public comment

10 Mar, 2025

Rep. Elaine Davis shares emotional story of trying to speak to school board

By |2025-03-10T17:28:05-05:00March 10, 2025|Categories: Legislature, public comment|0 Comments

Rep. Elaine Davis shared an emotional and personal story while talking about her bill to expand the public comment law to allow people to talk about matters that are germane to a local governing body, but not necessarily on the agenda. Davis talked about how boards sometimes restrict comment to agenda items, so when there is something that a citizen needs to bring forward, they are blocked from doing so. The bill passed 60-30 with two present and not voting. Davis recounted how the school board would not hear her concerns about the need to have a health professional at each school. The story stemmed from a son with [...]

27 Feb, 2025

Industrial development boards can skip public hearings under proposed bill

By |2025-03-03T10:59:14-06:00February 27, 2025|Categories: economic development, Legislature, public comment|Tags: , , |0 Comments

A proposed bill would allow industrial development boards to skip public hearings on new development projects when they "amend" their plans. This also means they would not have to publish two-week advance notice before voting on the amended plans. Industrial development boards are used to subsidize private development projects by capturing property and sales taxes to help pay for the project, usually through tax increment financing zones or payment-in-lieu of taxes agreements. The elimination of public hearings is part of a larger bill that appears designed to spur new housing by expanding the definition of what types of projects can be funded through the capture of property and sales taxes.

16 Jan, 2025

Public comment for property developments would be eliminated under proposed bill

By |2025-01-20T14:28:05-06:00January 16, 2025|Categories: Legislature, public comment|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Public comment periods would be eliminated at county commission and city council meetings for applications for new property developments if the proposed development substantially complies with previously reviewed zoning regulations or maps under a bill introduced this week.

16 Jan, 2025

Davis, Lowe seek to expand public comment law

By |2025-01-16T08:33:49-06:00January 16, 2025|Categories: Legislature, public comment|Tags: , |0 Comments

A pair of lawmakers are seeking to expand public comment periods to require governing bodies to allow comment on items that are not on the agenda but germane to the governing body's work. The lawmakers — state Rep. Elaine Davis of Knoxville and state Sen. Adam Lowe of Calhoun — passed the first public comment requirement bill in 2023. Davis said this would allow members of the public to let the governing body know of issues that they may not be aware of.

24 May, 2023

New laws require local government to provide agenda, public comment periods

By |2023-05-24T11:54:07-05:00May 24, 2023|Categories: Legislature, meeting agenda, public comment|Tags: , , , , , , |1 Comment

The General Assembly made two major changes to the Open Meetings Act this year. One new law requires that county and city legislative bodies provide an agenda 48 hours in advance of the meeting. The agenda must "reasonably describe" each agenda item. The other requires all governing bodies set aside a period for public comment, allowing citizens to speak about items on the agenda.

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