Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law late Thursday, Jan. 2, allowing law enforcement to charge the public for video footage. However, press advocates say the new charges could deter people from requesting public records.
A new 450-page omnibus bill passed this week includes a provision enabling police departments to charge citizens for dashboard cameras, body cameras and jail surveillance video –– all public records.
The provision was added privately to the legislation without a hearing.
DeWine said the fees would go toward processing the video. Under the new law, governments can charge up to $75 per hour, with a cap of $750 per request.
Some journalists have expressed concerns over the law’s potential impact on transparency.
Reason Magazine spoke to Gunita Singh from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. She told the publication that the fees could deter people from requesting public records.
“The public and the press rely on Ohio’s access provisions to timely receive important government documents, including those of police departments,” Singh said. “Nothing –– especially costly, unnecessary fees –– should stand in the way of fostering the transparency and accountability that our public records laws are designed to facilitate.”
In a news release, DeWine addressed the concerns. He said, in part, “I strongly support the public’s, and the news media’s, right to access public records. The language in House Bill 315 doesn’t change that right.”
DeWine called the body and dashboard cameras a “major improvement for both law enforcement investigations and for accountability.”
However, he said that the “changing technology” creates “unfunded burdens” on law enforcement agencies, “especially when it comes to the often time-consuming and labor-intensive work it takes to provide them as public records.”
According to DeWine, agencies have to either keep their officers on the streets or assign them to the administrative tasks required for processing video records, which doesn’t come with compensation.
DeWine also said he doesn’t want his agencies having to make that choice. He added, “especially so when the requestor of the video is a private company seeking to make money off of these videos.”
DeWine said if the provision leads to unforeseen consequences, he would work with the General Assembly to amend the language.
