Gov. Haslam Says Fee For DCS Records Will Stand

Article by Chas Sisk

Gov. Bill Haslam suggested his administration would not back away from its $55,000 tab to produce records from the Department of Children's Services, even after the agency's new leader said the estimate seemed "a little high."

Haslam said during and after a luncheon appearance Thursday before the Tennessee Press Association that news organizations brought the issue on themselves by refusing to drop their suit calling for disclosure of the case files of children who have died after being brought to the attention of child welfare workers.

The records have not yet been made public, and no organization has been billed for their release, Haslam said. He dismissed a suggestion that, as governor, he could decide himself to waive or reduce the fees.

"That's what the chancellor will determine," Haslam said. "Should we waive it for everything that comes down the road?"

Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Carol McCoy ruled last month that DCS must release the forms its employees fill out when a child dies, and she said the department must provide redacted copies of all files on children who die.

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by The Tennessean and joined by other media outlets in the state seeking greater access to records on child fatalities. McCoy said the records should be public under state law and ruled that the state must pay newspapers' court costs for pursuing the case.

Haslam referred to those legal expenses and blamed media outlets for the high bill, saying they could have narrowed their request. He said lawyers for the plaintiffs refused to settle the case before it went to court.

"There was a corporate decision made to go to trial on this," Haslam said. "The chancellor came in and what she said, we're fine with. She's the one that said tell us what it will cost. It's in her seat."

Lauran Sturm, an attorney for the Waller law firm who worked on the case, said in a presentation to the Tennessee Press Association earlier in the morning that lawyers filed a broad request...

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