From Lincoln Journal Star:
A bill that would help to ensure the public can access government records and data at a fair cost jumped its first hurdle Monday in the Legislature.
But it took the promise of a compromise to advance the bill to a second stage of debate on a 35-1 vote.
The bill (LB363) would close a loophole in the public records law that some public entities took advantage of and made public records so expensive to acquire that they, in effect, discouraged public access, said Lincoln Sen. Bill Avery, who introduced the bill.
It proposes that a public agency or political subdivision can charge a fee for making copies of public records, but it can't exceed the actual, reasonable cost of making the copies.