Ruling victory
A recent state attorney general’s ruling is a major victory for people who have been reluctant to request large volumes of public information. Many people have wanted complete databases of information but been kept at bay by officials’ recalcitrance or prohibitive costs. The Nov. 18 ruling is a reply to an appeal by Integrity Title Records Company of Houston, which asked for a copy of Hidalgo County’s title records and platting maps. County Clerk Noe Lopez Jr.’s office informed that company that what it sought comprised 750 megabytes of data that would fill nearly 1,100 compact discs, costing about $82 each. The estimated cost was nearly $90,000, plus $1,000 per month for updates to keep the database current. Integrity requested a re-evaluation and was given a new cost of about $80 per CD. The company then asked for a quote using a single hard drive that could connect to the county computers’ universal serial bus. The county refused. The company appealed to the state, arguing that a USB drive was just another storage device, like a CD or floppy disc. The state agreed. Assistant Attorney General Christopher D. Sterner noted that the Texas Administrative Code instructs government bodies to charge actual cost for storage devices used when providing data under the PIA. A USB drive with the capacity to store the data that Integrity requested can be bought at a retail price of less than $100. Packs 100 CDs are readily available for about $20. The attorney general’s office’s ruling makes it clear that governments cannot use advancements in technology as roadblocks to the dissemination of information. All advocates of fair and honest government should celebrate the decision.
