Open Meetings Archives - Page 16 of 28 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

20 Dec, 2016

House Republican caucus meetings to be open unless it’s “family discussion”, chairman says

By Deborah Fisher|2016-12-20T11:45:57-06:00December 20, 2016|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: House Republican caucus, legislature, State Rep. Ryan Williams, Tennessee Capitol Press Corps|1 Comment

House Republican Caucus Chairman Ryan Williams told the Capitol Hill press corps last week that caucus meetings would be presumed to be open while the legislature is in session, according to a report in The Tennessean. However, he said, if a member wanted to have a "family discussion," the caucus would take a vote on closing the meeting. State Rep. Ryan Williams The meeting with the press corps came after the House caucus, departing from tradition, held a closed door session in early December to discuss the state budget surplus and the fires in Sevier County. The press corps asked to discuss what appeared to be a new [...]

9 Dec, 2016

Capitol Press Corps asks to discuss closed meetings of Republican caucus

By Deborah Fisher|2016-12-09T17:59:51-06:00December 9, 2016|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: Chas Sisk, legislature, State Rep. Ryan Williams, Tennessee Capitol Press Corps, Tennessee Constitution, Tennessee Open Meetings Act|0 Comments

The Capitol Press Corp has requested to meet with the House's Republican Caucus Chair, Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, to discuss an apparent change in policy where journalists are no longer allowed to cover caucus meetings. Chas Sisk, chairman of the Capitol Press Corps “Past practice — especially since Republicans gained supermajority status — has been that the meetings are open unless closed by caucus vote. If that is to change, we think it’s important for both sides to understand the rules of the road going forward,” wrote Chas Sisk, news reporter for WPLN and chairman of the Tennessee Capitol Press Corps, in a letter to Williams. “…Our fundamental concern is [...]

5 Apr, 2016

Residents file open meetings lawsuit against Memphis City Council over parking vote

By Deborah Fisher|2016-04-05T19:43:19-05:00April 5, 2016|Categories: open meetings lawsuits|Tags: Bryce Ashby, Memphis City Council, open meetings violation, Stephen Humbert, Susan Lacy|0 Comments

The Commercial Appeal reports today that two residents have filed an open meetings lawsuit against the Memphis City Council, alleging that a vote on a resolution that allowed Memphis Zoo overflow parking in Overton Park was orchestrated in advance through deliberations outside the public eye. See Commerical Appeal story: Lawsuit alleges Memphis City Council violated Open Meetings Act regarding March 1 greensward vote Bryce Ashby, attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Commercial Appeal: “It’s important to understand that this lawsuit, while involving Overton Park, is about a bigger issue. This is about transparency in government and the right of the public to have notice of the actions that are to be taken by [...]

25 Feb, 2016

News Sentinel: State museum meeting should be open to the public

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-25T09:12:16-06:00February 25, 2016|Categories: Open Meetings|Tags: Knoxville News Sentinel, state museum board, Victor Ashe|0 Comments

The News Sentinel published an editorial today saying that the "Douglas Henry State Museum Commission is barreling toward a possible violation of the state's Open Meetings Act." It urges the commission, which was just allocated $120 million of taxpayer money toward construction of the new facility, to open to the public its planned March 28 meeting in which it is scheduled to discuss what is needed in replacing the museum's long-time executive director. One of the commission members, Victor Ashe, called for the state museum meeting to be open, but has met resistance from another member, Tom Smith, who heads a committee on succession planning. (Ashe is a member of TCOG's board [...]

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, [...]