How to get around "undue burden" placed on state agency?
Asked by Carla Murphy on May 20, 2014.
3 answers from Shawn Musgrave and Carla Murphy.
Do you mean the information needs to be compiled (that is, a new document created from multiple records), or that a large number of records need to be pulled?
-Shawn
Shawn: Do you mean the information needs to be compiled (that is, a new document created from multiple records), or that a large number of records need to be pulled?
The requested data points (i.e. Zip Code, County) needs to be pulled and compiled from about 1,600 claims.
It’s interesting. The comms dept. has since intervened as they too are concerned by the $22K quoted to get this data (the cost effectively undermines the open records law). I’m told they’re trying to figure out a way to get the data to me, although that may mean significantly narrowing my ask window.
The other alternative in many cases is to ask for the entire database as one export, and then you can pull out the information relevant to you.
I’ve done this a couple of times, with HUD bad landlord complaints and commercial carrier safety violations.
While many agencies are not set up to query databases in the specific way you ask, often times you can figure that out yourself at much lower cost.
-Shawn