exemptions

16 May, 2018

UT uses new exemption to keep confidential how much it pays investment, hedge fund managers

By |2018-05-18T06:30:16-05:00May 16, 2018|Categories: exemptions|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Daniel Connolly wrote today in the Knoxville News Sentinel about how the University of Tennessee lobbied for a public records law exemption that is now being used to hide how much the public university pays hedge fund managers. Doesn't seem quite right, does it? Connolly, a reporter with the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, did a story about the rising amount of endowment money that public colleges are pumping into private equity funds and alternative investments -- mostly hedge funds -- often in offshore accounts. The University of Tennessee system has $345 million in such funds, about 38 percent of all of its investments. From the story: Under the new law, [...]

1 May, 2018

TCOG’s 2018 Legislative Report

By |2020-02-20T17:23:53-06:00May 1, 2018|Categories: crime records, exemptions, Legislature, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment

Following is TCOG's 2018 legislative report on changes related to public records and open meetings. The 110th General Assembly of Tennessee adjourned April 25. 1 - Selection of state college presidents  (HB 2000 / SB 2586) A requirement in the law to reveal the names and applications of candidates for president at state colleges, including University of Tennessee, was changed to allow search committees to make public “up to three” finalists instead of requiring disclosure of “no less than three.” The effect is that college search committees now have the option of recommending to a governing board as few as one person as finalist for president. Only the finalist or [...]

17 Apr, 2018

Bill to allow more confidentiality for college president candidates awaits governor’s signature

By |2018-04-17T11:46:33-05:00April 17, 2018|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: , , , , , |1 Comment

Legislation that would allow more confidentiality for college president candidates has passed the House and Senate and is now on the governor's desk for signature. The bill, which includes an automatic repeal in three years, expands an exemption in state law that already allows names and applications of college presidents to be confidential except for "no less than three" finalists selected by a search committee. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam The change allows a search committee to select "up to three" instead.  The effect is that college search committees now have the option of recommending to a governing board as few as one person as finalist for president. Only [...]

4 Mar, 2018

McElroy: Making government-ordered autopsies secret hurts the public’s right to know

By |2018-03-04T12:31:04-06:00March 4, 2018|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: |1 Comment

(This is a column by Knoxville News Sentinel Editor Jack McElroy that appeared in the news organization's Sunday edition.)  Sen. Joey Hensley, a Republican from Hohenwald and a medical examiner, has introduced a bill to make autopsy reports secret. Rep. Eddie Smith of Knoxville is carrying the bill in the House. Jack McElroy The legislation may sound like a mom-and-apple-pie proposition to the average citizen. After all, what reporter could be so ghoulish as to want to examine records about how people died? Besides, shouldn’t the dead, and their families, be allowed to rest in peace rather than having gruesome details of death dragged before the public? But [...]

4 Mar, 2018

Tennessee lawmakers seek to close autopsy reports, findings

By |2018-03-04T12:44:24-06:00March 4, 2018|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: , , , , , , |3 Comments

The House Health Subcommittee approved a bill Wednesday that would make autopsy investigation reports and findings conducted by the state and county medical examiners confidential. John Lott with the Knox County Regional Forensics Center, Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan, the county medical examiner for Knox and Anderson counties, and State Chief Medical Examiner Julia Goodin, tell lawmakers while they want to make confidential state and county autopsy reports. Speaking to the subcommittee, Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan, the county medical examiner for Knox and Anderson counties, said that having the findings of forensic autopsies available to the public is difficult for family members and sometimes means that familial conditions, such as dementia, [...]

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