1 Tex. Admin. Code § 70.7 - Estimates and Waivers of Public Information Charges
(a) A governmental body is required to
provide a requestor with an itemized statement of estimated charges if charges
for copies of public information will exceed $40, or if a charge in accordance
with §
70.5 of this title (relating to
Access to Information Where Copies Are Not Requested) will exceed $40 for
making public information available for inspection. The itemized statement of
estimated charges is to be provided before copies are made to enable requestors
to make the choices allowed by the Act. A governmental body that fails to
provide the required statement may not collect more than $40. The itemized
statement must be provided free of charge and shall contain the following
information:
(1) The itemized estimated
charges, including any allowable charges for labor, overhead, copies,
etc.;
(2) Whether a less costly or
no-cost way of viewing the information is available;
(3) A statement that the requestor must
respond in writing by mail, in person, by facsimile if the governmental body is
capable of receiving such transmissions, or by electronic mail, if the
governmental body has an electronic mail address;
(4) A statement that the request will be
considered to have been automatically withdrawn by the requestor if a written
response from the requestor is not received within ten business days after the
date the statement was sent, in which the requestor states that the requestor:
(A) Will accept the estimated
charges;
(B) Is modifying the
request in response to the itemized statement; or
(C) Has sent to the Attorney General a
complaint alleging that the requestor has been overcharged for being provided
with a copy of the public information.
(b) If after starting the work, but before
making the copies available, the governmental body determines that the
initially accepted estimated statement will be exceeded by 20% or more, an
updated statement must be sent. If the requestor does not respond to the
updated statement, the request is considered to have been withdrawn by the
requestor.
(c) If the actual
charges exceed $40, the charges may not exceed:
(1) The amount estimated on the updated
statement; or
(2) An amount that
exceeds by more than 20% the amount in the initial statement, if an updated
statement was not sent.
(d) A governmental body that provides a
requestor with the statement mentioned in subsection (a) of this section, may
require a deposit or bond as follows:
(1) The
governmental body has 16 or more full-time employees and the estimated charges
are $100 or more; or
(2) The
governmental body has 15 or fewer full-time employees and the estimated charges
are $50 or more.
(e) If
a request for the inspection of paper records will qualify for a deposit or a
bond as detailed in subsection (d) of this section, a governmental body may
request:
(1) A bond for the entire estimated
amount; or
(2) A deposit not to
exceed 50 percent of the entire estimated amount.
(f) A governmental body may require payment
of overdue and unpaid balances before preparing a copy in response to a new
request if:
(1) The governmental body
provided, and the requestor accepted, the required itemized statements for
previous requests that remain unpaid; and
(2) The aggregated unpaid amount exceeds
$100.
(g) A governmental
body may not seek payment of said unpaid amounts through any other
means.
(h) A governmental body that
cannot produce the public information for inspection and/or duplication within
10 business days after the date the written response from the requestor has
been received, shall certify to that fact in writing, and set a date and hour
within a reasonable time when the information will be available.
Notes
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