Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is evaluating whether he wants to sign a bill into law that could charge the public hundreds of dollars for footage from law enforcement agencies, including body cameras.
So public funds paid for it, and he’s saying the public should then pay to see it? I’d be interested to hear what Mikey thinks about the Ohio Open Records Law, specifically where the Ohio Supreme Court said, "all citizens “have a right to as full knowledge of all the official acts of their officers as the officers themselves have, so as to enable them to ascertain whether their officers have performed their duty in such manner as is acceptable to them with a view to determine whether they will continue them in office or not.” The court added: [T]he records in the auditor’s office are the public records of the people of Hamilton county, bought with their money, kept in a public place built with their money, and in the charge of public officials paid by their money and selected by them. The officials in charge of these books, therefore, can be no other than trustees in possession of property belonging to the people of Hamilton county. "
Only fair if they are paying $1.00 for the DVD it is written to.
These records could be posted online for download for free*.
The public would have to pay for access to the public property?
Even if he did sign it, that should not withstand judicial scrutiny.
While I agree with you, there’s definitely precedent for paying for public records.
