Fees, Charges, And Procedures For Billing And Payment

(1) Fees and charges for copies of public records should not be used to hinder access to public records. Unless otherwise required by statute, no charges will be assessed for copies and duplicates unless total cost of both copying and labor is more than fifty ($50.00) dollars. (2) Records custodians shall provide requestors with an itemized estimate of the charges prior to producing copies of records and may require pre-payment of such charges before producing requested records. Records custodians shall make best efforts to provide records electronically. (3) When fees for copies and labor do not exceed fifty ($50.00) dollars, the fees will be waived. Fees associated with aggregated records requests will not be waived. Fees set by statute cannot be waived. (4) Fees and charges for copies shall be based on the most current version of the Schedule of Reasonable Charges, issued by the Office of Open Records Counsel, available at https://www.comptroller.tn.gov/content/dam/cot/orc/documents/oorc/policies-and- guidelines/ScheduleofReasonableCharges.pdf. (5) A requestor may provide an empty jump drive, empty USB memory stick, or secured transfer site for copies of records. If the memory stick or jump drive provided is not empty, no records will be provided through that medium. There will be no copy charges when records are produced in this medium however, labor charges will still apply. (6) Other: RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS CHAPTER 1340-08-01 (a) Five ($5.00) dollars for each Moving Violation Record/driver history per T.C.A. § 55-50- 204. (b) Five ($5.00) dollars for each Affidavit for proof of insurance per T.C.A. § 55-50-204. (c) Four ($4.00) dollars for unredacted crash reports per T.C.A. § 55-12-108. Paper copies of redacted crash reports are fifteen cents ($0.15) per page. (d) Unredacted Crash Videos/DVDs with photos taken by the Investigating Trooper shall be provided for free, if the requestor is authorized to receive unredacted material under state or federal law. (e) Crash Videos/DVDs with photos taken by the Investigating Trooper that are required to be redacted per state or federal law will be charged at actual cost of thirty-one dollars and twenty-five cents ($31.25) per quarter hour of video, including the cost of any redaction done by a third-party vendor. (f) Paper copies of Crash Photos taken by the Investigating Trooper shall be made available at a charge of fifteen cents ($0.15) per page. (g) Bulk requests for driver license data shall be charged per Rule 1340-08-01-.04. (h) Individual Blood Alcohol Reports shall be provided for free. (i) Individual Toxicology Reports shall be provided for free. (j) Paper copies of Vehicular Homicide Reports shall be made available at a charge of fifteen cents ($0.15) per page. There shall be no labor charge for copying these reports. (k) Paper copies of Critical Incident Response Team (“CIRT”) photos taken by CIRT shall be made available at a charge of fifteen cents ($0.15) per page. There shall be no labor charge for copying these reports. (l) E-Crime Reports (SF-1496) shall be provided for free. (m) Incident Reports (SF-1493) shall be provided for free. (n) Offense Reports (SF-1492) shall be provided for free. (o) Labor when time exceeds one (1) hour. (p) If an outside vendor is used, the actual costs assessed by the vendor. (7) Payment is to be made by mailing personal check, cashier’s check, or money order payable to the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security at the Tennessee Tower located at 312 Rosa Parks Avenue 25th Floor, Nashville, TN 37243. (8) Advance payment (a) Payment in advance of half of the estimated amount will be required when costs are estimated to exceed one hundred ($100.00) dollars. (b) Payment in advance of the full estimated amount will be required when TDOSHS is using an outside vendor to complete the request. TDOSHS will notify the requestor in RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS CHAPTER 1340-08-01 advance of preparing the records that an outside vendor is being used and the estimated amount from the vendor. (9) The Commissioner or the PRRC, as the Commissioner’s designee, may, on a case-by-case basis, reduce any part of the fees calculated under this policy or waive any fee upon a written request for waiver or reduction. (a) Fees set by statute or charged by an outside vendor shall not be reduced or waived. (b) The waiver or a reduction of any fees is in the sole discretion of the Commissioner or PRRC, is not subject to judicial review, and does not establish any precedent. (10) Retention of Requests (a) If a request, either for copies or inspection, is unclaimed for thirty (30) days after TDOSHS notified the requestor, in writing, of the completion of the request and any charges, TDOSHS shall send a letter to the requestor, in writing, notifying the requestor that: 1. The records are available and the location; and 2. If the records remain unclaimed for an additional thirty (30) days from the date of the letter, the requestor will need to submit a new request for the records, and the new request may result in a new fee being charged. (b) At the end of the second thirty (30) day period, any original records shall be returned to their location and any copies made shall be destroyed by TDOSHS. If the original requestor submits a second request prior to the destruction of any copies, TDOSHS shall charge the original cost for the copying and labor, in addition to any fees that might be required if the second request seeks additional materials. (c) If the request was to inspect and only a telephone number was provided, TDOSHS shall telephone the requestor and make notes regarding any conversation and shall save such notes as part of the request. (11) Lack of Payment or Lack of Inspection (a) If a person makes two (2) or more requests to view a public record within a six-month period and, for each request, the person fails to view the public record within fifteen (15) business days of receiving notification that the record is available to view, TDOSHS is not required to comply with any public records request from the person for a period of six (6) months from the date of the second request to view the public record unless the governmental entity determines failure to view the public record was for good cause; and (b) If a person makes a request for copies of a public record and, after copies have been produced, the person fails to pay to TDOSHS the cost for producing such copies, TDOSHS is not required to comply with any public records request from the person until the person pays for such copies; provided, that the person was provided with an estimated cost for producing the copies in accordance with state law and these rules prior to producing the copies and the person agreed to pay the estimated cost for such copies. (12) No Response RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS CHAPTER 1340-08-01 (a) If a person makes a request for inspection or copies of records and fails to provide necessary identification or payment within sixty (60) days of notification for identification or payment, TDOSHS may close the request and refund any monies paid. (13) Bulk Crash Report Requests (a) For the purpose of this rule, “bulk” means the one-time preparation and furnishing of multiple individual crash reports. (b) Bulk requests shall be furnished in electronic format unless requested otherwise and agreed to by TDOSHS. (c) If a person makes a request for bulk crash reports and the responsive number of which is less than fifteen (15) reports, the fees associated with that request are waived. (d) If there more than fifteen (15) responsive records, the requestor shall be charged for the actual labor of the person or persons retrieving the reports.