Senator says he won't pay TennCare for records

Cooper calls state 'foolish' for trying to charge for data his committee needs

By MICHAEL CASS
The Tennessean

02/23/05

            A legislator with power over TennCare's budget said he's ready to play hardball with state officials over their request for up to $75,000 to produce records about the state health program.

            But an administration official said he expects state Sen. Jerry Cooper to deal with TennCare fairly.

            Cooper, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee, said in both an interview and a letter to State Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz that he doesn't plan on paying for the TennCare-related documents, which The Tennessean also has requested.

            Two other lawmakers said they know of no other instance where a state department has tried to charge the legislature for records.

            Cooper, a McMinnville Democrat whose committee starts TennCare budget hearings tomorrow, told Goetz on Friday that he's willing to work with the state on the format of the records. But he said yesterday that if lawmakers had to pay for the documents, he might propose an amendment that would take money out of TennCare's budget to make up the cost.

            ''If they want to play chicken, we'll play chicken,'' he said. ''It's foolish to say you'll charge a standing legislative committee $70,000 for public records. That's not very smart.''

            Goetz responded that he was ''sure Senator Cooper is going to be responsible in how he addresses his duties as committee chair and that the TennCare budget will be dealt with in a responsible way.''

            The dispute began Feb. 15, when Cooper wrote Goetz with four records requests. One of them was for ''all documents included in the TennCare public records requests filed by The Tennessean from October, 2004, to the present.''

            The Tennessean recently sued TennCare over its refusal to respond to requests for public records concerning TennCare enrollees by category, spending by category, cost-saving scenarios and other matters. A Davidson County chancellor ruled Friday that the state must provide the records, though the amount of money the newspaper will have to pay for some of them is still up in the air.

            Also Friday, Goetz responded to Cooper's letter and said producing the documents in the format re- quested by the newspaper ''will take at least seven weeks of senior staff time, programmer work and will cost between $70,000 and $75,000. State law requires that The Tennessean pay the costs of production of these records if they pursue the request. We would also expect the legislature to do so. The time of production also is well beyond your requested date of February 28. Please advise as to whether it is your intent to continue in this request.''

            Cooper responded later that day that his committee needs the documents to make ''informed decisions on this budget'' and that the request ''remains in effect.''

            ''I hope to receive the documentation at an early date and at no expense to the legislature,'' he said.

            Asked yesterday why he thought the state was saying the records would cost that much, Cooper replied, ''I don't have a clue. I really don't.''

            But Goetz said it would be fiscally irresponsible to waive the costs of reprogramming computers to generate a report that doesn't already exist.

            ''As a good steward of the public funds, I know Senator Cooper — if there was a significant cost like that involved with the production of a report, specifically for him — he would expect us to ask the legislature to pay, and I assume he would expect the legislature to pay it,'' he said.

            Other members of Cooper's committee agreed that the request that a lawmaker pay for public records was highly unusual, and one said the state's failure to provide TennCare information has been a longstanding frustration.

            ''Getting information so we can make decisions on TennCare has been difficult, to say the least,'' said Sen. Jim Bryson, R-Franklin.

            Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, said he had ''never been quoted a bill (for public records) from any department or bureau'' in his 18 years in the General Assembly. But he said the circumstances might be ''extraordinary'' and that he trusts Gov. Phil Bredesen to run a transparent government.

            ''My experience is that the governor wants to provide all the information he can to the legislature,'' Jackson said. ''I trust he'll do that.''

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