WAC 44-14-07006
Requiring partial payment. (1) Copying
deposit. An agency may charge a deposit of up to ten percent
of the estimated copying costs of an entire request before
beginning to copy the records. RCW 42.17.300/42.56.120.1 The
estimate must be reasonable. An agency can require the
payment of the deposit before copying an installment of the
records or the entire request. The deposit applies to the
records selected for copying by the requestor, not all the
records made available for inspection. An agency is not
required to charge a deposit. An agency might find a deposit
burdensome for small requests where the deposit might be only
a few dollars. Any unused deposit must be refunded to the
requestor.
When copying is completed, the agency can require the
payment of the remainder of the copying charges before
providing the records. For example, a requestor makes a
request for records that comprise one box of paper documents.
The requestor selects the entire box for copying. The agency
estimates that the box contains three thousand pages of
records. The agency charges ten cents per page so the cost
would be three hundred dollars. The agency obtains a ten
percent deposit of thirty dollars and then begins to copy the
records. The total number of pages turns out to be two
thousand nine hundred so the total cost is two hundred ninety
dollars. The thirty dollar deposit is credited to the two
hundred ninety dollars. The agency requires payment of the
remaining two hundred sixty dollars before providing the
records to the requestor.
(2) Copying charges for each installment. If an agency
provides records in installments, the agency may charge and
collect all applicable copying fees (not just the ten percent
deposit) for each installment. RCW 42.17.300/42.56.120. The
agency may agree to provide an installment without first
receiving payment for that installment.