Oppose HB 4056 Striker Amendment Exempting Lawmakers from Public Records Fees

I urge you to oppose the striker amendment to HB 4056 when it comes before the House Education Committee on Tuesday. While the original bill addressed a technical correction to double punishment statutes, Representative Matt Gress has introduced a striker that would ban anyone from charging state lawmakers reasonable fees for fulfilling public records requests. This amendment stems from Representative Gress's dispute with Tolleson school district, which charged him the standard rate of one dollar per page for his massive records request covering two years of documents totaling 26,000 pages. That amounts to $26,000, a fee that does not even cover the staff time required to locate, review, and produce such an extensive volume of records. School districts operate on tight budgets funded by taxpayers, and diverting staff resources to fulfill oversized requests without cost recovery places an unfair burden on students and families. Lawmakers already have an established process to obtain public records through the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. This official channel exists precisely to handle legislative oversight requests efficiently and appropriately. Bypassing this process to demand special treatment is unnecessary and undermines the principle that elected officials should not be above the rules that apply to other citizens. This striker amendment is a petty and vindictive response to a reasonable fee structure. It would force taxpayers across Arizona to shoulder the financial impacts whenever any lawmaker decides to exploit their political power by making burdensome records requests. Public entities have limited resources, and exempting 90 legislators from standard fees creates a dangerous precedent that prioritizes political grandstanding over fiscal responsibility. Rather than creating special privileges for lawmakers, we should respect existing oversight mechanisms and ensure that all Arizonans, including elected officials, follow the same rules when requesting public records. I ask you to vote no on this striker amendment and preserve fair, equitable public records processes.