Toni Chadwick has been named as the new open records counsel for the Office of Open Records Counsel for Tennessee. The office provides resources and answers questions about public records and open meetings laws and provides occasional advisory opinions and informal mediation. Chadwick takes over from Maria Bush, who held the job for about a year and a half.
Earlier this year, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government requested an informal advisory opinion from the Office of Open Records Counsel about taking pictures of public records with cell phones. We asked: 1 - Does the law allow a records custodian to prohibit citizens from using a camera to take pictures of public records “in all cases” where the law gives the citizen a “right to inspect” such records under the plain language of §T.C.A. 10-7-506(a) of the Tennessee Public Records Act. 2 - The Model Policy created by the Office of Open Records Counsel seems to give records custodians open-ended discretion to allow or not allow the use of personal [...]
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 Senate State and Local Government Committee is scheduled to hear a report on exemptions to the Public Records Act on Tuesday. The House State Government Committee is also scheduled to hear the report at its Tuesday meeting. Lt. Gov Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge Last year, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) and House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) asked the state's Office of Open Records Counsel to conduct a comprehensive review of exemptions and produce a detailed list. "In the interest of transparent and open government, we would like to review this list in order to remove or place in sunset at least some of the various exemptions," [...]
The Tennessee Association of Broadcasters has added its voice to the growing number of entities who have urged the Office of Open Records Counsel to revise its Model Public Records Policy to eliminate the option of a blanket ban on taking photos of public records. Doug Pierce with King & Ballow The Office of Open Records Counsel's model policy includes language that several government entities have adopted into their own policies and practices that would ban someone from taking a photo of a non-exempt public record with their cell phone or camera. The broadcasters association, along with the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, the Tennessee Press Association [...]
