Bill limits fees for public records requests

LINCOLN – A bill that would help ensure reasonable fees for public records requests advanced in the Nebraska Unicameral on a 35-1 vote Monday.

LB363, introduced by Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln, would close a loophole by which some state agencies and public entities have taken advantage of people by charging large amounts of money for public records, Avery said.

Sen. Scott Price gave the example of a person in his hometown of Bellevue being charged more than $600 for 14 pieces of paper because of the legal costs that the entity said would be required for the record retrieval.

People already pay f...