The Franklin County Courthouse is shown in downtown Frankfort. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)
FRANKFORT — Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd urged Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration and Republican Auditor Allison Ball’s office to resolve a dispute over access to an abuse and neglect database before further litigation ensues.
In a Wednesday morning motion hour, Shepherd gave attorneys on both sides until close of business Thursday to let his office know if they had agreed on a mediator. Otherwise, he would appoint one for them.
“I think there’s probably a practical solution out there if everybody will just step back, take another look at it, take another try, maybe get somebody to help hammer out an agreement,” Shepherd said.
Last week, Ball filed the lawsuit against the Beshear administration seeking access for the office of the ombudsman to information about abuse and neglect cases through the iTWIST database. The auditor is seeking an expedited resolution on the matter so that the new Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman can review information in the database. Named in the lawsuit are Beshear, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander and Ruth Day, the chief information officer of the Commonwealth Office of Technology.
The legislature replaced the Office of the Ombudsman and Administrative Review in 2023 with the Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman and attached it to the auditor’s office, effective July 2024. The original office was part of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS).
The ombudsman investigates and resolves complaints about agencies in CHFS, 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.
On the other hand, CHFS says state law limits access to the computer system iTWIST to cabinet social service officials, 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 lawsuit is the latest in a series of back and forth between her office and Beshear’s administration over access to the database. In July, she sent the governor a demand letter to Beshear and CHFS Secretary Eric Friedlander seeking database access.
The governor later said that while he supported the office having access, “we have a written statute that is on the books that says we can’t provide certain access.”
“And I don’t think the General Assembly is going to tell me that if you think that you know what we wanted you to do, then you can ignore the other statutes that we passed on the books,” Beshear said at the time.
On Tuesday, Shepherd did say he could understand the positions of both the auditor and CHFS. Ball’s office has sought access to the database for months, but CHFS is concerned about maintaining the confidentiality of information regarding minors and families.
The judge said that he thought everyone in the case could agree that the General Assembly will likely pass a law clarifying access to the database for the Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman. The legislature reconvenes in January, about four months away, and has a veto-proof Republican supermajority.
Alexander Magera, general counsel for the auditor’s office, asked Shepherd to consider granting court-ordered access to the database for the new ombudsman’s office.
“If you all can’t reach an agreement on this within the next week or two, I’m going to reserve the right to take whatever action the court thinks is necessary to make sure the statutory mandate is implemented,” Shepherd said.
Robert Long Jr., on behalf of the chief information officer for COT, and Travis Mayo, general counsel for Beshear, both filed motions to dismiss the case. They argued the auditor’s office did not have standing to include Day and Beshear as parties in the lawsuit. Shepherd said the governor’s argument could be different on that front since he is the head of the executive branch and has authority over decisions within it.