exemptions Archives - Page 8 of 12 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

9 Feb, 2017

Bill to scale back confidentiality of lottery sales

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-17T14:58:38-05:00February 9, 2017|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: Bristol Herald Courier, exemptions, lottery records, Rebecca Hargrove, State Rep. John Crawford, State Sen. Jon Lundberg|0 Comments

Legislation has been filed that would remove an exemption that makes the location of lottery sales secret under state law. Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol Rep. John Crawford, R-Kingsport The proposed bills (S.B. 563 / H.B. 575) by state Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, and Rep. John Crawford, R-Kingsport, states as the reason "that transparency in the operation of the state lottery is essential to maintaining public confidence in the Tennessee education lottery corporation, lottery vendors, lottery retailers, and lottery games." There is a large section of the lottery law that makes confidential many aspects surrounding the operation of the lottery, including trade secrets, security systems, security reports, proposals and bids [...]

19 Dec, 2016

Bristol newspaper gets lottery data in Virginia, but same records are secret in Tennessee

By Deborah Fisher|2016-12-19T16:26:10-06:00December 19, 2016|Categories: exemptions|Tags: Bristol Herald Courier, lottery records, public records exemptions, Rebecca Hargrove|0 Comments

The Bristol Herald Courier reported in a Sunday story a geographical sales analysis of lottery data. But it could only tell half the story. Why? The line that separates Bristol, Tenn., from Bristol, Va. is also the state line. While it could report data from Virginia lottery sales in Bristol, Va., the same data from the Tennessee lottery in Bristol, Tenn., is confidential under an exemption in the Tennessee Public Records Act. In Bristol, Va., half of the largest retailers of lottery tickets sell their tickets in an area that is home to some of the city's lowest-earning residents. The newspaper explained that it wanted to do the same [...]

25 May, 2016

Performance evaluation of UT-M chancellor off limits to public under new law

By Deborah Fisher|2016-05-25T14:45:32-05:00May 25, 2016|Categories: exemptions|Tags: exemptions, performance evaluations, public records exemptions, The Jackson Sun, University of Tennessee at Martin|0 Comments

The Jackson Sun hit a public records roadblock in its ongoing probe into the accreditation problems at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Here's the short story: Tom Rakes resigned his position as chancellor at UT-Martin on May 31, 2015, and is now teaching a few online classes at the university for a lowered salary of $185,520. The university was placed on academic probation in December 2015 after years of notification to the university of key problems from its accrediting body. UT system President Joe DiPietro declined to say whether performance issues were a factor in the chancellor's resignation. So the newspaper asked for Rakes' personnel file, expecting to see Rakes' [...]

26 Apr, 2016

15 decisions on public records by the Tennessee Legislature in 2016

By Deborah Fisher|2018-11-09T08:23:32-06:00April 26, 2016|Categories: court records, crime records, exemptions, fees, Legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel, requests|Tags: birth certificates, civil asset forfeiture, court records, death certificates, drones, exemptions, fees for public records, government contracts, legislature, police body cameras, police records, police shootings, public notice, tax records, TBI, vendor confidentiality|1 Comment

This year, Tennessee lawmakers punted on public records bills that could have created new access rights to see police body camera video and files of finished investigations into officer-involved shootings. But they did pass several new laws — some that exempted more government information from public view, and others that hold promise for improving government transparency. Following is a roundup of action by the Tennessee Legislature related to public records and access. 1- Police body cameras: After a late-in-session effort to pass a body camera bill and disagreement among stakeholders, the House State Government Committee instructed the Advisory Committee on Open Government to study the issue and provide them with [...]

25 Feb, 2016

Bill clarifies Comptroller exemption for confidential audit work

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-25T12:15:07-06:00February 25, 2016|Categories: exemptions, Legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel|Tags: exemptions, Office of Open Records Counsel|0 Comments

An existing exemption that makes confidential audit work in the Comptroller's Office is being expanded to also include records from surveys, but won't include surveys done by the Office of Open Records Counsel. An amendment was added to the bill, H.B. 1682, in a House subcommittee Wednesday to make clear that the survey exemption does not apply to surveys conducted by the Office of Open Records Counsel, which is part of the Comptroller's Office. The House State Government Subcommittee passed the bill unanimously. The exemption currently in the statute, 10-7-504 (a)(22)(D) includes: (A) The audit working papers of the comptroller of the treasury and state, county and local government internal audit staffs conducting audits as [...]