SB406 amends Hawaii’s public records copying-fee law, section 92-21 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, to set a specific cap on the cost of digital reproductions of government records. Under the bill, if a government record has already been digitized, the fee for providing a digital copy may not exceed 5 cents per digital record. The bill keeps the existing framework for paper copies, which generally must be provided at not less than 5 cents per page, and preserves special rules for certain records and agencies.
The measure also clarifies that when a government record has not already been digitized, or when other reproduction costs apply, agencies may recover reasonable reproduction expenses under their rules, including labor, materials, equipment, certification, and related costs. Fees collected continue to be deposited with the appropriate state or county finance office or agency, with a special deposit rule for the Public Utilities Commission. The bill is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2525, which appears to be a far-future effective date as drafted.
Impact
SB406 would directly affect the fees charged by state and county agencies for copies of public records, especially digital records that already exist in electronic form. It narrows agency discretion by imposing a statewide maximum charge of 5 cents per digitized digital record, while leaving broader cost-recovery authority in place for non-digitized records and other reproduction circumstances. The bill would amend section 92-21, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and could affect public records request practices, agency fee schedules, and requesters seeking electronic copies of government documents.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests the bill was received favorably in committee, passing the Senate Government Operations Committee 4-0 with amendments. No committee transcript is available, so there is no recorded debate to indicate broader support or opposition. Overall, the bill appears to have been treated as a technical public-records fee measure with limited controversy at the committee stage.
Contention
The main policy issue is the balance between public access to government records and agencies’ ability to recover reproduction costs. Supporters would likely favor the lower, predictable fee for digitized records as a transparency and access measure, while agencies may be concerned about reduced cost recovery for electronic copies. Another point of attention is the bill’s distinction between already-digitized records and records that must still be digitized, which preserves broader agency charging authority in some cases. The unusually distant effective date, January 1, 2525, also stands out as a drafting anomaly, though no discussion record is available showing whether it was intentional or an error.