Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: Albert B. Chandler III, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
The question presented in this appeal is whether the Kentucky State Treasurer properly relied on KRS 61.874(3) and (4)(a) and (c) in agreeing to sell its unclaimed property lists for the years 1991 to 1996 to Mindy Hines for $ 100 per list. We reaffirm our holding on this issue found in 98-ORD-33, and again state that the Attorney General cannot approve the Treasurer's policy of imposing a $ 100 fee on commercial finders for copies of unclaimed property lists, and that based on the federal district court's decision in Stephen Amelkin, D.C. v. Commissioner, Department of State Police , Civil Action No. 3:94 CV-360-A (W.D. Ky., June 4, 1996) appeal docketed , No. 96-5942 (6<th> Cir. July 2, 1996), this policy is improper. A copy of 98-ORD-33 is attached hereto and incorporated by reference.
The Treasurer's office presents no proof relative to its $ 100 copying charge. Instead, it makes the conclusory statement that "the $ 100 fee is a very reasonable amount to charge" since each list "must be individually set up and generated by our staff, and is not otherwise produced." Ms. Hines asserts, and the Treasurer's office does not refute, that the average length of the unclaimed property lists is twenty-five pages. It is our understanding that one list is generated each April for sale to commercial finders. In the absence of proof that this $ 100 fee is based on the criteria set forth in KRS 61.874(4)(c) 1. and 2., we would, were we not enjoined from enforcing the 1994 amendments to the Open Records Act, conclude that the fee is excessive. As it is, we affirm our holding in 98-ORD-33.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.