Deborah Fisher, Author at Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

29 Apr, 2020

TCOG joins open meetings lawsuit against Registry of Election Finance board over email vote

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:11:31-05:00April 29, 2020|Categories: open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: attorney-client privilege, Bill Young, email vote, Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Attorney General, Tom Lawless|1 Comment

In an effort to uphold the Open Meetings Act, the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government today joined news media organizations, journalists and press associations in filing an open meetings lawsuit against the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. See lawsuit here. (Read: Media groups sue campaign finance board over email vote, contend violation of open meetings law - By Joel Ebert, The Tennessean, Tennessee media groups, watchdog sue over vote by email - By Travis Loller, AP, Reporters Committee group files lawsuit over Towns decision - By Sam Stockard, The Daily Memphian.) On the evening of April 1, the election finance board took an email vote in secret to reduce by [...]

29 Apr, 2020

Electronic meetings survey: We need your observations!

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:12:54-05:00April 29, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: COVID-19, electronic meetings|0 Comments

Knoxville City Council using Zoom on March 24, 2020. Tennessee Coalition for Open Government is collecting information on how governing bodies have conducted meetings during COVID-19, including electronic meetings. What went well? What didn't? And how can things be improved? Governor Bill Lee on March 20 issued Executive Order No. 16, temporarily suspending the requirement that members of a governing body gather a quorum of members physically present at the same location to conduct business. It allowed governing bodies to instead meet by electronic means in light of the COVID-19 outbreak so long as they provided live access, or a clear audio or video recording afterward. The order expires on [...]

28 Apr, 2020

Georgia can’t copyright its annotated code, says Supreme Court in ruling that could affect Tennessee

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:13:54-05:00April 28, 2020|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: copyright, Tennessee Code Annotated, U.S. Supreme Court|0 Comments

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision on Monday ruled that non-binding legal materials created by a state legislative body cannot be copyrighted, expanding the understanding of what government works are in the public domain. In a decision delivered by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., the Supreme Court ruled that Georgia can't copyright the annotations in its official state code. At issue in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. was whether Georgia could copyright the annotations in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA) and prevent the nonprofit Public.Resource.Org from copying the annotated version and distributing it for free on its website. “Under the government edicts doctrine, judges — and, we [...]

24 Apr, 2020

After public pressure, state releases nursing home COVID-19 data on website

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:14:56-05:00April 24, 2020|Categories: Public Records|Tags: COVID-19, nursing homes|0 Comments

In "Tennessee keeps nursing homes' COVID-19 numbers secret," NC5 investigative reporter Phil Williams presses the Lee administration on why data is being withheld. After multiple weeks of pressure and questions from news media organizations and journalists, the Tennessee Department of Health today began posting on its website COVID-19 infection rates and deaths in nursing homes. Data was released on the state Health Department's COVID-19 website showing reported COVID-19 infection rates and death rates. The health department said it would update the data weekly at 2 p.m. on Fridays. The data will be updated each Friday at 2 p.m. Central Daylight Time, the state said. On Friday, the data showed 44 [...]

24 Apr, 2020

In-person court proceedings can resume with certain safeguards and approval

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T13:15:55-05:00April 24, 2020|Categories: Open Courts|Tags: courts, COVID-19, Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins|1 Comment

In what seems to be becoming a pattern with big announcements, Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee shared news of the order first on twitter on Friday morning. The order was posted on the court's website a few hours later. The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an order today modifying its earlier suspension of in-person court proceedings, providing a pathway for in-person court proceedings to resume. The court on March 13 declared a state of emergency for the judicial branch of government in Tennessee, and suspended most in-person court proceedings with some exceptions. (The order was updated March 25.) "Since that time, the State of Tennessee and its citizens have made [...]

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