Current through September 24, 2024
(1) General
(a) Fees and charges for copies of public
records should not be used to hinder access to public records.
(b) Prior to producing copies of records, the
records custodian shall provide the requestor with an estimate of the charges
to be assessed for production and labor. The estimate shall include the job
title, hourly rate, and time estimate for each of the individuals expected to
be involved in producing the records. The records custodian shall not be
required to identify the specific tasks to be performed by the individuals for
the estimate or invoice.
(c) Waiver
1. When the total costs of production,
including the cost for copies, labor, and delivery, do not exceed fifty dollars
($50.00), the fees shall be waived, unless otherwise required by
statute.
2. Requests for fee
waivers exceeding fifty dollars ($50.00) or fee reductions shall be presented
to the commissioner. Any waiver or reduction in fees is in the sole discretion
of the commissioner, is not subject to judicial review, and does not establish
any precedent.
3. Fees associated
with aggregated records requests shall not be waived unless the fees
collectively amount to less than fifty dollars ($50.00).
(2) Production costs for copies
are determined by the Schedule of Reasonable Charges established by the OORC.
(a) Other costs reasonably necessary to
produce the records include, but are not limited to:
1. Archive retrieval costs;
2. Delivery cost of records;
3. Computer programs; or
4. If an outside vendor is used, the actual
costs assessed by the vendor.
(3) Labor Costs
(a) The requestor shall pay labor costs for
the production of copies at the hourly wage of the employee(s) reasonably
necessary to produce the requested information after one (1) hour of work has
been done by the employees in identifying, producing, reviewing, and redacting
the requested material. The first hour of labor costs shall not be deducted for
purposes of calculating fee waivers for costs that do not exceed fifty dollars
($50.00).
(b) The one (1) hour
waiver applies to the highest paid employee. If the highest paid employee
spends less than one (1) hour on the request, then the balance of the hour
shall roll to the next highest paid employee involved in the request until one
(1) full hour of credit has been given.
(4) Payment of Costs
(a) Copies of records will not be released
until such time as payment has been made, except as approved by the
commissioner.
(b) Forms of payment
include any form of payment accepted by the department at the time of any
request. The department has the discretion to determine the acceptable forms of
payment for costs.
(c) Checks must
be made payable to the department and presented to the records custodian or
PRRC.
(5) Pursuant to
T.C.A. §
10-7-503,
if the department receives a request for copies of a public record and the
requestor fails to pay to the department the cost for the production of such
copies after copies have been produced, the department is not required to
comply with any public records request from the requestor until payment for
such copies has been received provided that the requestor was given an
estimated cost for producing the copies prior to the production of the copies
and agreed to pay the estimated cost for such copies.
(6) If the costs for copies exceeds fifty
dollars ($50.00), the requestor shall pay the estimated amount in advance of
processing and shall be invoiced for or refunded the difference between the
estimated and actual costs, as appropriate.
(7) If the records are to be produced as part
of a rolling production as set out in Rule 0780-07-02-.07, then the costs for
purposes of this paragraph shall be the costs of each segment of records. The
requestor shall pay for each segment of records produced prior to the
department being obligated to produce the next segment of records. If the costs
for requested copies exceed fifty dollars ($50.00), the requestor shall pay the
estimated amount in advance and shall be invoiced for or refunded the
difference of the estimated and actual costs, as appropriate.
(8) Aggregation of Frequent and Multiple
Requests
(a) The department will aggregate
record requests in accordance with the Frequent and Multiple Request Policy
promulgated by the OORC when more than (4) requests are received within a
calendar month either from a single individual or a group of individuals
determined to be working in concert.
(b) Records requests will be aggregated at
the department level.
(c) The PRRC
is responsible for making the determination that a group of individuals is
working in concert. The PRRC or the records custodian must inform the
individuals that they have been deemed to be working in concert and that they
have the right to appeal the decision to the OORC.
Authority: T.C.A. §§
10-7-501,
et seq.
