25.0025.01000
Sixty-ninth
Legislative Assembly
of North Dakota
Introduced by
Representatives Kasper, Henderson, Kempenich, S. Olson, D. Ruby
Senators Magrum, Paulson
A BILL for an Act to amend and reenact subsection 2 of section 44-04-18 of the North Dakota
Century Code, relating to fees assessed for open records requests.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF NORTH DAKOTA:
SECTION 1. AMENDMENT. Subsection 2 of section 44-04-18 of the North Dakota Century
Code is amended and reenacted as follows:
2.Upon request for a copy of specific public records, any entity subject to subsection 1
shall furnish the requester one copy of the public records requested. An in accordance
with the following:
a.An initial request need not be made in person or in writing, and the copy must be
mailed upon request.
b.A public entity may require written clarification of the request to determine what
records are being requested, but may not ask for the motive or reason for
requesting the records or for the identity of the person requesting public records.
c.A public entity may charge up to twenty-five cents per impression of a paper
copy. As used in this section, "paper copy" means a one-sided or two-sided
duplicated copy of a size not more than eight and one-half by fourteen inches
[19.05 by 35.56 centimeters]. For any copy of a record that is not a paper copy as
defined in this section, the public entity may charge a reasonable fee for making
the copy. As used in this section, "reasonable fee" means the actual cost to the
public entity of making the copy, including labor, materials, and equipment.
d.The entity may charge for the actual cost of postage to mail a copy of a record.
An entity may require payment before locating, redacting, making, or mailing the
copy.
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HOUSE BILL NO. 1306
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23 Sixty-ninth
Legislative Assembly
e.The public entity may withhold records pursuant to a request until such time as a
requester provides payment for any outstanding balance for prior requests.
f.An entity may impose a fee not exceeding twenty-five dollars per hour per
request, excluding the initial hour, for locating records, including electronic
records, if locating the records requires more than one hour. An entity may
impose a fee not exceeding twenty-five dollars per hour per request, excluding
the initial hour, for excising confidential or closed material under section
44-04-18.10 from the records, including electronic records. If a public entity
receives five or more requests from the same requester within seven days, the
public entity may treat the requests as one request in computing the time it takes
to locate and excise the records.
g.Notwithstanding subdivision f, an entity shall furnish one request per requester
per year free of charge for locating records and excising confidential or closed
material from the records, if:
(1)Production of the request does not exceed forty hours; and
(2)The requester is a citizen of the state.
h.If the entity is not authorized to use the fees to cover the cost of providing or
mailing the copy, or both, or if a copy machine is not readily available, the entity
may make arrangements for the copy to be provided or mailed, or both, by
another entity, public or private, and the requester shall pay the fee to that other
entity.
i.This subsection does not apply to copies of public records for which a different
fee is specifically provided by law.
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