A bill that expands the agenda requirement in the open meetings law has been transmitted to Gov. Bill Lee for signature.
As an example of an agenda before the new agenda law goes into effect, this 2023 agenda is from the Megasite Authority of West Tennessee, which was set up by the state to manage the megasite for the new Ford auto plant. Under a bill passed by the legislature and now awaiting the governor’s signature, state boards like this one must publish their agendas 48 hours in advance and “reasonably describe the matters to be deliberated or acted upon during the public meeting.”
The bill (SB2741 / HB 2934) passed unanimously in both the Senate and the House. It requires state governing bodies to make their agenda available to the public at no charge at least 48 hours before the meeting. The agendas must be in a place accessible to the public. The bill specifies that the governing body’s website would qualify as a publicly accessible place. State governing bodies include dozens of state boards, councils and commissions, most of which can be found on the state agency’s website with which the board is associated.
Agendas must ‘reasonably describe’ each agenda item
Importantly, the agenda “must reasonably describe the matters to be deliberated or acted upon during the public meeting.” This means that agenda items can’t be too vague and must have some degree of specificity. The intent is that someone could understand what an agenda item is about by its description.
While the bill allows a governing body to add items to an agenda during a meeting, the law states they “shall not circumvent the spirit or requirements” of the law “by withholding items from an agenda for the purpose of avoiding public disclosure of business to be considered by the state governing body or a local government legislative body.”
To add things to the agenda during a meeting, the governing body follows its bylaws or properly adopted rules and procedures and comply with all other applicable state laws.
This bill builds upon a law passed in 2023 that created the agenda requirement for local legislative bodies, such as county commissions, boards of aldermen and city councils. The agenda statute, T.C.A. § 8-44-110, was new in the open meetings law, which previously required only adequate notice of meetings.
The Senate sponsor was Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, who also carried the 2023 agenda bill. Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, was the co-sponsor, as he was on the first agenda bill in 2023. The House sponsor was Rep. Rush Bricken, R-Tullahoma.
