Tennessee Senate Bill SB0730

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/4/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 10, Chapter 7, relative to open records.

Summary

SB0730 amends Tennessee’s Public Records Act to allow a records custodian to charge a fee when fulfilling an open records request requires more than one hour of employee time to collect records for inspection. Under the bill, the first hour of employee time must be provided without charge, but time beyond that threshold may be billed at an hourly rate proportional to the employee’s pay. The bill also clarifies that governmental entities may not require a written request or charge a fee to view a public record unless otherwise required by law or under the new fee provision. In practical terms, the bill creates a new cost recovery mechanism for agencies handling labor-intensive records requests. It would affect requestors seeking access to public records, especially in cases involving large, complex, or difficult-to-assemble files, while giving custodians a statutory basis to recoup staff time spent collecting records for inspection. The measure takes effect immediately upon becoming law.

Impact

The bill would amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 10, Chapter 7, Section 10-7-503, which governs access to public records and open records procedures. It adds a new exception allowing records custodians to charge for employee time spent collecting records when a request takes more than one hour, while preserving the existing rule that no written request or viewing fee may be required absent legal authorization. This would directly affect state and local governmental entities, records custodians, and members of the public seeking access to records under Tennessee’s open records laws.

Sentiment

No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of legislative debate or formal support/opposition in the available materials. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears designed to balance public access with administrative burden, suggesting a policy rationale that may appeal to agencies managing time-consuming requests while potentially drawing concern from open-government advocates. The absence of voting history makes overall sentiment difficult to gauge beyond the bill’s apparent administrative focus.

Contention

The main point of contention is likely the new fee authority for records custodians. Supporters would likely argue that agencies should be able to recover staff costs when requests require substantial time to gather records, especially after the first hour. Opponents, particularly transparency and open-government advocates, may argue that charging for record retrieval could discourage public access, create financial barriers, and be used to limit burdensome but legitimate requests. The bill also raises practical questions about how employee time is measured, what qualifies as time spent to “collect for inspection,” and how proportional hourly rates would be calculated.