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The Utah Home has handed a invoice that might restrict “vexatious requests” for presidency paperwork, doubtlessly making requests extra expensive for some who regularly ask for data.
Below Utah’s Authorities Information Entry and Administration Act, or GRAMA, processing charges might be waived for the primary quarter-hour of labor spent fulfilling a request. HB96 would change that, permitting authorities entities to cost for the preliminary quarter-hour if the requester has filed a separate request within the earlier 10 days.
Invoice sponsor Rep. Dan Johnson, R-Logan, mentioned the invoice wouldn’t search to label anybody as a frequent or “vexatious requester,” after the time period made headlines following a Home Authorities Operations Committee assembly final week.
Throughout that assembly, Cache County Clerk/Auditor Jess Bradfield spoke in help of the invoice, saying it wouldn’t restrict the variety of requests somebody may file, however as a substitute would restrict the requests eligible for a payment waiver for quarter-hour of labor.
“Sadly, vexatious and serial requesters have discovered that they’re allowed to submit a vast variety of small requests every day to an entity,” he mentioned to the committee.
“I’m intrigued as a result of I might like to label the Salt Lake Tribune as a vexatious requester,” Rep. Norm Thurston, R-Provo, mentioned in the course of the listening to.
Johnson informed the Home on Tuesday that he doesn’t intend to focus on any particular entity with the invoice and identified that only one% of GRAMA requests in Cache County come from media entities. He argued that the ten days between payment waivers would give the federal government extra time to course of the requests.
He doesn’t imagine the charges can be prohibitive for the general public as a result of they're assessed based mostly on the bottom wage of anybody working in a given authorities workplace.
“It is a quite simple, simple invoice. ... We’re not attempting to label you,” Johnson mentioned.
Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, spoke in opposition to the invoice within the committee listening to final week, arguing that it sends a nasty message to the general public.
“While you put in a brand new payment like this, it sends a powerful message that, , the federal government is in command of this and so they’re not going to be managed by the individuals,” he mentioned. “And I feel the individuals need to ship a powerful message to the federal government that the persons are in command of it, they’re not going to be managed by the federal government.”
The invoice handed the Home 60-13 on Tuesday, with nobody talking in opposition to the invoice on the ground. 9 Democrats and 4 Republicans voted in opposition to the invoice, which can now head to the Senate for consideration.