With regard to HB646, “An Act allowing public bodies or agencies to charge for the costs of retrieval of public records under the right-to-know law,” the question before the General court should be this: does this bill improve the presumed right of equal access by taxpayers to public documents?
The Answer is no. HB646 would make public information, which is already difficult enough to pry from the claws of public bodies and agencies–regardless of any current or future fee schedule, more of a luxury item.
HB 646 awards Law-firms, well-funded non-profits, corporate interests, political parties and upper income individuals with a de facto monopoly on public information and by extension the transparency that information affords.