Legislature Archives - Page 29 of 35 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

24 Feb, 2016

Model public records policy to be developed under proposed bill

By Deborah Fisher|2016-03-10T08:46:27-06:00February 24, 2016|Categories: Legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel, requests|Tags: Advisory Committee on Open Government, Office of Open Records Counsel, public records request, State Rep. Bill Dunn, State Sen. Richard Briggs|2 Comments

State Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, presented an addition to state law Wednesday that would require each government entity in Tennessee to adopt a written public records policy and designate a "public records coordinator" who would be the "go-to person" understanding the policy and how things are carried out. State Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville. Click on picture to see video. His bill, H.B. 2082, also requires the Office of Open Records Counsel to develop a model best practices and public records policy that local and state government entities can use. The bill passed out of the House State Government Subcommittee on Wednesday with an amendment proposed by Dunn that [...]

24 Feb, 2016

Bill to remove public notices in newspapers fails in committee

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-26T09:16:40-06:00February 24, 2016|Categories: adequate public notice, Legislature|Tags: public notices, State Sen. Ken Yager, State Sen. Todd Gardenhire|1 Comment

Threatening to remove public notices of meetings and other legal notices from newspapers can be a tactic to intimidate a press that has become critical of government. But lawmakers failed to bite on a proposal in the state senate committee on Tuesday. A bill that would have allowed local and state government entities in Tennessee to stop publishing public notices of upcoming meetings and other items in local newspapers failed in committee when no lawmakers would make a motion to bring it for discussion. State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, proposed the bill, S.B. 1909. But when State Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, the chairman of the Senate State and Local Government Committee, [...]

24 Feb, 2016

Chattanooga lawmaker scolds Hamilton County commissioners for secret attempt to change law

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-24T18:48:33-06:00February 24, 2016|Categories: Legislature|Tags: Chattanooga, Hamilton County Commission, State Sen. Todd Gardenhire|0 Comments

State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, pulled his bill, S.B. 1911, from consideration in a Senate committee Tuesday, saying the Hamilton County Commission had asked him and others in the Hamilton County delegation to sponsor it without discussing it in a public meeting. State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, speaking to a Senate committee. To see the VIDEO, click on the picture. The bill was filed as a caption bill, meaning the language was a placeholder for the real intent of the sponsor. Gardenhire told the Senate State and Local Government Committee Tuesday that the bill now had an amendment (which has not yet been made public on the General Assembly's [...]

16 Feb, 2016

Vendor confidentiality bill moves out of key House committee

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-17T08:42:46-06:00February 16, 2016|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: cybersecurity, legislature, State Rep. Bill Sanderson, State Rep. Cameron Sexton, vendor confidentiality|0 Comments

A Haslam administration bill that would make confidential the names of vendors who provide goods and services "used to protect government property, government employee information, or citizen information" passed out of the House State Government Committee. The bill was amended so that it applied to all state government, and allowed local government to opt into the exemption if a local governing body "voted affirmatively to make such information confidential." The amendment also allowed for a governmental entity to provide the identity of the vendor to the comptroller of the treasury and to lawmakers on the fiscal review committee, but said those people should not share the vendor identities with others. The [...]

16 Feb, 2016

More funding approved for Office of Open Records Counsel

By Deborah Fisher|2016-03-10T08:48:15-06:00February 16, 2016|Categories: Legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel|Tags: Comptroller Justin Wilson, Office of Open Records Counsel|0 Comments

The Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee voted today to approve $264,000 requested by Comptroller Justin Wilson to add two positions to the Office of Open Records Counsel. Wilson told the committee that the numbers of inquiries to the office have grown "exponentially" since it was created in 2008. With one person in the office now, it can not meet the demand, he said. Comptroller Justin Wilson "The numbers really don't show the growth here because the issues have become extremely more complex, more difficult, more controversial and have a higher profile (that's) really developed in the last eight years," Wilson said. "We simply don't have the capacity [...]