Legislature Archives - Page 15 of 33 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

10 Feb, 2019

Nashville, Knoxville lawmakers seek to make names in traffic accident reports confidential

By Deborah Fisher|2020-04-09T09:10:14-05:00February 10, 2019|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: State Rep. Jason Powell, State Sen. Becky Massey, traffic accident reports|2 Comments

A Nashville representative and Knoxville senator have filed bills that would make parts of traffic accident reports confidential, including the names of people involved in the accident. State Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, represents part of Davidson County. Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, and Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, have filed HB 1107 and SB 1346. The bills which would make the names of people involved in traffic accidents confidential, along with their addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers, driver license numbers and insurance information. Some of this information in a law enforcement traffic accident report, such as a person's driver's license number and other personal information, is already confidential under [...]

10 Feb, 2019

Tennessee lawmaker seeks to make 911 calls confidential

By Deborah Fisher|2019-02-11T08:12:54-06:00February 10, 2019|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: 911 calls, State Rep. Rick Tillis, State Sen. Shane Reeves|0 Comments

A Tennessee lawmaker is seeking to make 911 calls confidential. Rep. Rick Tillis, R-Lewisburg, has filed HB 335 which would amend the Tennessee Public Records Act to say: State Rep. Rick Tillis, R-Lewisburg, represents Marshall and part of Franklin, Lincoln, and Marion Counties. He has filed a bill to make 911 confidential. (1) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, 911 calls, transmissions, and recordings of an emergency communications district and emergency communications board under title 7, chapter 86, are confidential and may be used only for public safety purposes and as necessary for law enforcement, fire, medical, rescue, dispatching, or other emergency services. (2) A 911 call, transmission, [...]

6 Feb, 2019

An early look at open government legislation we’re tracking for 2019

By Deborah Fisher|2019-02-18T19:40:25-06:00February 6, 2019|Categories: Legislature, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: body cameras, confidentiality agreements, Open Record Ad Hoc Committee, photos of public records, proprietary records, public records request, tax credits|0 Comments

Today is a bill filing deadline in Tennessee, so this list will be updated and most certainly will get bigger as we learn more. The larger issue for TCOG will be caption bills, which open up parts of the Tennessee Code that are not part of the Public Records Act in Title 10, Chapter 7, and are not yet clear that they aim to close records. We hope to find out about these bills early in the process so that we can examine the language more closely. If you know of something, please let us know! We are happy to examine and vet legislation, and share our insight on how [...]

30 Jan, 2019

Let’s not throw citizens out for video streaming the Legislature

By Deborah Fisher|2019-01-30T10:57:36-06:00January 30, 2019|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: camera ban, legislature, open meetings, video streaming|1 Comment

Some House committee and subcommittee chairs announced Tuesday that they are not permitting video streaming in their committee meetings or they won't allow it without prior permission from the chair, according to a report today in The Tennessean. Some said the policy will only apply to lawmakers; others did not make that distinction and their statements appeared to suggest it could apply to anyone in the audience. Cade Cothren, chief of staff for House Speaker Glen Casada, clarified that members of the news media would not be banned from taking video of meetings and told me that only if someone was causing a disruption would they be removed. And, as [...]

16 Jan, 2019

House makes it easier for public to see bill amendments earlier

By Deborah Fisher|2019-01-16T09:49:35-06:00January 16, 2019|Categories: Legislature|Tags: Beth Harwell, Glen Casada|0 Comments

In what may seem like a small tweak, the Tennessee House of Representatives has added a new feature to the bill tracking process online that will add a great deal more public transparency into amendments earlier. Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada said that amendments that are added in a House subcommittee will now go directly online so that the public can see them instead of waiting until the amendment passes a full committee. Amendments adopted in House subcommittees will now be accessible through the subcommittee's webpage. Previously, those amendments did not go on the website until after the full standing committee had voted to adopt the amendment. Previously, bill amendments [...]