Epic FOIA Bill Provides Amusement
Politico's Ben Smith passed along the story about the $7 million fee the Michigan Department of State Police would charge to fulfill the Mackinac Center's Freedom of Information request.
Smith cited Mackinac Center Communications Specialist Kathy Hoekstra's Tuesday blog post about her efforts to get documents related to federal homeland security grants in Michigan. In Smith's words, "The topic [of homeland security grant spending] remains a fun one."
Other adjectives than "fun" might aptly describe the fact that administering the grant money generated millions of pages of documentation that would take over $3 million in labor costs just to compile.
Reporting Michigan also wrote about the issue, estimating it could cost as much as $225,000 to mail the requested information.
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