Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball filed a lawsuit Monday against Gov. Andy Beshear and other state officials over access to information of abuse and neglect cases in the commonwealth.
In the complaint, filed in Franklin Circuit Court, Ball and her co-plaintiff, Ombudsman Jonathan Grate , claim Grate’s office has not been given proper access to a detailed case database, known as iTWIST, to investigate complaints against the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
This lack of access, Ball and Grate allege, places vulnerable Kentucky residents and key federal funding at risk.
“We have tried everything in our power to reach an agreement with the Cabinet to restore iTWIST access,” Ball said in a news release . “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.”
Eric Friedlander, the cabinet secretary, and Ruth Day, chief information officer of the state office of technology, are also listed as defendants in the complaint.