From the Evansville Courier & Press:
Q: Our county clerk charges us $1 a page for copies – per what I understand is her right under state law. However, our county recorder wants to do the same thing. Does that law extend to the county recorder?
A: When the legislature passed a bill limiting copying fees, it grandfathered a couple of existing fee structures.
One was for court records, allowing for $1 a page. The other was for recorders, again allowing for $1 a page, but the county council could reduce this fee.
Sorry, but your option is to pay or ask to inspect the documents you want rather than get copies. You’re free to take notes from the inspection.
Obviously, you can also argue for a waiver based on the community service done by a newspaper being able to report the news from the county clerk and recorder offices.
Contact Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, with media law questions at skey@hspa.com or (317) 624-4427.
