State Rep. Bud Hulsey

20 Mar, 2017

Ethics bills would require lawmaker disclosure of gifts, including for travel

By |2017-03-20T11:03:17-05:00March 20, 2017|Categories: Legislature|Tags: , , , , , |1 Comment

Two different sets of ethics legislation on House and Senate calendars this week would require more disclosure of gifts, including for travel, received by lawmakers from people with an interest in influencing public policy. Both sets of bills would increase transparency. Currently, anyone who is not a lobbyist or an employer of a lobbyist can give any amount of money or gift to a lawmaker and the lawmaker does not need to report that gift to the Tennessee Ethics Commission. The issue of such unreported gifts came to light last year after Dave Boucher and Joel Ebert of The Tennessean reported about a Gulf Shores fishing trip hosted by a [...]

16 Feb, 2017

With some pushback, House subcommittee passes bill to allow public records requests by email

By |2017-02-16T10:41:23-06:00February 16, 2017|Categories: Legislature, requests|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments

The House State Government Subcommittee passed with a voice vote on Wednesday a bill that would clarify the public records statutes to say that citizens could use email to send in their records requests if a government entity already uses email to conduct government business. The requirement would not apply if the government entity does not use email as an "official mode of communication" in recognition that some small or rural government entities may not have or use email. State Rep. Courtney Rogers, R-Goodlettsville The bill's sponsor, Courtney Rogers, R-Goodlettsville, said the purpose of the bill (HB 58 / SB 464) is to eliminate any ambiguity in the law, and [...]

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