Yet 9 in every 10 said it's important to have the right of access, even if they never use it. When records are sought, they are usually at the local or state level. While favoring privacy-strengthening laws, majorities still wanted access to real estate values and, even more, to licenses and other qualifications of professionals such as doctors and lawyers. Three in every 4 Virginians also favor existing open-government rules that enable citizens to recover lawsuit costs when government illegally withholds information. Nearly 1 in every 2 Virginians said government should never charge more than 25 cents a page for public records.
Current law allows local and state governments to charge only their actual copying costs.
Nearly 3 in every 4 citizens backed those limits. Four in every 5 Virginians support a longstanding rule in the state's Freedom of Information Act that salaries of government officials must be a public record. By an overwhelming margin, they believe resumes of government officials also must be made public. News media did not fare well in the Virginia survey. Virginians also indicated overwhelming opposition to special access privileges for the media.