Open Meetings Archives - Page 10 of 30 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

4 Mar, 2021

Is Tennessee ready for the slippery slope of legislating by phone?

By Deborah Fisher|2021-03-04T12:12:38-06:00March 4, 2021|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: COVID-19, electronic meetings, Rep. Dave Wright, State Sen. Richard Briggs, voting by phone|0 Comments

During the pandemic, members of local and state governing bodies have been allowed to conduct meetings electronically per executive order by Gov. Bill Lee. They have not had to hold physical meetings in a physical place. They can hold meetings on Zoom or even by telephone conference call, as long as they allow the public real-time live audio or video access and follow other rules. In some instances, this has meant that the governing body is on videoconference, and the public must show up physically at city hall to watch them through a government computer. It has not been ideal for citizens, who have lost the benefit of interaction with [...]

14 Feb, 2021

Bills would allow more governing bodies to meet electronically outside of Open Meetings Act rules

By Deborah Fisher|2021-02-16T12:10:48-06:00February 14, 2021|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: electronic meetings, Rep. Dave Wright, State Sen. Richard Briggs|3 Comments

Several bills seek to waive electronic participation rules for governing bodies so that public officials can attend more freely by phone instead of in person Permission for governing bodies to meet electronically during the COVID-19 epidemic has whet the appetite of some government officials to change the law permanently. Lawmakers have filed several bills that would give various types of governing bodies more exceptions to meet electronically — either allowing an entire governing body to meet by conference call or video conference or allowing certain members of a governing body to patch into a physical meeting by phone or video. Only one of the bills requires that meetings held electronically [...]

28 Sep, 2020

AG’s office did not serve the public interest in seeking loophole to Open Meetings Act

By Deborah Fisher|2020-10-09T15:16:28-05:00September 28, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, email vote, Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Attorney General, Tennessee Open Meetings Act|0 Comments

A Davidson County chancellor took much-needed action last week. She gave public accountability a boost and set the Attorney General’s Office straight on the Open Meetings Act. Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled on Friday that the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance violated the Open Meetings Act by holding an email vote — outside a public meeting and without public notice — to approve a settlement with a lawmaker, substantially reducing his outstanding fines. The finance board did this with advice of the Attorney General’s Office. So what happened here? Earlier this year, the Attorney General’s Office advised the Registry’s executive director how to get a vote — without a public [...]

25 Sep, 2020

Judge: Registry of Election Finance board violated Open Meetings Act with secret vote by email

By Deborah Fisher|2020-10-09T15:15:18-05:00September 25, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, cure meeting, email vote, Paul McAdoo, Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Attorney General|0 Comments

Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled today that the Registry of Election Finance violated the Open Meetings Act when it voted by email outside of a public meeting to accept a settlement to reduce the fines of a state lawmaker. (See final order.) Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle The board's executive director, Bill Young, has said that he followed the process outlined by the Attorney General's Office in coordinating the email vote of the six-member election finance board. In addition to voting outside the public eye by email, there was no public notice of the meeting. The lawsuit was filed by several news media organizations and Tennessee Coalition for Open Government in [...]

25 Sep, 2020

Chancellor to hear arguments in open meetings case against election finance board at 10 a.m. today

By Deborah Fisher|2020-09-25T09:59:17-05:00September 25, 2020|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, cure meeting, email vote, Paul McAdoo, Registry of Election Finance, Tennessee Attorney General|0 Comments

Chancellor Ellen Lyle is scheduled to hear arguments today in an open meetings lawsuit filed by several news media organizations and Tennessee Coalition for Open Government against the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. Attorney Paul McAdoo The plaintiffs argue in The Associated Press, et al., v. The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance that the election finance board violated the open meetings law when it voted on reducing $65,000 in civil penalties that it had levied against Rep. Joe Towns, D-Memphis. The penalties had accumulated over two years as Towns repeatedly failed to file campaign finance disclosures required by law. The board took the vote by email to settle the penalties [...]