Shasta County rescinds ordinance charging people to receive public records
Shasta County residents and others will no longer have to pay to receive county government records, after the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to rescind an ordinance that charged residents $25 an hour to research and locate documents.
The California First Amendment Coalition and ACLU of Northern California had sent the county a letter last year demanding the ordinance be withdrawn because it violated state law.
The groups said public agencies are only allowed to charge for the direct cost of copying documents. The California Supreme Court confirmed in 2020 that fees for ancillary costs like searching for and redacting records create an illegal financial barrier to transparency and accountability in government, the two groups said in a news release.
Officials with the ACLU and First Amendment Coalition said the fees charged sometimes ran into the thousands of dollars and prohibited many from obtaining documents because of the cost.
“The ACLU firmly believes that public records should not be held for ransom and only available to the wealthy. We are glad that the board heeded our demand to remove this barrier to transparency,” said Chessie Thacher, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Northern California.
Shasta is the fifth county in the state to repeal its fee ordinance, which was approved by the board in 2021. Siskiyou County last year repealed a similar ordinance that charged residents $50 an hour to research, locate and redact documents requested.
The Record Searchlight and Shasta Scout, an online news outlet, were among those billed thousands of dollars for records.
The Record Searchlight was billed $1,200 under the ordinance to fulfill a request for records showing who the county had charged for requests under the ordinance.
The ACLU was sent a $3,950 bill for records regarding the county’s implementation of California’s Racial Justice Act. Shasta Scout was told it would cost an estimated $4,750 to produce an official’s emails, even though the request had been limited to emails containing just six keywords during a six month period, according to a news release from the coalition and ACLU.
The board voted 5-0 on Tuesday to rescind the ordinance.
“We welcome the board’s vote to restore the people’s access to public records. Democracy depends on freedom of information, but information is not free when only the rich can afford it,” said David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition.
Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta County residents no longer must pay for public records research
