This just in from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat: "Viewing a public file at the Santa Rosa courthouse will cost $10 under a proposal from the state's judicial branch that is drawing fire from critics who say it will limit access to public information.
The new search fee is among 11 recommendations from a panel of judges, lawyers and legislators that have been sent to the governor to be added to his budget.
They were offered as a way to offset $1 billion in cuts to the superior court system over the past four years that have closed facilities, brought longer lines and postponed courthouse construction.
Combined, the recommendations are expected to raise $30 million statewide. The search fee alone would generate $6 million, said a spokesman for the Judicial Council, the policymaking body of the courts.
"It's just another way of paying for the service that is provided," Sonoma County Superior Court's presiding judge, Rene Chouteau, said Monday. Chouteau was on a working group that drafted the proposals.
But the fee is under attack from open government advocates and some journalists who say it will create a financial barrier to public documents. Peter Scheer of the San Rafael-based First Amendment Coalition criticized its inclusion in Gov. Jerry Brown's budget bill rather than in sponsored legislation as a way to limit opposition.
"This will alter and in this case diminish the scope of a personal right of citizenship," Scheer said. "It should not be done by trailer bill in the dark of night."
State Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, also is opposed to the fee. Evans, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the state's courts cannot become a fee-for-service agency ..."
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