Deborah FisherGET INVOLVED
The Office of Open Records Counsel is collecting comments about charging a fee to inspect public records. The public can comment online and in public hearings in Knoxville (Sept. 15), Nashville (Sept. 16) and Jackson (Sept. 17). Email thoughts to comments.open.records@cot.tn.gov and get information about the public hearings at the Office of Open Records Counsel website. (http://www.comptroller.tn.gov/openrecords/index.asp)
Should the Tennessee Public Records Act permit the government to charge citizens to inspect public records? A series of public meetings across the state next month will allow citizens to voice their opinions on this question.
The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government believes that charging citizens to view public records would make it easier for some government officials to block citizen access to records. We believe that the result of a change in Tennessee law would be immediate: Some citizens would no longer be able to view public records because they could not afford to pay the fees.
The change would roll back Tennessee’s legal tradition of favoring government transparency and give officials who wish to limit access a new club to hinder access to records they don’t want anyone to see. In essence, it would create a new exemption to the Tennessee Public Records Act: A government record is exempt from the Public Records Act if a citizen can’t pay the price set by the government official to see it.
Our great state of Tennessee would have the equivalent of a “poll tax” for public records, opening the door for arbitrary charges that would be nearly impossible to challenge. We know the result of that kind of system.