Legislature Archives - Page 11 of 33 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

7 Sep, 2020

Advisory committee to meet on legislation to limit ‘harassing’ requesters

By Deborah Fisher|2020-09-07T11:33:08-05:00September 7, 2020|Categories: Advisory Committee on Open Government, Legislature, requests|Tags: ACOG, harassment, legislation, public records requests, State Sen. Ferrell Haile|1 Comment

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 [...]

23 Jun, 2020

2020 Legislative Report: A session shadowed by COVID-19

By Deborah Fisher|2020-07-30T12:24:17-05:00June 23, 2020|Categories: Legislature, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|0 Comments

The 111th General Assembly had a session like no other in 2020, punctured by a pandemic that caused leadership to abruptly close their meetings to the public on March 16. Hundreds of people who usually flock to the Cordell Hull building and the Capitol to try to influence their lawmakers and make their voice heard were reduced to telephone, email and video. Lawmakers continued for four days this way, then recessed March 19. When they reconvened on June 1, the House had opened its doors to the public again, albeit with reduced seating, required temperature checks and strong suggestions for mask-wearing. The Senate did not; instead, promising action on only [...]

15 Jun, 2020

Senate passes records preservation bill; House set for floor vote tonight

By Deborah Fisher|2020-06-27T11:58:20-05:00June 15, 2020|Categories: Legislature, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|0 Comments

State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, initiated and carried the bill that prohibits the destruction of public records that are subject to a pending public records request. The bill also requires a minimum retention period of 12 months for written or electronic correspondence regarding a public record request. A bill that would prohibit the destruction of public records that are subject to a pending public records request was approved by the Senate on Thursday and is set for consideration on the House floor tonight. The proposal, carried by state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, and state Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, plugs a gap in Tennessee law that drew attention last year in [...]

5 Jun, 2020

Bill would prohibit destruction of public records that are subject to pending records request

By Deborah Fisher|2020-06-05T19:41:49-05:00June 5, 2020|Categories: Legislature, records management, requests|Tags: county public records commission, Dana Beltramo, legislature, public records requests, records retention policy, State Rep. Mike Carter, State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, Times Free Press|0 Comments

The House State Government committee on Thursday approved a bill that would prevent the destruction of public records that are subject to a pending records request, paving the way for the bill to move on to a possible floor vote. State Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, presents bill that would make it unlawful to destroy public records while they are subject to a pending records request. The bill, H.B. 2578, was sponsored by state Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, who explained that a problem arose in Hamilton County last year when the Times Free Press newspaper requested records, and thereafter, the records were destroyed by the custodian before they could obtain them. [...]

10 Apr, 2020

New law corrects language in public records act regarding redaction

By Deborah Fisher|2020-05-09T14:41:48-05:00April 10, 2020|Categories: Legislature|Tags: redactions|0 Comments

One of the few bills that passed in the final days before the Tennessee General Assembly recessed in March was a bill that corrected a mistake in the drafting of a public records exemption in 2002. State Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City The legislation, signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee on March 25 and effective immediately, deletes the language "subsection (a)" where it appears in T.C.A. § 10-7-504 (a)(20) and replaces it with "subdivision (a)(20)". The exemption deals with confidentiality of municipal utility records. The bill clarified that the provisions in this particular subdivision only apply to the municipal utility records made confidential in subdivision T.C.A. § 10-7-504 (a)(20) [...]