Justice Administrative Commission

Estimates:

Please note that the Justice Administrative Commission is authorized by Section 119.07(4)(d), Florida Statutes, to assess a special charge for excessive use of agency resources. If after an initial review of your public records request there is such a charge, we will contact you with a cost estimate prior to producing the records.

If applicable, the Justice Administrative Commission will provide an itemized estimate to the person initiating the request. The estimate will include the hours required, the estimated charge for the labor, and actual duplication or other material costs.

If upon receiving an initial estimate of charges a request is modified or otherwise limited in scope, the person initiating the request will be provided with a new estimate of charges if applicable. Please note if the actual cost incurred is less than such estimated payment, the overpayment will be refunded by JAC.

Should cost be an issue, please contact JAC’s Public Records Coordinator/Custodian to discuss ways to narrow your request.

Fee Guidelines - Special Service Charge:

• A special service charge will be imposed if the nature or volume of public records requested to be inspected or copied is such as to require extensive use of information technology resources or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance by personnel of the office involved, or both.

• Clerical or supervisory assistance includes searching for and or locating the requested record(s), reviewing for statutorily exempt information, redaction of statutorily exempt information, preparing, and copying the requested record(s).

• A special service charge will be charged if the nature or volume of the public records requested requires more than 1 hour of office resources or greater than 100 pages of documentation.

• The charge for clerical or supervisory resources will be no greater than the hourly rate, including benefits, of the lowest paid personnel capable of providing such services.

• When documents can be sent by email, we will do so in the interest of efficiency and to minimize costs. In these cases we will only charge a service charge for extensive time. However, when a large volume of documents is requested and must therefore be copied to a CD or DVD, the costs of those materials will be recovered.

• If the record is readily available in electronic form, then we will copy onto a CD or DVD, as needed. You will be charged for the actual costs of the disk, not for the time to copy the documents onto the media.

• If the cost for providing paper or electronic copies of records is less than $25.00, including postage and special service charges, the records will be provided at no charge.

Collecting Recovered Costs:

• If a special service charge is imposed, the requestor will be advised of estimated costs.

• Payment will be collected before documents are copied, reviewed, redacted, or otherwise processed if their production meets the threshold for extensive time or material costs.

• If the actual costs incurred is less than the estimate, the overpayment will be refunded to the requestor. Before the release of the requested documents, if actual cost is in excess of the estimate, the requestor will be required to remit additional monies.

• In the event the requestor fails to pay the cost(s), the requested public records will not be released.

Material Costs:

Reducing Costs and Limiting Charges:

• Labor costs can be reduced significantly if requests include keywords as opposed to “all documents or emails.” Similarly, narrowing a request to certain individuals or divisions can greatly reduce the use of extensive labor.

• We will advise you of free, online sources whenever possible.

• Consider refining your requests for documents to provide better results and reduce unnecessary or duplicative costs.