tennessee

About Deborah Fisher

Deborah Fisher has been executive director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government since 2013. Previously she spent 25 years in the news industry as a journalist.
7 Mar, 2024

Interview on keeping state tourism information confidential

By |2024-03-07T08:57:27-06:00March 7, 2024|Categories: Legislature|0 Comments

The state tourism department is pushing a bill to give its commissioner authority to pick and choose which records are open to the public We think taxpayers deserve to know how their money is spent. Allowing secret deals opens the door to cronyism and corruption. NewsChannel 5 covered this controversial bill.

8 Feb, 2024

State tourism department bill seeks sweeping exemption to public records law

By |2024-02-09T09:27:05-06:00February 8, 2024|Categories: economic development, Legislature|0 Comments

Gov. Bill Lee’s administration is seeking a sweeping exemption to the public records law that would close any public records of the Tennessee Department of Tourism Development if the commissioner determines that the information is too "sensitive" to release. The exemption would most likely hide information about outcomes related to its marketing efforts.

7 Feb, 2024

Autopsies of murdered children would become confidential under bill passed by subcommittee

By |2024-02-07T08:36:45-06:00February 7, 2024|Categories: crime records, Legislature, Public Records|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

Autopsies of murdered children would become confidential under a bill that passed a House subcommittee on Tuesday. TCOG testified against the bill, noting examples of when journalists, often working with extended family members, used autopsies to shine light on coverups and mistakes, including a child shot in head by Memphis police in a botched housing raid and child killed by his mother's boyfriend in Columbia.

3 Jan, 2024

Judge rules expenses related to legislative intern harassment exempt from public records law

By |2024-01-03T17:02:01-06:00January 3, 2024|Categories: Legislature, public records lawsuits Tennessee, state records|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments

A Nashville judge said the expenses related to harassment of a 19-year-old legislative intern by then-state lawmaker Scotty Campbell are exempt from the public records law based on a House rule and a policy on workplace harassment. But Chancellor Russell Perkins refused to buy the state's broad argument that the General Assembly is exempt from the public records law.

9 Oct, 2023

Lawyer hired as new head of Office of Open Records Counsel

By |2023-10-09T11:23:56-05:00October 9, 2023|Categories: Office of Open Records Counsel|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Toni Chadwick has been named as the new open records counsel for the Office of Open Records Counsel for Tennessee. The office provides resources and answers questions about public records and open meetings laws and provides occasional advisory opinions and informal mediation. Chadwick takes over from Maria Bush, who held the job for about a year and a half.

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