Victor Ashe of Knoxville has been named as TCOG's representative on the Advisory Committee on Open Government along with four other new members.
A subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on Open Government will meet on Friday to review a 2018 change in the law that expanded confidentiality for college president candidates at state colleges. The subcommittee will meet at 3 p.m. Friday via a Webex conference call. The public may attend with this link. The subcommittee has been asked to discuss the effectiveness of the 2018 amendment to the higher education executive search statute (Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-7-154) in preparation of a report from ACOG to the governor and speakers of the House and Senate. 2018 law expanded confidentiality of finalist candidates In 2018, the Legislature expanded the confidentiality of college president [...]
The Advisory Committee on Open Government will meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday to discuss legislation that would limit public records requests from people found to be harassing the government. The meeting will be livestreamed and can be viewed by the public through the following link: https://tngov.webex.com/tngov/onstage/g.php?MTID=ebf38667b9ad074a64ca63d6e491c9ab1. Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, asked the 14-member committee to review his proposed bill that would allow a government entity to seek an injunction against a person whose behavior met a harassment definition outlined in the bill. Haile has worked on the bill for two years. He introduced it in 2019 and presented an amended version in February to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee [...]
A decade ago, in the spring of 2008, the Legislature created the Advisory Committee on Open Government to provide guidance to the newly created Office of Open Records Counsel. The Legislature also gave the committee the ability to review and provide written comments on proposed legislation related to open records and open meetings laws. But for most of the past 10 years, the group has barely met. Aside from its initial whirlwind participation in setting a “reasonable fee schedule” for copies of public records, committee discussions have been so infrequent as to cause some who have attended to wonder whether even those were worth the time. The open government committee [...]
The Advisory Committee on Open Government will be allowed to meet more frequently and at the call of co-chairs under legislation that has won approval from both the Senate and the House. Previously, the committee met only at the request of the Office of Open Records Counsel. State Rep. Bob Ramsey, R-Maryville, and Chair of House State Government Committee ACOG is a 14-member committee established by the Legislature in 2008 as part of open government reform. Its 14 members, equally representing government and citizen groups, are appointed by the Comptroller’s office. It also has three ex-officio members. The committee's purpose and duties include advising the Office of Open Records Counsel [...]
