Board Policy Regarding the Public Information Act
State of Texas Public Information Act
General Information on the Public Information Act
The Board will follow the rules (wherever applicable) that have been provided by the Office of the Attorney General for calculating charges for copies of public information.
A party requesting copies of public information will not always be aware of the amount of time and cost that may be involved in complying with a particular request. Where a particular request will involve considerable time and resources to process, it is advisable that governmental bodies inform requestors of the anticipated completion date and potential resulting charges. When a governmental body charges for public information a detailed statement of the charges should be made to the requestor.
A governmental body that cannot produce the public information for inspection and/or duplication within 10 calendar days after the date the information is requested, shall certify to that fact in writing, and set a date and hour within a reasonable time when the information will be available.
A deposit or bond may be required in the amount of the estimated charges if such charges exceed $100.
DEFINITIONS:
Standard-size copy: A printed impression on one side of a piece of paper that measures up to 8 1/2" x 14". Each side of a piece of paper on which an impression is made is a single copy. A piece of paper that is printed on both sides is counted as two copies.
Nonstandard-size copy: Microfiche, microfilm, diskettes, magnetic tapes, CD-Rom and nonstandard-size paper.
Readily available information: Information that already exists in printed form or information that is stored electronically and is ready to be printed or copied without requiring any programming, or information that already exists on microfiche or microfilm.
CHARGES FOR PROVIDING COPIES OF PUBLIC INFORMATION:
Copy Charge:
Standard-size copy - $ .10 per page
Nonstandard-size copy
Diskette - $1.00 per disk
Compact Disk - $1.00 per CD
Oversize Paper Copy - $ .50 per page
Personnel Charge:
Charge for personnel costs in processing a request for public information is $15.00 an hour. Where applicable, the personnel charge may include the actual time to locate, compile, and reproduce the requested information. When confidential information is mixed with public information in the same page, personnel time may be recovered for time spent to obliterate, blackout, or otherwise obscure confidential information in order to release the public information.
Do not charge a personnel charge when complying with requests that are for 50 or fewer pages of readily available information.
Overhead Charge:
In response to a request for information that is in excess of 50 pages of readily available information the charges should include direct and indirect costs, in addition to the personnel charge. This overhead charge would cover such costs as depreciation of capital assets, rental of machinery, utilities and administrative overhead.
The overhead charge shall be computed at 20% of any charge made to cover personnel costs associated with a particular request. For example, if one hour of personnel time is used to respond to a particular request, the personnel charge would be $15.00 and the overhead charge would be $3.00.
Charges for lists, diskettes and CDs:
Our agency will charge what the agency must pay for these media methods.
Miscellaneous:
Requestor will be required to pay for all postage and shipping charges (if applicable) at the actual cost to the agency.
Do not charge for any request that is for standard-size copies of less than 5 pages.
Do not charge a registered professional engineer for copies of his own file.
Fax charges:
a. Transmitted locally - $ .10 per page
b. Transmitted long distance but within the same area code - $ .50 per page
c. Transmitted long distance outside of area code - $1.00 per page
Examples of Charges:
1. Readily available information for 6 to 50 pages is:
$ .10 per page x the number of pages
+ Postage/shipping cost
$ Total Charge
2. Readily available information for more than 50 pages is:
$ .10 per page x the number of pages
+ Personnel charge ($15 per hour, pro-rated)
+ Overhead charge (20% of personnel charge)
+ Postage/shipping cost
$ Total Charge