Amends TCA Title 10, Chapter 7.

This bill makes changes to provisions of law governing confidential records pertaining to persons or entities involved in the process of executing a sentence of death, as described below. Present law governing such confidential records provides the following: (1) That those parts of the record identifying an individual or entity as a person or entity that has been or may in the future be directly involved in the process of executing a sentence of death must be treated as confidential and not be open to public inspection. For the purposes of this provision "person or entity" includes an employee of the state who has training related to direct involvement in the process of executing a sentence of death, a contractor or employee of a contractor, a volunteer who has direct involvement in the process of executing a sentence of death, or a person or entity involved in the procurement or provision of chemicals, equipment, supplies, and other items for use in carrying out a sentence of death; (2) That such confidential records include records related to payment to a person or entity in connection with such person's or entity's participation in or preparation for the execution of a sentence of death. Present law requires such payments to be made in accordance with a memorandum of understanding between the commissioner of correction and the commissioner of finance and administration in a manner that will protect the public identity of the recipients. However, if a contractor is employed to participate in or prepare for the execution of a sentence of death, the amount of the special payment made to the contractor pursuant to the contract must be reported by the commissioner of correction to the comptroller of the treasury and the amount must be a public record; and (3) That information made confidential by this (1)-(2) is required to be redacted wherever possible, and (1)-(2) cannot be used to limit or deny access to otherwise public information because a file, a document, or data file contains confidential information. This bill changes the above provisions as follows: (1) Removes the definition of person or entity in (1); (2) Changes from confidential to public record the identity of an entity that compounds, distributes, or manufactures the drugs obtained and used by the department of correction to carry out an execution by lethal injection, and adds that such information may be subject to discovery or introduction as evidence in a civil proceeding; and (3) Adds that the qualifications, evidence of competency, and relevant experience of an officer or employee of the entity, and a person or contractor used by the entity to obtain equipment or substances to facilitate the compounding, distribution, or manufacturing of the drugs used by the department of correction in carrying out a sentence of death are not confidential. However, this bill clarifies that the residential and office addresses, residential and office telephone numbers, social security numbers, and tax identification numbers of officers and employees of the entity and any person or contractor used by the entity to obtain equipment or substances to facilitate the compounding of such drugs are confidential and exempt from public disclosure.