logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
    • Glossary
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Transparency Threatened by High Public Disclosure Costs

Bruce S Trachtenberg
October 27, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

October 25, 2010; Source: New Mexico Independent |Wikileaks’ recent publication of the latest trove of material revealing what only a few people really know about the wars being fought in Afghanistan and Iraq shows how difficult it is for governments to keep secret documents from public view. Yet as this story illustrates, in an era when classified reports can make their way to web for the entire world to see, governments can still find ways to thwart or slow the release documents that the public has a right to see and distribute on demand.

According to the New Mexico Independent, a watchdog nonprofit says it is hearing more complaints about “excessive” charges to make electronic copies of public records. These fees violate the state public records law, says Sarah Welsh, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (FOG). She adds, “These include big bills to receive routine documents as e-mail attachments, and big bills for the privilege of making your own copies with a scanner or digital camera. Whatever the situation, unreasonable copy fees violate open-government laws and strongly discourage public access to information.”

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

New Mexico law allows individuals to inspect public documents for free. However, government agencies are also permitted to charge modest fees—but no more than $1 per page—when someone requests copies. However, the newspaper reports that in many cases fees, “arbitrarily exceed the actual cost of producing those copies.” Some even go as far as levying per-page charges for documents already in electronic form and that can be easily transferred by e-mail at no cost. Welsh says excessive fees represent the “final barrier to access” to people like herself who need to be able to examine public documents to make sure government actions are in the public’s interest.—Bruce Trachtenberg

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

summer_sidebar_subscribe
You might also like
What Can a COVID Outbreak at a Writing Conference Teach Us about Community Care?
Alison Stine
In Rejecting Ballot Measure, Ohioans Stood Up for Citizen Power
Isaiah Thompson
Remaking the Economy: Movement Economies
Steve Dubb, Rithika Ramamurthy, Davarian Baldwin, A-dae Romero Briones, Johanna Bozuwa and Maurice Mitchell
Incoherent Policy Threatens Overdose Prevention Sites
Isaiah Thompson
The Promise and Problems of Self-Driving Cars for the Disabled Community
Alison Stine
Thrown In the Deep End
Saphia Suarez

NPQ Webinars

Oct 5th and 6th, 2:00 PM ET

Mastering QuickBooks 2023

Advanced QuickBooks for Nonprofits for Online Users

Register Now
Oct 26th, 2:00 PM ET

Becoming A Great Manager

How to Conspire and Align with the People You Lead

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Summer 2023 issue

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Funders
  • Magazine Art

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.