Open Meetings

The Open Meetings statute allows members of certain types of governing bodies, such as state boards and commissions whose members live across the state, to participate in meetings electronically under certain circumstances. Local governing bodies, however, are largely prohibited from allowing their county commissioners, aldermen, city councilmen and so forth to participate and vote in meetings by phone or video conference. The one big exception, enacted in 2012, is for members of local school boards under specific conditions. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Gov. Bill Lee temporarily allowed all governing bodies to meet electronically via video conference or phone to reduce physical gatherings and the spread of [...]

The Open Meetings Act states that a meeting occurs when a “governing body of a public body for which a quorum is required” convenes “to make a decision or to deliberate toward a decision on any matter” [T.C.A. § 8-44-102(b)(2)]. Some gatherings of members of a governing body would not be considered a meeting under the law. For example, the open meetings statute says that a “meeting does not include any on-site inspection of any project or program” [T.C.A. 8-44-102(b)(2)]. It also says that a “chance meeting of two or more members of a public body” is not considered a meeting as defined by the law. But in very [...]

In Tennessee, the open meetings law applies to "[t]he members of any public body which consists of two (2) or more members, with the authority to make decisions for or recommendations to a public body on policy or administration..." T.C.A. § 8-44-102 (b)(1)(A) The Tennessee Supreme Court looked at the legislative history of the statute in the 1976 case of Dorrier v. Dark and gave a more comprehensive definition: “(T)he Legislature intended to include any board, commission, committee, agency, authority, or any other body, by whatever name, whose origin and authority may be traced to state, city, or county legislative action and whose members have authority to make decisions or recommendations [...]