Legislature Archives - Page 25 of 37 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

20 Mar, 2017

Ethics bills would require lawmaker disclosure of gifts, including for travel

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-20T11:03:17-05:00March 20, 2017|Categories: Legislature|Tags: financial disclosures, lawmaker travel, State Rep. Bud Hulsey, State Rep. Gerald McCormick, State Sen. Doug Overbey, State Sen. Richard Briggs|1 Comment

Two different sets of ethics legislation on House and Senate calendars this week would require more disclosure of gifts, including for travel, received by lawmakers from people with an interest in influencing public policy. Both sets of bills would increase transparency. Currently, anyone who is not a lobbyist or an employer of a lobbyist can give any amount of money or gift to a lawmaker and the lawmaker does not need to report that gift to the Tennessee Ethics Commission. The issue of such unreported gifts came to light last year after Dave Boucher and Joel Ebert of The Tennessean reported about a Gulf Shores fishing trip hosted by a [...]

17 Mar, 2017

House committee passes bill allowing requests by email with some limits for “bad players”

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-17T18:27:44-05:00March 17, 2017|Categories: Legislature, requests, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: requests by email, State Rep. Courtney Rogers, State Rep. Darren Jernigan|0 Comments

The House State Government committee unanimously passed H.B. 58 this week, which would make clear that citizens may send records requests by email to records custodians. The email bill also contains a section meant to deal with multiple requests to view records from someone who never comes to review them, and requests for copies for which a person never pays for or retrieves. Chairman of the State Government Committee, state Rep. Bob Ramsey, R-Maryville, noted that the legislation went through several revisions, with changes from the Office of Open Records Counsel, from the bill's sponsor and from a member of the committee, state Rep. Darren Jernigan, D-Nashville. "What we have with [...]

17 Mar, 2017

McNally, Harwell seek review of Tennessee open records exemptions

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-17T12:39:23-05:00March 17, 2017|Categories: exemptions, Legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel|Tags: Adam Yeomans, Beth Harwell, exemptions, State Sen. Randy McNally, sunset provision|2 Comments

The speakers of the House and Senate have asked the Office of Open Records Counsel for a "thorough and comprehensive review" of the various exemptions to the Tennessee Public Records Act, reports Joel Ebert in a story in The Tennessean. Letter from McNally and Harwell asking for a thorough review of the exemptions to the Public Records Act. "We ask that a detailed list of current exemptions in the Tennessee Code Annotated be compiled as soon as possible," says the letter from State Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, and State Rep. Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, to Open Records Counsel Ann Butterworth. "In the interest of transparent and open government, [...]

17 Mar, 2017

Lawmaker faces opposition in trying to open up state lottery records

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-17T14:58:51-05:00March 17, 2017|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: lottery records|0 Comments

State Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, is facing stiff opposition in his effort to open up state lottery records. State Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, doesn't buy the lottery's arguments that retailers will leave the system if sales were made public. According to a story in the Bristol Herald Courier, the Tennessee Lottery says it would lose $19.5 million in revenue if it had to reveal lottery sales by retailer, information that is public in other state lotteries, including in two states bordering Tennessee. The reasoning? The risk of robberies to stores will increase if sales were revealed, and other retailers would know how much they are making through such sales. [...]

8 Mar, 2017

Body camera bill passes Senate committee

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-17T11:53:27-05:00March 8, 2017|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: police body cameras, State Sen. Jack Johnson|0 Comments

UPDATE, 3-17-17: The Senate passed Johnson's body cam bill, S.B. 442, on Thursday 27-0. ----- Original story: A bill that would exempt from the state's public records laws police body camera footage collected inside schools, hospitals and, when no crime is being investigated, private residences passed the Senate State & Local Government committee Tuesday. State Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin Two amendments were added to the legislation carried by state Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin. One specifies that "video taken of minors in a school that serves any grades from kindergarten through grade twelve shall be treated as confidential." The other, suggested by Lt. Gov Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, puts a [...]