The definition of a public record is broad in Tennessee. Public records are all records created or received by local or state government pursuant to law or as part of transacting official business.
In our workshops, we often ask beginning journalists, “When do you think a government record becomes a public record?”
The answer is worth remembering: As soon as it’s created or received.
Here is the key definition in the statute:
“Public record or records” or “state record or records”
(i) Means all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, microfilms, electronic data processing files and output, films, sound recordings, or other material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any governmental entity; and
(ii) Does not include the device or equipment, including, but not limited to, a cell phone, computer, or other electronic or mechanical device or equipment, that may have been used to create or store a public record or state record;… [T.C.A. § 107-503 (a)(1)(A)]
The form of the record does not matter.
However, not all records that meet the definition of public records are open for inspection. The law says that “[a]ll state, county and municipal records shall, at all times during business hours… be open for personal inspection by any citizen of this state, and those in charge of the records shall not refuse such right of inspection to any citizen, unless otherwise provided by state law.”
The caveat “unless otherwise provided by state law” is the trickiest part because the term “state law” has come to mean more than statutory exemptions created by the Legislature.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals in Swift v. Campbell (2004) that “law” can include “the Constitution of Tennessee, the common law, the rules of the court and administrative rules and regulations because each of these has the force and effect of law in Tennessee.”
The Office of Open Records Counsel on Jan. 30, 2018, released a report identifying 538 statutory exceptions to the Tennessee Public Records Act. Since then, the number of statutory exceptions alone has grown to nearly 600.
