The House Committee on Judiciary on Thursday adopted an amendment to House Bill 2134 that narrows how public agencies may charge requesters for staff time and requires agencies to notify requesters when an estimate of staff time or costs exceeds a set threshold.

Representative Barth introduced the compromise amendment, which committee members said reflects work by the Kansas Policy Institute, the League of Municipalities and frequent public-records requesters. The change would require agencies to use "in good faith the lowest cost categories" of staff when calculating charges for time spent responding to requests and permits agencies to include review and redaction costs in the actual cost calculation. The amendment also instructs agencies to make a reasonable effort to notify a requester when staff time is estimated to exceed five hours or the estimated cost exceeds $200.

"We're trying to mitigate cost to make sure that they've really gone through what it is that they're looking to request," Barth said. She also told committee members requesters can ask for a cost breakdown and may inspect records on-site to reduce charges.

Representative John Carmichael voiced concern the bill removes avenues of appeal for agency charging decisions; he said he would have preferred a judicial appeal provision to preserve oversight over agency determinations. Other members said the amendment improves transparency and resolves most of the municipal concerns that surfaced during hearings.

The committee adopted the Barth amendment by voice vote and then voted to report HB 2134 favorably for passage as amended.

Ending: The bill was amended to clarify allowable staff-time charges and to require notice to requesters when staff time or estimated costs exceed specified thresholds. The committee reported the bill favorably for passage.