Public Records Archives - Page 17 of 74 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

19 Dec, 2019

Public records case against Knox County sheriff showcases thorny problems for requesters

By Deborah Fisher|2019-12-19T14:52:48-06:00December 19, 2019|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, requests|Tags: Chancellor John Weaver, Knox County Sheriff, Meghan Conley, public records requests|1 Comment

A public records lawsuit filed in April against Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler appears to be lurching slowly toward resolution. After two days of a bench trial on Dec. 9 and Dec. 10, Knox County Chancellor John F. Weaver gave attorneys until Jan. 13 to file final briefs and set Jan. 24 as the day for final arguments before the court. The case, Meghan Conley v. Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler, concerns several public records requests between August 2017 and March 2019. (See also the Memo in Support of Petition.) Conley, a University of Tennessee sociology professor, sought records related to the sheriff's participation in a 287(g) immigration enforcement program with [...]

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 [...]

6 Sep, 2019

Gov. Lee’s decision not to release agency recommendations raises questions about deliberative process exemption

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-06T17:41:25-05:00September 6, 2019|Categories: deliberative process privilege, Public Records, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: deliberative process privilege, Gov. Bill Lee|0 Comments

A Tennessean reporter shows one of the state agency's recommendations he obtained on improving rural services despite refusal by the governor's office to release 22 state agency recommendations, citing the deliberative process privilege. The reporter, Joel Ebert, does not say how he obtained the report. In 2005, then-Gov. Phil Bredesen was planning a major scaleback to TennCare to, as he put it, "save" the program whose costs were rising exponentially. A sit-in was staged at the Tennessee State Capitol over several days to protest, to no avail. Karl Davidson, who was among the protesters, later alleged in a lawsuit that he and others at the sit-in were willfully and maliciously [...]

3 Sep, 2019

New white paper: Can labor fees be charged when a requestor only wants to inspect?

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-03T11:17:00-05:00September 3, 2019|Categories: fees, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: fees for public records, TCOG news|0 Comments

Tennessee Coalition for Open Government released a new white paper today analyzing how production fees were incorporated into the Tennessee Public Records Act. The new white paper examines opinions by the Attorney General and the Office of Open Records Counsel, dating back to 1980, as well as a 1998 Tennessee Supreme Court opinion. The paper also examines the legislative history of changes to the Tennessee Public Records Act in 2008 that resulted in the Schedule of Reasonable Charges maintained by the Office of Open Records Counsel. Finally, the paper includes a history of the effort in 2015 to change the law to remove "free inspection" of public records, a statewide [...]

19 Aug, 2019

Court of Appeals reins in state’s expansive use of investigative exemption

By Deborah Fisher|2019-08-19T20:25:15-05:00August 19, 2019|Categories: investigative exemption, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Court of Appeals, Frank G. Clement Jr., investigative exemption, Janet Kleinfelter, Judge D. Michael Swiney, Judge Richard Dinkins, Phil Williams, TCOG news|1 Comment

The Tennessee Court of Appeals in a ruling on Friday put much-needed limits around the so-called investigative exemption that has been used by the state to cloak otherwise public records. "We hold that public records created in the ordinary course of business, which are non-investigative in nature, and which are otherwise accessible by Tennessee citizens under the TPRA (Tennessee Public Records Act), do not subsequently become exempt from disclosure because of the initiation of a criminal investigation in which those records become relevant," the Court ruled in Scripps Media, Inc. v. Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Williams requested travel, other ordinary public records from state News [...]