The Secretary of State’s office issued revised regulations that lower the fees a governmental entity can charge for copies of public records (950 CMR 32.06). Effective February 29, 2016, entities can only charge “the actual cost of any storage device or material provided to a person in response to a request for public records”, and no more than five cents ($.05) per page for black and white copies and printouts (single or double-sided). In addition, the revised regulations no longer include a separate fee for computer printouts or copies of records from microfilm or microfiche.
Previously, the standard fee for a black and white copy was twenty cents ($.20) per page, and entities could charge upwards of fifty cents ($.50) per page for computer printouts, and twenty-five cents ($.25) for copies of public records on microfilm or microfiche. The revisions did not alter an entity’s right to charge for search and segregation time, or to charge the actual cost of making a copy of a record not susceptible to ordinary means of reproduction.
