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Committee debates cap on copying fees; comptroller says 5¢ per page outdated, proposes electronic alternatives
Summary
Senate Bill 406 would cap government copying fees at 5¢ per page; DAGS told the committee its photocopier lease costs about 10.4¢ per page and that total costs including labor and materials may run 15–20¢ per page.
Senate Bill 406 would limit the cost of reproducing government records to a maximum of 5¢ per page, with exceptions. The hearing drew written support from press organizations and civic groups and formal opposition from the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS), which provided cost estimates.
Keith Regan, DAGS Comptroller, told the committee the agency had estimated costs for photocopying. “Actually, sorry. About 10.4¢ per page is, just for the… the lease of the photocopier itself. So it's probably around 15 to 20¢ per page for us if you included the labor, right, that's associated as well as the materials,” Regan said in response to a senator’s question about what a realistic per‑page rate would be.
Committee members proposed a compromise suggested during the hearing: require a 5¢ maximum for electronic copies while allowing higher fees for physical paper copies or for records that are not yet digitized. Senators and witnesses also discussed exemptions or fee waivers for indigent requesters and noted that some documents remain in archives and have not been scanned.
Witnesses urged the committee to consider the state’s existing digitization progress and to seek reports on actual per‑page costs before finalizing a statutory cap. The Comptroller said staff would search for prior cost analyses and provide them to the committee before the next meeting.
No formal action was taken; as the committee announced at the start of the hearing, decision making was deferred to the Jan. 30 meeting.
