exemptions

22 Feb, 2015

Editorial: Bills would keep citizens in dark on public records

By |2015-03-02T07:39:27-06:00February 22, 2015|Categories: exemptions, fees|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

Awesome editorial about need for transparency and accountability in government by Knoxville News Sentinel, reprinted here with permission: Three bills now pending in the Tennessee Legislature would combine to cripple the public's access to government records. One would make citizens pay to see official documents. Another would prevent the public from reviewing state employee performance evaluations. The third would shield from scrutiny the organization that regulates school sports statewide. The bills' sponsors and other lawmakers should reconsider these proposals in the context of transparency and accountability. One bill being pushed by the Tennessee School Boards Association would allow state and local government agencies to charge citizens a fee to inspect [...]

13 Feb, 2015

Proposed Tennessee bills could close public records; a few open them up

By |2015-02-13T09:19:09-06:00February 13, 2015|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment

Lawmakers of 109th General Assembly have filed a host of bills to block or hinder citizen access to public records in the hands of government. Several of the proposed Tennessee bills could close public records, while another proposes to charge fees to inspect records. The latter would set up a hurdle that could discourage citizens from pursuing records requests. The proposed fees would cover some of the time public employees spend gathering or redacting records for disclosure. Local government would determine the hours of labor involved, which leaves open the possibility that fees could be inflated to block or discourage access. While some bills affecting public records  focus on making [...]

15 Sep, 2014

City of Nashville declines records request that could help show judges’ hours at courthouse

By |2015-08-18T08:16:57-05:00September 15, 2014|Categories: exemptions, Public Records|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments

The city of Nashville declined part of a recent public records request by The Tennesssean that would have shown the time of day Davidson County judges used their access cards to enter or exit a courthouse or its parking garage. The request was part of a larger one by the media company for access card data that the newspaper used to analyze how many days judges showed up to work compared with each other and a state average. The city released which days the judges used their access cards, but would not release the times of day when the access cards were swiped. "Under Tenn. Code Ann. 10-7-504(i)(1), the specific times [...]

15 Apr, 2014

7 new laws affecting meetings, records in TN – plus a few that didn’t make it

By |2019-09-11T16:55:12-05:00April 15, 2014|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments

As the 108th General Assembly wraps up this week, here's a quick rundown on new laws affecting government meetings and open records in Tennessee: Legislation passed: Sexual assault victims: The names of sexual assault victims can now be redacted from public records under new legislation that makes their identity confidential. This only applies after a conviction or guilty plea, and sentencing has occurred. In addition to the name, any images that depict the victim (video or photo) are also confidential, as is the victim's address and phone number. The victim has a right to waive confidentiality. Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, and Rep. Mary Littleton, R-Dickson sponsored the bills. Note that [...]

23 Mar, 2014

The Tennessean takes on secrecy of execution drugs

By |2014-05-02T06:46:57-05:00March 23, 2014|Categories: execution drugs, exemptions|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

The Tennessean exposes the secrecy of execution drugs in a front-page story in today's Sunday edition. State lawmakers last year passed an exemption to the Tennessee Open Records Act that allows the state to keep confidential the name of its supplier of drugs for lethal injections. With that decision, it joined other states who have marched toward similar confidentiality, driven to that secrecy because drug manufacturers have refused to supply states on moral grounds. Finding less obvious sources meant the states had to agree to keep new suppliers secret. The secrecy of the drug source has been questioned on First Amendment grounds in at least three other states. Defense lawyers challenged [...]

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