Open Meetings Archives - Page 8 of 28 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

11 Mar, 2021

Bill to allow county commissioners to vote by phone and not in person moves forward

By Deborah Fisher|2021-03-11T16:38:59-06:00March 11, 2021|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: electronic meetings, Rep. Dave Wright, State Sen. Richard Briggs, voting by phone|0 Comments

A bill that would permit county commissioners to participate remotely in a meeting and vote on matters by phone or other electronic means passed the House Local Government Committee on Tuesday despite several lawmakers on the committee raising concern and saying they would vote against it. It was unclear in the voice vote exactly how lawmakers on the 21-member committee voted — to some people present, the "no's" sounded louder than the "ayes." But after pausing in silence for more than 10 seconds after the vote, Committee Chairman John Crawford who represents Bristol and Kingsport announced, "Bill moves on!" The bill will next be heard in the House Finance, Ways [...]

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 [...]