Tennessee Open Records Law - Request

Good afternoon.

We have received your public records request. In order to process a public records request, please note the following:

In Tennessee, records are only required to be made available pursuant to a public records request if the requestor is a Tennessee citizen pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(a)(2)(A). Please provide this office with proof of Tennessee citizenship.

To the extent that sufficient proof of Tennessee citizenship is received, the following law applies:

Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(a) provides the following:
(a)(2)(B) The custodian of a public record or the custodian’s designee shall promptly make available for inspection any public record not specifically exempt from disclosure. In the event it is not practicable for the record to be promptly available for inspection, the custodian shall, within seven (7) business days:
(i) Make the information available to the requestor;
(ii) Deny the request in writing or by completing a records request response form developed by the office of open records counsel. The response shall include the basis for the denial; or
(iii) Furnish the requestor a completed records request response form developed by the office of open records counsel stating the time reasonably necessary to produce the record or information.

Upon receipt of proof of the requestor’s Tennessee citizenship, this office will begin the process of retrieving, reviewing and/or redacting the requested records. In accordance with the above-cited law, this email is being sent to you to inform you that within seven (7) business days after this office’s receipt of proof of the requestor’s Tennessee citizenship, either the records you have requested to inspect/receive copies of will be available or determination of accessibility and availability will be made regarding the requested records.

In order to assist you with your request, please note that for all Tennessee public records requests, this level of detail requested below and copied here is needed:

“Provide a detailed description of the record(s) requested, including: (1) type of record; (2) timeframe or dates for the records sought; and (3) subject matter or key words related to the records. Under the TPRA, record requests must be sufficiently detailed to enable a governmental entity to identify the specific records sought. As such, your record request must provide enough detail to enable the records custodian responding to the request to identify the specific records you are seeking.”
Best,
Patrick Morrison

Good morning. I have received Kent Hoover’s driver license; however, I don’t see him copied here. Please have him confirm that he is making this request, because in Tennessee, public records are only required to be made available to residents of Tennessee.

Once I have received that request from Mr. Hoover, I can begin processing your request.

Thank you.

Patrick