Most Recent Action
The Office of Open Records Counsel (OORC) has finalized and published policies on Frequent and Multiple Requests and Safe Harbor as well as a publication on best practices.
The Frequent and Multiple Requests Policy is intended to offer some relief to those local governments who find themselves victims of a citizen or group of citizens that are using the privilege granted under the Open Records Act as a means of harassment.
The Safe Harbor Policy provides that any fees and charges assessed by municipality pursuant to an internal policy that has been properly adopted and is consistent with the Reasonable Fee Schedule and the Frequent and Multiple Use Policy are deemed reasonable and permissible under the Open Records Act.
The Best Practices Policy is intended as a guide to assist municipalities in complying with the Open Records Act and the policies developed by the OORC.
Background
SB 2471 (McNally)HB 2495 (Fowlkes), filed during the second session of the 104th General Assembly, sought to amend the open meetings and open records statutes a number of ways that would have been detrimental to local government and elected and appointed local officials. In light of concerns raised by a number of groups representing individuals covered under the acts, the legislation was amended to create the Joint Study Committee on Open Government.
This joint study committee was to complete its work and issue a report to the General Assembly by February 2007. However, the study committee determined that additional time was required to thoroughly study the issues, and the deadline for a final report was extended to February 2008.
The committee ultimately split into two subcommittees: an open meetings subcommittee and an open records subcommittee. Both subcommittees submitted reports to the full committee in November 2007. The full committee met to consider the work of the subcommittees and, after adopting several modifications, issued a final report on December 17, 2007.
In the final days of the 2008 session, the Tennessee General Assembly approved changes to the state’s open records law. The new law, PC 1179, creates the Office of Open Records Counsel (OORC) by statute within the state Comptroller’s office and stipulates the duties of the ombudsman. This role of the ombudsman will serve as a problem solver, answer questions, and provide information to public officials and the public. The office is also charged with collecting data on inquiries and identifying problems associated with the state’s open records law. The newly-adopted statute does not provide legal authority, however; therefore, the new entity will not issue new interpretations of the statute or make law, but will help educate the public and local government officials about their duties and rights under Tennessee’s Sunshine Laws.
The bill also requires governmental agencies to respond to records requests within seven business days of the request, provide an estimated time that the record will be made available, or provide a written reason for lawfully denying access to the record. The office was also charged with establishing a fee schedule for requests. PC 1179 also required certain boards, utilities and associations to develop training programs on open records and meeting laws.
Although several introduced bills incorporated the joint study committee’s recommendations concerning changes to the “Sunshine Law” as well as the Open Records Act, PC 1179 only included changes to the Open Records Act.
In the summer of 2008, the Office of Open Records Counsel began meeting with the Advisory Council on Open Government to fulfill the directives of PC 1179. To date, the OORC has finalized and published the required forms that must be utilized when receiving and responding to public records requests.
The OORC has also finalized and issued the Reasonable Fee Schedule that replaces the requirement that no labor charges be assessed on any request that takes less than five hours to complete that was temporarily imposed under PC 1179. This schedule establishes the maximum charge that may be assessed per copy as well as the parameters for implementing and assessing labor charges associated with public records requests. Under the schedule, a municipality may charge for the time its personnel spend performing certain tasks associated with filling a request; however, no labor charges may be assessed on any request that takes less than one hour to complete.
In addition to the Reasonable Fee Schedule, the OORC has also published a policy on Frequent and Multiple Requests, which is intended to offer some relief to those local governments who find themselves victims of a citizen or group of citizens that are using the privilege granted under the Open Records Act as a means of harassment.
Finally, the OORC has also released the Safe Harbor policy. The policy provides that any fees and charges assessed by a municipality pursuant to an internal policy that has been properly adopted and is consistent with the Reasonable Fee Schedule and the Frequent and Multiple Use policies are deemed to be reasonable and permissible under the Open Records Act.
