Has Gov. Pat McCrory undergone a change of heart and mind on making North Carolinians pay for access to their government?
We certainly hope so.
A citizen asking to see public documents has a right to receive copies of those files. But granting that access isnít always simple. It takes time for government workers, paid hourly, to seek the requested materials; it involves a cost. But by state law the cost should be reasonable.
An electronic data search should be simple for anyone with basic computer literacy. But requests for physical records that must be located, then hand-copied, can be time-consuming.
Covering limited costs to guarantee access to our government with taxpayer dollars seems reasonable. But some requests can be excessive, making charges for materials and time spent appropriate.
The trick is striking the right balance.
The governorís legal team had decided on charging for fulfilling records requests that took more than 30 minutes. That was too restrictive and would have had a chilling effect on citizensí access to government. The documents generated by government at all levels belong to taxpayers, after all.
Fortunately, the governor got the message shared by members of the news media and the North Carolina Press Associationís lawyers.
Heís agreed to set a longer time limit before triggering charges at lower rates. Details are being worked out, but the new approach represents a big improvement. We applaud this move by the governor.
Now, about the idea of posting all records online . . .