Student media outlets could soon be exempted from public records fees

The LSU Student Union sits in central campus on Monday, March 20, 2023, on Highland Road in Baton Rouge, La.

The Louisiana Senate passed a bill Thursday that would prohibit colleges and universities from charging their student media outlets for public records. 

House Bill 113 by Rep. Dixon McMakin, R-Baton Rouge, unanimously passed the Senate and will next go to the governor for signature or veto. 

Most universities already grant fee waivers to their affiliated student media outlets, if they charge for records at all. 

The notable exception is LSU. In 2022, the university rescinded an agreement that had been in place for almost two decades between its administration and student media, which are funded by student fees, to waive fees for public records. At the time, Johanna Posada, LSU’s associate general counsel, cited the passage of a new law that made it clear public entities could charge for electronic copies of records. 

Under Louisiana’s public records laws, custodians can only charge for the cost of producing records, such as paper and ink or a flash drive, but not the labor involved to fulfill the request.  

While records custodians could already lawfully charge for electronic copies of records, House Bill 473 by then Rep. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, codified that ability. 

The bill was never meant to add a financial burden to small or student-run media outlets, Duplessis said. 

“I believe Rep. McMakin’s bill makes total sense, and I fully support it,” Duplessis said in an interview. “Student media outlets shouldn’t be charged by their universities.”

McMakin has argued it doesn’t make sense for universities to require student-run outlets to transfer the school money allocated to the outlet from student fees. 

The passage of the bill marks yet another legislative victory for Louisiana journalists and watchdogs who rely on access to public records. It follows a series of decisions that killed or significantly watered down bills that aimed to limit access to public records. 

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