Right-to-know fee policies

As you know by now, Montana boasts a unique and expansive constitutional guarantee to public information. But Montana law allows agencies to charge Montanans a fee for completing Right to Know requests, if the agency chooses to do so. 

Understanding why different fees are being assessed in different circumstances can be hard. In an effort to better advise Montanans with their information requests and to encourage transparency across state agencies, MTP requested all state executive agencies for their current information request fee policies.  

After reviewing the agencies’ fee policies, we found what we’d expected: state agencies do not have a common understanding of how to assess fees for requests. Some agencies make clear an hourly rate they will charge Montanans to fulfill requests. Others don’t. Some agencies list costs for copying documents. Others don’t. Some agencies require you to pay upfront. Others don’t.