Tennessee FOIA procedures

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Each state varies slightly in the procedures used to gain access to public documents. This article serves to describe specifically the steps used in Tennessee. To read the history and details of Tennessee’s sunshine laws please see Tennessee Open Records Act

How to request public records in Tennessee

Records requests should be directed to the individual in each office who is designated as the official records custodian.

Purpose and use

The law does not require a statement of purpose or restrict the use of records once the documents have been received.

Who may request public records?

See also: List of who can make public record requests by state

The law states that any citizen of Tennessee may request public records there. Public documents shall "be open for personal inspection by any citizen of Tennessee." ^[1] However, recent federal court rulings have overturned similar state specific statutes and opened up records in these states to all United States citizens. To read more, please see: Lee v. Minner.

Fees

See also: How much do public records cost?

Reasonable fees may be charged for requested copies of records but not merely to view the records. ^[2]

Response time

See also: Request response times by state

Tennessee allows 7 days to respond to records requests. ^[3]

Exemptions

See also

• Tennessee Open Records Act
• Tennessee Open Meetings Law

External links

• Tennessee Code search for Title 10, Chapter 7
• Open Government Guide to Tennessee

References

	v • d • e State of Tennessee Nashville (capital)
Transparency	Open Records Act | Transparency Checklist | Government corruption reports | Transparency Legislation | Open Records procedures | Transparency Advocates | Transparency blogs | State budget | Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations |
Divisions	State | List of Counties | List of Cities | List of Towns | List of School Districts | Evaluation of county websites | Evaluation of city websites | Evaluation of township websites | Evaluation of school district websites |
Government	Tennessee State Constitution | Executive | House of Representatives | Senate |
Judiciary	Tennessee Supreme Court | Court of Appeals | Circuit Court | Chancery Court | Probate Court | Criminal Court | Judicial nomination process | Judicial news | Judicial activist organizations |
Ballot Measures	Ballot measures | 2006 constitutional amendments | 2002 constitutional amendments | Procedures for qualifying an initiative | Amending the constitution | History of direct democracy | Campaign finance requirements |