News

16 Dec, 2019

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

By |2019-12-17T09:50:17-06:00December 16, 2019|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |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 |2019-09-06T17:41:25-05:00September 6, 2019|Categories: deliberative process privilege, Public Records, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , |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 |2019-09-03T11:17:00-05:00September 3, 2019|Categories: fees, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , |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 [...]

28 Aug, 2019

Office of Open Records Counsel to offer free training statewide in October

By |2019-08-28T14:10:16-05:00August 28, 2019|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , |0 Comments

The Office of Open Records Counsel is offering seven two-hour training sessions across the state from Oct. 1-22 on public records and open meetings laws. Lee Pope, the state's Open Records Counsel. The sessions are free and open to government employees, elected officials, media, and anyone who is interested in learning more about Tennessee’s public records and open meetings laws. RSVP by sending an email to [email protected]. The time, dates and places are: Cookeville: Tuesday, October 1, 10 am – 12 pm, Upper Cumberland Regional Health Facility, 1100 England Drive, Cookeville. Kingsport: Wednesday, October 9, 10 am – 12 pm, Kingsport Chamber of Commerce, 400 Clinchfield Street, #100, Kingsport. Knoxville: [...]

19 Aug, 2019

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

By |2019-08-19T20:25:15-05:00August 19, 2019|Categories: investigative exemption, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , , , , |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 [...]

Go to Top