Agencies May Be Liable If Public Records Held
 

April 17, 2006

By ERIK SCHELZIG Associated Press  NASHVILLE -- Courts can make government agencies that violate open-record laws pay for all legal costs, the state's attorney general said in an opinion released yesterday. While there are no penalties written into the state's open-record laws, Attorney General Paul Summers wrote that courts may require agencies to pay the legal fees when officials "knew records were public and willfully refused to disclose them." Summers said that records custodians must make all public records available for inspection during normal business hours, unless the documents are exempt from open-record rules. Lawmakers this session have sought to expand those exemptions, proposing to seal from the public's view records about traffic accidents, animal diseases, layouts of state buildings and judges' addresses. The opinion was requested by state Rep. Judd Matheny, R-Tullahoma. Matheny said he asked for the opinion in the course of his investigation of a political rival who he alleged sent e-mails from a state computer under a false name, untruthfully claiming Matheny had an arrest record. Doyle "Butch" Lewis Jr., a Democrat from Manchester, lost his House District 47 seat to Matheny in 2002 after serving five terms. He resigned as assistant commissioner of the state Department of Commerce and Insurance in January, a few hours after Matheny's allegations. "I don't think all the e-mails have been turned over," Matheny said. State Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, has introduced legislation to place the General Assembly under the state's open-record laws. But even if passed, it's unclear whether it would be constitutional. Responding to an earlier question about placing the legislature under Tennessee's Open Meetings Act, Summers said the act would not apply to the next two-year legislative session because each assembly is responsible for establishing its own rules under the state constitution. To make the rules permanent, the constitution would have to be amended. Under proposed changes to the open-meeting rules, city councils and county commissions could get hit with a $50 fine and attorneys' fees for knowingly violating open meetings rules. Some local officials have complained that they are being held to a different standard than state lawmakers. Both the open meetings and open records bills are scheduled to be discussed this week.

http://www.attorneygeneral.state.tn.us/op/2006/OP/OP69.pdf