Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

11 Apr, 2023

House, Senate pass bill requiring clear agendas for local legislative body meetings

By |2023-04-11T11:21:31-05:00April 11, 2023|Categories: adequate public notice, Legislature, meeting agenda, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

The House and Senate have unanimously approved a bill that will improve the timeliness and clarity of the agendas of local legislative bodies. The bill now heads to the governor's desk and will become law once signed. The bill requires that agendas be available to the public 48 hours in advance of the meeting and that they "reasonably describe matters to be deliberated and acted upon during the meeting." Several lawmakers signed onto the bill. Tennessee Coalition for Open Government brought the bill to the legislative sponsors after a series of court opinions saying that no agenda was required by the Open Meetings Act.

5 May, 2022

Citizen discovery is most important issue in vetting proposed developments

By |2022-05-05T14:08:54-05:00May 5, 2022|Categories: economic development, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: |0 Comments

It’s hard for citizens to get the information they need about proposed developments in a manner timely enough to make a difference to protect their own property value and interests.

18 Oct, 2021

New megasite authority could operate with secrecy under proposed bill

By |2021-10-19T07:15:10-05:00October 18, 2021|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , , , |1 Comment

The proposed bill that would create the Megasite Authority of West Tennessee with the power to approve a half-billion dollar grant to Ford Motor Co. offers another coveted power: megasecrecy.

26 Feb, 2021

Lawmakers scheduled to hear proposed exception to the Open Meetings Act, public records bills next week

By |2021-02-26T15:27:02-06:00February 26, 2021|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|0 Comments

With the General Assembly in full swing, several bills affecting government transparency are scheduled for hearings in subcommittees and committees next week. Although some lawmakers may be planning to introduce amendments to these bills, as of this writing amendments for next week's bills were not yet posted to the Amendment Packet page of the website that lists House amendments. (The Senate does not post amendments until after they've been adopted in committee.) The legislation with probably the widest impact is a proposal to allow county commissioners to participate in meetings electronically, such as by calling in on a phone to a meeting that is otherwise being held in person. That [...]

16 Oct, 2020

Family members, others shut out of court proceedings in Davidson County

By |2020-10-16T16:39:13-05:00October 16, 2020|Categories: Open Courts, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , |0 Comments

I arrived at the Justice A.A. Birch Building at about 8:15 a.m. this morning to see for myself what others have told me: Family members of people with court dates in General Sessions court are not allowed to accompany their loved ones into the building. It took only a few minutes to witness someone being told by a security guard to wait outside where others like them already waited in the cool morning air. There I found a grandmother who had intended to be a character witness for her grandson, a wife whose husband was there about a restraining order and a girlfriend of a man with a probation violating [...]

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