Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0780-07-02-.08 - FEES AND PAYMENTS

(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.

Notes

Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0780-07-02-.08

Original rule filed October 23, 2020; effective 1/21/2021.

Authority: T.C.A. §§ 10-7-501, et seq.