Bangor wants to charge people more money to access public documents they’re legally entitled to in hopes of reducing the number of such requests it receives.
The city offered this recommendation after a subcommittee of the Maine State Legislature’s Right to Know Advisory Committee asked state and local bodies for examples of burdensome public document requests they’ve received. Those who responded could also recommend changes to the Freedom of Access Act.
Fourteen statewide entities answered the subcommittee’s call, and although the Maine Municipal Association replied to the survey on behalf of 23 Maine communities, Bangor was the only municipality to respond directly.
It’s unclear how many of these recommendations the subcommittee will consider, but changes to Maine’s FOAA system designed to deter people from accessing information that public entities would rather stay hidden would weaken government transparency and accountability.
The law gives people the right to see any record created or stored on a government computer unless there is a specific exemption for it. This means the public has a right to see police logs, emails between city personnel and expense reports from state, county and local governments, to name a few examples.
Examples of things the public can’t access include ongoing criminal and civil investigations, 911 audio recordings, medical records and student records.
While reporters often use the ability to gain information from local and state governments that isn’t readily available to the public, Maine law allows any citizen to file a request for information, called a FOAA request.
The law requires recipients of a FOAA request to acknowledge or deny it within five working days and supply the information within a “reasonable period of time” after the request is submitted.
Whoever is answering a request can charge up to $25 per hour for the time it takes staff to retrieve the information, but the first two hours of work are free, according to state law.
Someone requesting information legally doesn’t need to state why they’re asking for it and can use the information for any reason.
Some public entities, however, reported some people are abusing the ability and filing requests that are burdensome for staff to fulfill.
In the city’s feedback, Grace Innis, Bangor’s assistant city solicitor, said attorneys who submit FOAA requests as a way to access documents related to civil lawsuits are burdensome. Additionally, the city takes issue with “media companies and political parties who use FOAA requests to try to shift to the municipality their burden of compiling research,” Innis wrote.
Though the city “supports the goal of FOAA and wants to ensure that records of our actions are open to public inspection,” charging people more for documents could cut down on the number of requests that are difficult for staff to answer or those that abuse the FOAA process, Innis said.
Higher fees would also be “responsive to the increasing cost of living,” Innis said.
Other recommendations the subcommittee received from state departments to make FOAA requests less burdensome for staff include limiting the number of requests a single person can submit, giving public bodies more time to respond to requests and prohibiting private businesses from submitting requests that will be used for commercial purposes.
Some state departments find issue with FOAAs from private companies looking for information on people who may be interested in the product or service they sell. For example, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife reported private businesses have previously asked for the names and contact information for everyone who has a boat, ATV or snowmobile registration in Maine.
Other issues officials have encountered with the FOAA system include requests that are too broad, take a lot of time to redact private information from, or those sent to disrupt or occupy the agency’s daily operations, according to the subcommittee.
Bangor did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
