Bastrop County officials placed restrictions last week on the amount of time its staff will be required to spend fulfilling open records requests from the public, which they say are putting a strain on several departments.

Per the Texas Public Information Act, government agencies are required to submit to open records requests when the media, elected officials and members of the public want to obtain copies of or inspect government documents.

Bastrop County Assistant District Attorney Greg Gilleland said often large companies will put in voluminous requests, which require several man hours to fulfill, robbing staff of vital time to complete other important duties.

"Of course it’s our duty under the law to be open and provide transparency," Gilleland said. "But all our departments, they get paralyzed when their leader is stopped for 20 hours handling an open records request."

Anyone requesting government documents has two options: pay for copies or inspect them for free. Gilleland said that if someone chooses to inspect them in person, a staff member has to stand by at all times and also has to redact any private personal information from the files. This work often pulls personnel from their normal duties for a significant amount of time, paralyzing departments, Gilleland said.

At his behest, Bastrop County commissioners on Oct. 23 approved changes to its open records policy.

The county will now limit the time that its staff is required to spend making copies or producing information for inspection to 36 hours per request per fiscal year. Any time that staff has to spend over that amount will be charged to the requester. If they refuse to pay upfront, their request will be withdrawn. They will also have the option to narrow their request, Gilleland said.

"It’s a nice tool to have in our toolbox," he said. "If the person wants to pay for the time of the clerk, they can do that, too."

The change is allowed under Section 552.275 of the Texas Government Code. The new restrictions will not apply to the media, elected officials or representatives of a publicly funded legal services organization.

However, Gilleland did emphasize Monday that news outlets do not have free rein. The county is allowed to charge the media when they put in large requests that will handicap a department for several days, even if they choose to come in and inspect the documents, Gilleland said.

"We try to be extremely open," he said. "But what we get reimbursed doesn’t come close to reimbursing that employee for their time. We are losing money on those huge requests. However, it’s the law that we comply."