House committee pre-meetings Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

Weekly notice of House pre-meetings will help the public

By Deborah Fisher|2017-02-27T16:26:38-06:00February 27, 2017|Categories: Legislature|Tags: Beth Harwell, House committee pre-meetings, public notice|0 Comments

The schedule for Tennessee House pre-meetings will now be announced weekly on the General Assembly's website, as well as posted on hallway bulletin boards at Legislative Plaza -- a significant move that will allow the public and journalists to know when and where the meetings occur if they want to attend. Posted notice of pre-meetings, Bill Review, at Legislative Plaza Pre-meetings, also called Committee Bill Review, are held in lawmaker conference rooms, which do not have equipment for live-streaming. Though more informal than regular committee and subcommittee meetings, which are live-streamed and recorded, lawmakers, lobbyists and other government officials can discuss significant information about proposed legislation in the pre-meetings. [...]

Spot check on legislative pre-meetings reveals significant debate

News reporters Joel Ebert with The Tennessean and Rick Locker with The Commercial Appeal attended four legislative pre-meetings of House committees Monday as part of Sunshine Week to spot check what happens there. Pre-meetings came under criticism last year after news reporters were initially shut out. Lawmakers defend them as a way to work out logistics before the real committee meeting that takes place, where votes are taken and the proceeding is video-recorded and streamed live on the Internet on the General Assembly's website. Ebert and Locker reported that not all House and Senate committees have such pre-meetings, but the ones checked on Monday drew some large crowds of lobbyists and [...]