Sec. 3.6. Fees and payment for copies or reproductions of records

(a) Photocopied records or other records. The fee for copies of records photocopied by department staff shall be 25 cents per page not exceeding 9 by 14 inches or the actual cost to the department to reproduce any other record.

(b) Email attachments and file transfers. There is no fee for records provided to a requester that are sent electronically as an attachment to email or by file transfer application through the department’s secure portal.

(c) Preparation costs. If the department requires more than two hours to prepare one or more copies of a record in response to a FOIL request, the fee charged for such preparation after the first two hours shall be an amount equal to the hourly salary attributed to the lowest paid department employee. Preparation costs shall not include search time or administrative costs.

(d) Outside service. If the department must engage an outside professional service to prepare a copy of a requested record, because the department’s information technology equipment is inadequate to prepare such copy, the fee shall be the actual cost charged by such outside professional service to the department.

(e) Time of payment. The department requires payment for copies of records prior to releasing records in response to a FOIL request. The department may require payment for copies of records prior to processing a FOIL request when the request entails the copying of voluminous records.

(f) Waiver of fees. The department may waive the applicable fee for the provision of records on a case-by-case basis, which will be decided based upon the circumstances surrounding the individual request. No organization or entity, except a governmental agency, is entitled to a blanket waiver of fees.