By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services/Arizona Daily Sun
A fight playing out in Arizona courts could determine whether some people have to pay more — a lot more — for copies of public records.
On the surface, the dispute centers on a narrow provision of law that governs what agencies can charge for records that will wind up as evidence in legal cases. But the issue raises broader questions of when governments can consider the fact the records will be used by those requesting them to make money.
The private investigator who is fighting the Pima County Attorney’s Office said if that’s the test, then authors and reporters who use public records should also be paying higher fees to obtain them. And the attorney who represents him said he sees this fight as part of a long-term effort by public agencies to shift more of the costs of producing the records to those who want them.
