News

10 Mar, 2025

Rep. Elaine Davis shares emotional story of trying to speak to school board

By |2025-03-10T17:28:05-05:00March 10, 2025|Categories: Legislature, public comment|0 Comments

Rep. Elaine Davis shared an emotional and personal story while talking about her bill to expand the public comment law to allow people to talk about matters that are germane to a local governing body, but not necessarily on the agenda. Davis talked about how boards sometimes restrict comment to agenda items, so when there is something that a citizen needs to bring forward, they are blocked from doing so. The bill passed 60-30 with two present and not voting. Davis recounted how the school board would not hear her concerns about the need to have a health professional at each school. The story stemmed from a son with [...]

27 Feb, 2025

Industrial development boards can skip public hearings under proposed bill

By |2025-03-03T10:59:14-06:00February 27, 2025|Categories: economic development, Legislature, public comment|Tags: , , |0 Comments

A proposed bill would allow industrial development boards to skip public hearings on new development projects when they "amend" their plans. This also means they would not have to publish two-week advance notice before voting on the amended plans. Industrial development boards are used to subsidize private development projects by capturing property and sales taxes to help pay for the project, usually through tax increment financing zones or payment-in-lieu of taxes agreements. The elimination of public hearings is part of a larger bill that appears designed to spur new housing by expanding the definition of what types of projects can be funded through the capture of property and sales taxes.

25 Feb, 2025

Bill would require redaction of addresses from property records, deeds, other records

By |2025-02-25T11:45:56-06:00February 25, 2025|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|0 Comments

Certain local and state government employees, including law enforcement and court staff, would be allowed to require government agencies to redact their home addresses and other information from all public records under a bill proposed in the Tennessee Legislature.

13 Feb, 2025

UT pays $60K in attorney fees to settle WBIR public records lawsuit

By |2025-02-13T19:28:51-06:00February 13, 2025|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, public university records|0 Comments

After a public records lawsuit by Knoxville TV station WBIR, the University of Tennessee has turned over unredacted copies of operating agreements and other documents for a partnership that runs Oak Ridge National Laboratory and paid $60,000 to cover WBIR's attorneys fees and litigation costs.

10 Feb, 2025

Victor Ashe named as TCOG’s representative on Advisory Committee on Open Government

By |2025-02-13T14:54:27-06:00February 10, 2025|Categories: Advisory Committee on Open Government|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Victor Ashe of Knoxville has been named as TCOG's representative on the Advisory Committee on Open Government along with four other new members. 

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