Section 48-13-070. Costs of providing copies of public records.

(1) Costs for paper copies. There is no fee for inspecting public records. A requestor may obtain standard black and white photocopies for ten cents per page when the page count exceeds one hundred pages. Copies in color or larger-sized documents cost will be based on the actual cost to reproduce them at the time of the request.

Before beginning to make the copies, the public records officer or designee may require a deposit of up to ten percent of the estimated costs of copying all the records selected by the requestor. The public records officer or designee may also require the payment of the remainder of the copying costs before providing all the records, or the payment of the costs of copying an installment before providing that installment. The state auditor's office will not charge sales tax when it makes copies of public records.

(2) Costs for electronic records. The cost of electronic copies of records shall be free for information on a CD-ROM when the information already exists in electronic format and it only has to be copied to a CD. The cost of scanning existing office paper or other nonelectronic records is ten cents per page when the page count exceeds one hundred pages. There will be no charge for e-mailing electronic records to a requestor, unless another cost applies such as a scanning fee.

(3) Costs of mailing. The state auditor's office may also charge actual costs of mailing, including the cost of the shipping container for requests exceeding one hundred pages.

(4) Payment. Payment may be made by cash, check, or money order to the state auditor's office.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 42.56.070, 43.21C.120, and 43.09.281. WSR 10-22-022, § 48-13-070, filed 10/22/10, effective 11/22/10.]

RCW 42.56.070, 43.21C.120, and 43.09.281. WSR 10-22-022, § 48-13-070, filed 10/22/10, effective 11/22/10.