COLUMBUS, Ohio — Federal, state and local groups are urging Gov. Mike DeWine to veto a portion of House Bill 315.

What You Need To Know

  • Advocacy groups urge Governor Mike DeWine to veto a portion of house bill 315 

  • The portion states that law enforcement agencies can charge $75 per hour, up to $750, for the work they do to prepare video public records requests

  • DeWine has 10 days from when he receives the bill to decide whether he'll veto any portion of the bill

It’s a section that would let law enforcement agencies charge $75 dollars per hour, up to $750, for the work they do to prepare video public records requests.

“Public records are our records. In fact, it's very hard to be with the people and consider the government part of us unless we understand what's going on,” said the executive director of Common Cause Ohio, Catherine Turcer. 

Turcer is representing one of nearly 20 groups who sent a letter to DeWine. They’re biggest complaint is the fact that lawmakers added the measure at the very last minute without giving Ohioans an opportunity to voice their concerns.

“One of the things that can happen in state government, you know, they're often talking $1,000,000 for this, million dollars for that. So $750 can seem small, but we're talking about ordinary people having to spend up to $750 on public records that are their records because they're for the public,” Turcer said. 

DeWine has 10 days from when he receives the bill to decide whether he’ll veto any portion of it. And while he hasn’t indicated what he’ll do, last week he said he doesn’t believe it would impact the accessibility to public records requests.

“We have close to a thousand police departments in the state Ohio," he said. "Some of them are very small. What this amendment, again I've not made a decision about this, but what this amendment would do is allow them to recover some of the cost that is involved.

The bill would let the agencies charge for what it would cost to retrieve, download, review, redact and seek legal advice regarding the requested videos. It's a cost Turcer said the average resident either can’t afford or wouldn’t be willing to pay.

“Imagine being the people who want the public records," Turcer said. "These are people that are victims. These are people who don't understand why the police made specific decisions. These are potentially situations where law enforcement are saying something that doesn't make sense and they want to see body camera footage so that they can understand what happened."

If DeWine signs the bill, it could lead to legal challenges. Thirty years ago, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that agencies cannot charge labor costs for public records requests.

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