State Rep. Martin Daniel Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

14 Feb, 2021

New ‘proprietary’ exemption would shield data about state insurance plan

By Deborah Fisher|2021-02-14T20:07:48-06:00February 14, 2021|Categories: Legislature, Public Records|Tags: health insurance, proprietary records, State Rep. Martin Daniel, State Rep. Pat Marsh, trade secrets|0 Comments

A proposed public records exemption would make confidential "all proprietary information" received by the state from its health insurance contractors, including but not limited to information or data about reimbursement rates paid through the state's self-funded employee health plan. Access to information showing the disparities in payments to health care providers for the same services became an issue in 2019 when then-state Rep. Martin Daniel of Knoxville sought to get data to see if the state was reaping savings it should. After Daniel sought the information, the three large health care companies who contract with the state to administer the state’s employee health care plan — BlueCross Blue Shield of [...]

16 Dec, 2019

BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, Optum file reverse public records suits to stop release of price information

By Deborah Fisher|2019-12-17T09:50:17-06:00December 16, 2019|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: BlueCross Blue Shield, Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, Cigna, Department of Finance and Administration, healthcare price information, Janet Kleinfelter, Judge Eli Richardson, Laurie Lee, Optum, reverse public records lawsuit, Robert Boston, Sherman Act, State Rep. Martin Daniel, Todd Presnell|1 Comment

Three large health care companies who contract with the state to administer the state's employee health care plan have filed lawsuits to prevent the Department of Finance and Administration from releasing payment information. They claim the release would reveal confidential price information that they have negotiated with health care providers for certain medical and health procedures -- information that they say is proprietary though the state pays the bills through its self-funded plan. Releasing healthcare price information violates Sherman Act, companies claim Laurie Lee is executive director of Benefits Administration in the state Department of Finance and Administration. Her office was preparing to release information about the state's health plan [...]

21 Mar, 2019

House bill to limit trade secret exception for government payments fails in subcommittee

By Deborah Fisher|2019-03-25T14:46:14-05:00March 21, 2019|Categories: economic development, Legislature|Tags: economic development, Google, State Rep. David Hawk, State Rep. Harold Love, State Rep. Martin Daniel, trade secrets|1 Comment

“It is we, the Legislature, representatives of the people, who should declare what is a trade secret and what is confidential (about government transactions). Not these private entities who are receiving government benefits.” State Rep. Martin Daniel, R-Knoxville, in presenting HB 370. House Bill 370, which would have limited the ability of businesses to claim a government payment to them as confidential under the trade secret law, failed in subcommittee on Wednesday. While my organization, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, was disappointed in the vote, the issue got a fair hearing from the subcommittee and allowed us to share with lawmakers a potential problem. The bill would have changed the [...]

6 Mar, 2019

Commercial Appeal: Bill would require Tennessee governments to disclose payments to companies

By Deborah Fisher|2019-03-06T09:12:57-06:00March 6, 2019|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: economic development, Google, State Rep. Martin Daniel, trade secrets, University of Tennessee|0 Comments

The Commercial Appeal recently did a story about a bill in the Legislature, supported by TCOG, that would solve the issue of business entities claiming that government documents about payments made to them are confidential because the payment they received constitutes a trade secret. It flies in the face of the Tennessee Public Records Act that states "all documents ... made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any governmental entity" are public records. But the business are getting away with it. See below for an example with Google and the Montgomery County Industrial Development Board, and the University of [...]