North Dakota 2025-2026 Regular Session

North Dakota House Bill HB1306 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	25.0025.01000
2	2	Sixty-ninth
3	3	Legislative Assembly
4	4	of North Dakota
5	5	Introduced by
6	6	Representatives Kasper, Henderson, Kempenich, S. Olson, D. Ruby
7	7	Senators Magrum, Paulson
8	8	A BILL for an Act to amend and reenact subsection 2 of section 44-04-18 of the North Dakota
9	9	Century Code, relating to fees assessed for open records requests.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF NORTH DAKOTA:
11	11	SECTION 1. AMENDMENT. Subsection 2 of section 44-04-18 of the North Dakota Century
12	12	Code is amended and reenacted as follows:
13	13	2.Upon request for a copy of specific public records, any entity subject to subsection 1
14	14	shall furnish the requester one copy of the public records requested. An in accordance
15	15	with the following:
16	16	a.An initial request need not be made in person or in writing, and the copy must be
17	17	mailed upon request.
18	18	b.A public entity may require written clarification of the request to determine what
19	19	records are being requested, but may not ask for the motive or reason for
20	20	requesting the records or for the identity of the person requesting public records.
21	21	c.A public entity may charge up to twenty-five cents per impression of a paper
22	22	copy. As used in this section, "paper copy" means a one-sided or two-sided
23	23	duplicated copy of a size not more than eight and one-half by fourteen inches
24	24	[19.05 by 35.56 centimeters]. For any copy of a record that is not a paper copy as
25	25	defined in this section, the public entity may charge a reasonable fee for making
26	26	the copy. As used in this section, "reasonable fee" means the actual cost to the
27	27	public entity of making the copy, including labor, materials, and equipment.
28	28	d.The entity may charge for the actual cost of postage to mail a copy of a record.
29	29	An entity may require payment before locating, redacting, making, or mailing the
30	30	copy.
31	31	Page No. 1 25.0025.01000
32	32	HOUSE BILL NO. 1306
33	33
34	34	1
35	35	2
36	36	3
37	37	4
38	38	5
39	39	6
40	40	7
41	41	8
42	42	9
43	43	10
44	44	11
45	45	12
46	46	13
47	47	14
48	48	15
49	49	16
50	50	17
51	51	18
52	52	19
53	53	20
54	54	21
55	55	22
56	56	23 Sixty-ninth
57	57	Legislative Assembly
58	58	e.The public entity may withhold records pursuant to a request until such time as a
59	59	requester provides payment for any outstanding balance for prior requests.
60	60	f.An entity may impose a fee not exceeding twenty-five dollars per hour per
61	61	request, excluding the initial hour, for locating records, including electronic
62	62	records, if locating the records requires more than one hour. An entity may
63	63	impose a fee not exceeding twenty-five dollars per hour per request, excluding
64	64	the initial hour, for excising confidential or closed material under section
65	65	44-04-18.10 from the records, including electronic records. If a public entity
66	66	receives five or more requests from the same requester within seven days, the
67	67	public entity may treat the requests as one request in computing the time it takes
68	68	to locate and excise the records.
69	69	g.Notwithstanding subdivision f, an entity shall furnish one request per requester
70	70	per year free of charge for locating records and excising confidential or closed
71	71	material from the records, if:
72	72	(1)Production of the request does not exceed forty hours; and
73	73	(2)The requester is a citizen of the state.
74	74	h.If the entity is not authorized to use the fees to cover the cost of providing or
75	75	mailing the copy, or both, or if a copy machine is not readily available, the entity
76	76	may make arrangements for the copy to be provided or mailed, or both, by
77	77	another entity, public or private, and the requester shall pay the fee to that other
78	78	entity.
79	79	i.This subsection does not apply to copies of public records for which a different
80	80	fee is specifically provided by law.
81	81	Page No. 2 25.0025.01000
82	82	1
83	83	2
84	84	3
85	85	4
86	86	5
87	87	6
88	88	7
89	89	8
90	90	9
91	91	10
92	92	11
93	93	12
94	94	13
95	95	14
96	96	15
97	97	16
98	98	17
99	99	18
100	100	19
101	101	20
102	102	21
103	103	22
104	104	23