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.
25 Feb, 2025

Bill would require redaction of addresses from property records, deeds, other records

By |2025-02-25T11:45:56-06:00February 25, 2025|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|0 Comments

Certain local and state government employees, including law enforcement and court staff, would be allowed to require government agencies to redact their home addresses and other information from all public records under a bill proposed in the Tennessee Legislature.

13 Feb, 2025

UT pays $60K in attorney fees to settle WBIR public records lawsuit

By |2025-02-13T19:28:51-06:00February 13, 2025|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, public university records|0 Comments

After a public records lawsuit by Knoxville TV station WBIR, the University of Tennessee has turned over unredacted copies of operating agreements and other documents for a partnership that runs Oak Ridge National Laboratory and paid $60,000 to cover WBIR's attorneys fees and litigation costs.

10 Feb, 2025

Victor Ashe named as TCOG’s representative on Advisory Committee on Open Government

By |2025-02-13T14:54:27-06:00February 10, 2025|Categories: Advisory Committee on Open Government|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Victor Ashe of Knoxville has been named as TCOG's representative on the Advisory Committee on Open Government along with four other new members. 

30 Jan, 2025

Bill allows records of TN immigration enforcement to be confidential

By |2025-02-01T07:30:09-06:00January 30, 2025|Categories: Legislature, state records|Tags: , , |0 Comments

The records of a new Tennessee centralized immigration enforcement division will largely be secret from the public under an exemption added to a bill in its lightening-speed path to its approval.

21 Jan, 2025

Does the governor’s new voucher bill provide enough transparency?

By |2025-02-01T07:35:34-06:00January 21, 2025|Categories: Legislature, schools, state records|Tags: , , |0 Comments

The governor's voucher bill, called the Education Freedom Scholarship Act, would provide money, beginning next year at $7,075, for students in private schools to use toward their education. But the bill is not like the pilot voucher plan that the governor started a few years back in Davidson, Shelby and, later, Hamilton counties. And it has no requirements for measuring outcomes, such as how many vouchers go to children already in private schools.

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