Protecting Public Health and the Environment.

Public Records Request Fees

Idaho Code Section 9-338 authorizes DEQ to establish a copying fee schedule not to exceed the actual cost to the DEQ of copying the record. The provision further provides that the actual cost to DEQ shall not include any administrative or labor costs resulting from locating and providing a copy of the public record; provided however, that DEQ may establish a fee to recover the actual labor cost associated with locating and copying documents if: (1) the request is for more than one hundred (100) pages; (2) the request includes records from which nonpublic information must be deleted; or (3) the actual labor associated with locating and copying documents for a request exceeds two person hours.

Pursuant to Idaho Code Section 9-338, DEQ adopts the following fee schedule:

Idaho Code Reference Type of Work Involved Costs
9-338(8)(a) Photocopying less than 50 sheet pages on standard 8 ½" x 11" paper No charge
9-338(8)(a)

Photocopying more than 50 sheet pages but less than 100 pages on standard 8 ½" x 11" paper

Actual copying cost of $.10 per page
9-338(8)(a) Photocopying on sheets other than standard 8 ½" x 11" paper (e.g. blueprints, maps) Actual copying cost, varies depending on size
9-338(8)(a)

Retrieval of archived information

$3 per box, actual out of pocket cost
9-338(8)(a)(i) Photocopying more than 100 sheet pages on standard 8 ½" x 11" paper $12 per hour plus $.10 per page
9-338(8)(a)(ii) Request includes records from which non-public information must be deleted $12 per hour plus $.10 per page
9-338(8)(a)(iii) Where actual labor associated with locating and photocopying/printing hard copy and/or electronic documents equals or exceeds two (2) person hours $12 per hour plus $.10 per page
9-338(8)(b)(i) Where DEQ has an out of pocket cost Actual out of pocket cost
9-338(8)(b)(ii) Where DEQ has a standard charge for selling information in the form of a publication Standard cost for selling information in the form of the publication

DEQ may choose to obtain copies made to satisfy a public records request from a commercial copying service. In such cases, the person making the request shall be responsible for the cost charged by the commercial copying service if the cost is $5.00 or more.

The fees to be charged for providing public records in the form of computer tape, computer disk, compact disk (CD), microfilm or similar or analogous record shall be DEQ's direct cost of copying the information in that form.

If there is reason to believe that a requestor or group of requestors is attempting to break a request down into a series of requests for the purpose of avoiding the assessment of fees, DEQ will aggregate such requests to determine the total fee and will charge accordingly.

When copies or printouts are duplexed, each side of the copy on which print appears shall be treated as a single copy for the purpose of fee assessment. In this way, fees for duplexed copies shall be assessed according to the same schedule as fees for single-sided copies.

Idaho sales tax shall be assessed on copy fees and DEQ's out-of-pocket costs.

Fee Waiver

If you are asking that fees be waived for the processing of your request, complete the following form and submit along with a copy of your Request to Examine and/or Copy Public Records form.


Staff Contact

Public Records Request Coordinator
Kari Kostka
DEQ State Office
Director's Office
1410 N. Hilton
Boise, ID 83706
(208) 373-0240
kari.kostka@deq.idaho.gov

DEQ Resources

Policy for Handling Public Records Requests

Related Page

Online Public Records Request