Public Records

7 Mar, 2019

Confidentiality of government settlements in sexual harassment claims at issue in proposed law

By |2019-03-07T11:55:37-06:00March 7, 2019|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|0 Comments

A bill that would allow the identities of victims of sexual harassment and sexual criminal offenses, and possibly other identifying details, to be concealed as part of settlement agreements with the government is going back to a subcommittee for an additional amendment. State Rep. Carson Beck, D-Nashville The bill, HB 594 by state Rep. Carson Beck, D-Nashville, was referred back to the House Civil Justice Subcommittee because of a late-filed amendment. The language in the current bill says: “Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any provision of a settlement agreement entered into be a governmental entity that has the effect of prohibiting the disclosure of details or the [...]

7 Mar, 2019

House subcommittee approves bill to improve vetting of new public records exemptions

By |2019-03-07T11:30:00-06:00March 7, 2019|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: , , , , |1 Comment

A House subcommittee approved a bill on Wednesday that would change the way legislation to create new exemptions to the public records law are vetted. The bill, HB86 by state Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, will require House bills that create an exception to the Tennessee Public Records Act to be referred to the House Government Operations Committee for a positive, negative or neutral recommendation. State Rep. Jason Zachary, co-chair of the Open Records Ad Hoc Committee, said in December the task of going through 563 exemptions was too large to get done in five months. Zachary explained any such bill would then go back to the standing committee [...]

6 Mar, 2019

Commercial Appeal: Bill would require Tennessee governments to disclose payments to companies

By |2019-03-06T09:12:57-06:00March 6, 2019|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

The Commercial Appeal recently did a story about a bill in the Legislature, supported by TCOG, that would solve the issue of business entities claiming that government documents about payments made to them are confidential because the payment they received constitutes a trade secret. It flies in the face of the Tennessee Public Records Act that states "all documents ... made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any governmental entity" are public records. But the business are getting away with it. See below for an example with Google and the Montgomery County Industrial Development Board, and the University of [...]

18 Feb, 2019

Washington Post story details Google techniques to keep economic development deals secret

By |2019-02-18T15:49:46-06:00February 18, 2019|Categories: economic development|Tags: , , , |1 Comment

A Washington Post story last week has detailed how Google, often acting through a newly formed company with a different name, secured non-disclosure agreements with government entities around the country as it negotiated and landed economic development deals valued in the millions of dollars. The city of Clarksville and the Montgomery County Industrial Development Board are among the government entities that signed non-disclosure agreements with Google, which eventually agreed to locate a data center in the county with a target investment of $600 million and 34 direct hires. From the Washington Post story, Google reaped millions in tax breaks as it secretly expanded its real estate footprint across the U.S.: Google — which [...]

10 Feb, 2019

Nashville, Knoxville lawmakers seek to make names in traffic accident reports confidential

By |2020-04-09T09:10:14-05:00February 10, 2019|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: , , |2 Comments

A Nashville representative and Knoxville senator have filed bills that would make parts of traffic accident reports confidential, including the names of people involved in the accident. State Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, represents part of Davidson County. Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, and Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, have filed HB 1107 and SB 1346. The bills which would make the names of people involved in traffic accidents confidential, along with their addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers, driver license numbers and insurance information. Some of this information in a law enforcement traffic accident report, such as a person's driver's license number and other personal information, is already confidential under [...]

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