Kentucky Auditor Ball sues Beshear for access to computerized records of abuse, neglect

Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball, center, spoke to lawmakers on July 30. about access to computerized records of child and elder abuse cases. Ombudsman Jonathan Grate is at left and Alexander Magera, general counsel in the auditor's office, is at right. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)

Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball has filed a lawsuit against the Beshear administration in Franklin Circuit Court in her ongoing effort to ensure the office of the ombudsman has access to information about abuse and neglect cases.

This move comes after Ball and the administration have gone back and forth on access for the past two months. The lawsuit names Gov. Andy Beshear, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander and Ruth Day, the chief information officer of the Commonwealth Office of Technology.

In the lawsuit, Ball pointed to efforts to resolve the dispute with the cabinet and says “ regrettably, the time has now come for the judiciary to step in and end the cabinet’s and the governor’s obstruction.”

“The governor supports changing the law in the next legislative session to provide access. In the meantime, the administration has tried to work with the auditor’s office to provide them with the maximum access allowed under the current law, but they have refused,” Crystal Staley, a spokeswoman for Beshear, said in a statement. “On numerous occasions the cabinet believed a resolution had nearly been reached, only to find the auditor’s office had changed its position. Today’s action shows the auditor would rather play politics than work with the cabinet on a solution – one that meets the requirements set forth by the General Assembly.”

In response to that Beshear statement, auditor spokesperson Joy Pidgorodetska Markland said Beshear “is the only one making this political.”

“As outlined in our lawsuit today, our office has never changed our position,” Markland said. “The auditor and ombudsman want to help vulnerable Kentuckians across the commonwealth and need iTWIST access in order to do so. This is not political; this is doing the job they were sworn to do. The governor’s administration is obstructing access and has repeatedly changed positions throughout our negotiations. The closest we came to reaching an agreement was while he was auditioning to be Kamala Harris’ running mate.”

Kentucky lawmakers hear about efforts to resolve dispute over access to abuse, neglect records

Ball’s office assumed oversight of the ombudsman on July 1, thanks to a new law enacted last  year by the legislature, Senate Bill 48 .

The ombudsman investigates and resolves complaints about agencies in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, including protective services for children and elderly Kentuckians. The ombudsman appointed by Ball, Jonathan Grate, can’t do his job without access to iTWIST, (the Workers Information System), Ball previously told lawmakers.

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) believes access to the computer system iTWIST is limited by state law to cabinet social service officials under Kentucky Revised Statute 620.050 , with some exceptions for certain parties within the cabinet, law enforcement and prosecutors, outside medical or social service officials and the parent or guardian of the child in question, the Lantern has reported.

Ball’s office says the ombudsman is covered under that statute despite having moved out of CHFS and into the  auditor’s office.

“There is simply no legitimate reason for the cabinet to refuse to allow the office to have full, direct and real-time access to iTWIST,” the Monday lawsuit says.

“ The Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman needs access to iTWIST to serve the people of Kentucky, especially its most vulnerable children and adults,” Ball said in a statement. “We have tried everything in our power to reach an agreement with the cabinet to restore iTWIST access. But unfortunately, Governor Beshear and the cabinet are more interested in placing unworkable and unlawful constraints on our access than helping the Commonwealth’s endangered children and adults. I am committed to pursuing every path forward to ensure the well-being of all Kentuckians.”

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