ Section 1. Section 22.3, subsection 2, Code 2020, is amended 1 to read as follows: 2 2. All expenses of the examination and copying shall be 3 paid by the person desiring to examine or copy. The lawful 4 custodian may charge a reasonable fee for the services of 5 the lawful custodian or the custodian’s authorized designee 6 in supervising the examination and copying of the records. 7 If copy equipment is available at the office of the lawful 8 custodian of any public records, the lawful custodian shall 9 provide any person a reasonable number of copies of any public 10 record in the custody of the office upon the payment of a 11 fee. The fee for the copying service as determined by the 12 lawful custodian shall not exceed the actual cost of providing 13 the service. Actual costs shall include only those expenses 14 directly attributable to supervising the examination of and 15 making and providing copies of public records. Actual costs 16 shall not include charges for legal services for the redaction 17 or review of public records and ordinary expenses or costs such 18 as employment benefits, depreciation, maintenance, electricity, 19 or insurance associated with the administration of the office 20 of the lawful custodian. 21 EXPLANATION 22 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 23 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 24 This bill provides that the fees charged for supervising 25 the examination of and copying public records by the lawful 26 custodian shall not include charges for legal services for the 27 redaction or review of the public records. 28 -1- LSB 5297YC (2) 88 ec/rh 1/ 1