From the Associated Press (11/26/2013): Gov. Pat McCrory's administration has interpreted state law to allow a "special service charge" for any record request that takes more than 30 minutes to fulfill. The charges are unprecedented.
The Associated Press reports that the administration of Gov. Pat McCrory is demanding payment from people who request public records when it takes more than 30 minutes to fulfill the records request. State law allows a “special service charge” to be assessed on extensive records requests, but several media organizations tell the AP that the administration’s interpretation of extensive is unprecedented. WRAL of Raleigh tells the AP that it has paid for records under protest, while the News & Observer’s executive editor says the policy is “an attempt to make public information more difficult to get.”
Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Aldona Wos said that responding to public records requests is burdensome and the time the agency spends on responding to the public could be better spent elsewhere.
Read more about it here.