CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- Gov. Bill Haslam's staff has declined to release some records about the administration's legislation to overhaul the Tennessee Regulatory Authority.

According to records obtained by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the governor's office solicited advice from nearly a dozen regulated utilities or industry associations about the administration's legislation.

The paper reports Haslam and his legal counsel, Herbert Slatery, are refusing to divulge some of the opinions they received or who provided them, on grounds some of it is protected by attorney work product and deliberative process privilege.

Frank Gibson, Tennessee Press Association policy director, questioned the lack of a full response to the request. Saying that records are protected by attorney work product doesn't apply when state officials were gathering information to change public policy, Gibson said.