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Transparency bill on DCS provider placements fails after agencies flag confidentiality and workload concerns
Summary
House Bill 2250, which would have required public reporting on which providers house youth and details on temporary placements, failed in committee after DCS said compiling and publicly releasing incident and placement data could violate confidentiality statutes and impose heavy administrative burden.
Representative Johnson proposed House Bill 2250 to require the Department of Children's Services to publish three years of provider data (who is housing youth, payments, licensing and violations) and ongoing reporting on temporary placements such as offices, emergency rooms, shelters and assessment centers. She cited a comptroller audit showing stays ranging from 1 to 160 days (average 12 days) and said transparency is necessary to uncover patterns of abuse and overcrowding.
DCS witnesses Jim Lehman and Hayes O'Donnell opposed the bill on fiscal and confidentiality grounds. Lehman said assembling the required data would be a "heavy lift" and noted the bill could conflict with statutes protecting child-abuse investigation records. O'Donnell pointed to existing public payment transparency tools (Transparent Tennessee Checkbook) but said interim placement locations are not currently public and full publication could create safety concerns. The committee recorded 1 aye and 4 nays, and the bill did not advance.
