Editor's note: The Associated Press reported that Cole County Judge Patricia Joyce tossed out the new Missouri law capping how much the Department of Revenue could charge for driver's-license and motor-vehicle records. Joyce ruled Nov. 10 that the Legislature’s addition of the fee limit to a property-tax bill was unconstitutional. It was unclear what effect the decision would have on the cost of the fees.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A state judge has ordered the Department of Revenue to stop charging a higher fee for accessing driver's license and motor vehicle records, finding that the increased price violates the state Sunshine Law.

The Revenue Department on May 1 started charging $7 to get those records. Previously it charged $1.25 and a fraction of a cent for companies that bought large quantities of records in bulk.

Several businesses that buy the records in bulk sued, seeking a court order against the fee increase. The companies argued that the new cost violated state open-records laws, which limit the cost government entities can charge for copying records and providing them to the public.

State attorneys claimed a separate federal law governing motor vehicle records means that Missouri's Sunshine Law did not apply to vehicle and driver's license records, and the state could therefore charge whatever it deemed reasonable.

But Cole County Judge Richard Callahan, who interrupted testimony on May 29 to ask whether the state had any justification for the fee increase under the state Sunshine Law, disagreed.

Revenue Director Omar Davis said in a written statement that he was disappointed by the May 30 ruling, but that it was a preliminary decision and the department would continue defending the fee increase.

Driver's license and motor vehicle records are intended for law enforcement and not so businesses can buy them, and that the higher fee is a better estimate for the state's cost in maintaining them, Davis said.

Attorneys representing the companies and the state met privately with Callahan on May 30 before the temporary court order blocking the fee increase was announced. A hearing over a permanent court order is scheduled for June 20.

Department of Revenue documents obtained by the Associated Press through an open-records request show the department indicated in 2006 that an employee can process a record request in 3.5 minutes, which when divided by the employee's hourly wage, results in a record retrieval cost of 67 cents. The department also can charge 10 cents per page for a copy of the records, according to the Sunshine Law.

Davis earlier this year said that he didn't think driver's license and motor vehicle records fall under the Sunshine Law because there are limits on who can access them. He said the fee increase was a way to pay for a new computer system and would make the records more secure by prompting fewer companies to buy the information.

The Revenue Department in October signed a contract worth up to $50 million with Virginia-based BearingPoint Inc. to replace the state computer system for driver's license records. Davis said the department planned to pay for the new system with profits from driver's license and motor vehicle requests and by letting the consulting firm keep $1 from every record sale.

Department records show that equipment and maintenance of the system is projected to cost nearly $70 million by 2017.

Lawmakers, many of whom expressed concern about how the fee increase would affect insurance companies and other businesses, approved legislation capping any fee increase to a half cent per record.

Testimony on May 29 also focused on the harm that the suing businesses say they are suffering because of the fee increase. In the original lawsuit, executives for some of the companies said the higher fee would increase the cost for buying the records from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions.

The suing companies had used the data for a variety of purposes, such as tracking the history of used vehicles, telling schools and trucking companies when their drivers have received traffic violations, administering vehicle safety recalls and informing insurance companies when teenagers get their driver's license.

The companies, which had bought the state records weekly or monthly, stopped because of the higher cost.

The case is R.L. Polk vs. Missouri Department of Revenue, 08AC-CC00381.