Public Records Archives - Page 45 of 74 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

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 [...]

24 Feb, 2016

Model public records policy to be developed under proposed bill

By Deborah Fisher|2016-03-10T08:46:27-06:00February 24, 2016|Categories: Legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel, requests|Tags: Advisory Committee on Open Government, Office of Open Records Counsel, public records request, State Rep. Bill Dunn, State Sen. Richard Briggs|2 Comments

State Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, presented an addition to state law Wednesday that would require each government entity in Tennessee to adopt a written public records policy and designate a "public records coordinator" who would be the "go-to person" understanding the policy and how things are carried out. State Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville. Click on picture to see video. His bill, H.B. 2082, also requires the Office of Open Records Counsel to develop a model best practices and public records policy that local and state government entities can use. The bill passed out of the House State Government Subcommittee on Wednesday with an amendment proposed by Dunn that [...]

24 Feb, 2016

Appeals Court denies Sumner Schools request; deadline to fix public records policy is March 1

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-24T18:28:06-06:00February 24, 2016|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, requests|Tags: Beth Cox, Court of Appeals, Judge Dee David Gay, Ken Jakes, Kirk Clements, Sumner County Schools, The Tennessean|0 Comments

The Court of Appeals in Nashville today denied a request by Sumner County Schools to delay enforcement of a judge's order to bring their public records policy into compliance with the law. Todd Presnell, with Bradley Arrant Boult Cummings, representing the Sumner County School Board That means that the school district must update its policy, which Sumner County Judge Dee David Gay found to be in violation of the Tennessee Public Records Act, by March 1 or risk being held in contempt of court. The Sumner School District has spent more than $113,000 fighting a lawsuit after it refused to let a citizen see a copy of its [...]

23 Feb, 2016

Memphis mayor says body cam video cannot be released if part of investigation

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-24T10:26:26-06:00February 23, 2016|Categories: crime records|Tags: crime records, Mayor Jim Strickland, Memphis, police body cameras|0 Comments

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. Click on picture to see the full Fox13 report. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland told Memphis TV journalist Greg Coy that video footage from body cam video cannot be released if the event it records is under investigation. The quote came during a story by Coy on the whether citizens will have access to video footage created by body cameras. "By law, it can't be revealed just like a paper document that is evidence. All evidence, whether it is a gun, whether it is a paper or whether it is video, if it is under investigation it cannot be released,” Mayor Strickland said. From the story: The city [...]

23 Feb, 2016

Tennessee to consider open data standards under proposed legislation

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-23T18:24:05-06:00February 23, 2016|Categories: open data|Tags: Jeffrey Kriseman, open data, state government, State Rep. Jason Powell, State Sen. Jeff Yarbro|1 Comment

A bill that would create a task force to study the feasibility of state government to utilize an open data policy cleared the House State Government Committee on Tuesday. The task force created under the bill, H.B. 2215 / S.B. 2427, would: (1) Examine whether state agencies may collect or create information in a way that supports downstream information processing and dissemination activities, including using machine readable and open formats, data standards, and common core and extensible metadata for all new information creation and collection efforts; (2) Ensure information stewardship by the state agencies through the use of open licenses and review of information for privacy, confidentiality, security, or other [...]