Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0240-06-05-.06 - FEES AND CHARGES FOR PUBLIC RECORDS; PROCEDURES FOR BILLING AND PAYMENT

(1) There is no charge for inspection of public records.

(2) No charges will be assessed for copies and duplicates unless the production costs exceed five dollars ($5).

(3) The Public Records Request Coordinator must provide a requestor with an itemized estimate of charges exceeding fifty dollars ($50) prior to producing copies of public records and may require pre-payment of such charges before producing requested public records.

(4) Fees and charges for copies are:

(a) $0.15 per page for 81/2" x 11" and 81/2" x 14" black and white copies. ETSU will waive fees associated with requests for public records that are fewer than 30 pages of black and white copies.

(b) $0.50 per page for 81/2" x 11" and 81/2" x 14" color copies. The fee for color copies will not be waived.

(c) The charge for a double-sided (duplex) copy is the same as the charge for two one-sided copies.

(d) If a copy of a public record is produced on a medium other than for 81/2" x 11" and 81/2" x 14" paper, the Public Records Request Coordinator may assess a copy charge equal to the actual cost of producing a copy of the public record, considering the amount of materials, equipment costs, and the cost of the alternative medium.

(e) ETSU is not obligated to provide electronic copies of the requested public records when the requested public records are not maintained electronically.

(f) ETSU may charge the actual costs for flash drives or similar storage devices on which electronic copies are provided.

(5) ETSU may charge the requestor the hourly wage of the employee(s) reasonably necessary to produce the requested public records above the labor threshold.

(a) The "labor threshold" is the labor of the employee(s) reasonably necessary to produce requested public records for the first hour incurred by ETSU in producing the public records. "Labor" means the employee time reasonably necessary to produce the requested public records and includes the time spent locating, retrieving, reviewing, redacting, and reproducing the public records.

(b) In calculating the labor costs to be charged to the requestor:

1. First, determine the number of hours each employee spent producing the requested public records.

2. Second, subtract the one-hour labor threshold from the number of hours the highest paid employee spent producing the request.

3. Third, multiply the total number of hours to be charged for the labor of each employee by that employee's hourly wage.

4. Fourth, add together the totals for all the employees involved in the request to determine the total amount of the labor costs to be charged to the requestor.

(c) Labor costs should be tracked based on tenths of an hour, rounded down.

(d) Pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-4-604(a)(2) and the Office of Open Records Counsel' s Policy on Reasonable Charges for Frequent and Multiple Requests, combined labor charges may be assessed for four (4) or more requests from the same requestor submitted within a 30-day period for any ETSU public record.

(6) ETSU has discretion to determine how payment for fees and costs should be made and whether advanced payment is required.

Notes

Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0240-06-05-.06

New rules filed May 4, 2022; effective 8/2/2022.

Authority: T.C.A. §§ 10-7-503, et seq., and 10-7-506(a).