Public Record Update Newsletter © July/August 2010

Louisiana District Courts Increase Record Fees

With the governor's signature on Act No. 733 (HB1060), effective August 15, 2010, certain mandated fees are to take affect at the District Courts in Louisiana. The Act sets the following fees: Copy Fee - $1.00; Certification of Copies - $5.00; Criminal History Search - $20.00; Extract of Court Minutes - $10.00. There was no mention of civil record searches in the Act.

Prior to effective date, most courts charge $10.00 or $15.00 for a criminal record search. Several courts we spoke to by telephone were not aware of the price increase, so it is uncertain how soon or widespread this mandate will take affect. The specific copy and certification fees mentioned in the Act are already in place for nearly 90% of the courts.

Motor Vehicle Record Fee Increase Pending in New Mexico

Effective September 1st, 2010 in New Mexico, the fee for an online driving record will increase from $4.95 to $6.50 per record.  The New Mexico MVD contracts with New Mexico Interactive to provide all electronic requests of driving records as well as title, registration and lien searches. Records are only available to subscribers that meet federal and state standards. There is no fee increase for vehicle-related records; they remain the same at $4.95.

For more information call New Mexico Interactive at 877-660-3468 or visit the Online Services section at www.mvd.newmexico.gov. There is an annual subscription fee of $75 for up to 10 users. Monthly billing is provided.

Copy Machines and Identity Theft

Did you know that just about every digital copier manufactured since 2002 contains a hard drive that keeps a record of data that has been copied? Incredible as it sounds, this hard drive stores a copy of every document ever copied.