News - Page 48 of 131 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

30 Jan, 2019

Update: Casada’s office says only disruptive behavior will result in a person’s removal from meetings

By Deborah Fisher|2019-01-30T12:05:07-06:00January 30, 2019|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|0 Comments

Cade Cothren, chief of staff for Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada, clarified in a statement today that only someone who "actively violates House policy by disrupting the legislative process" would be removed from a legislative committee meeting. The full statement: "House session and committee hearings are and will continue to be shown on the General Assembly’s website and on public television stations across the state. If someone actively violates House policy by disrupting the legislative process — through unruly live-streaming, blatant disregard for decorum, or disrespect of members or the public — they will be removed from the area. Legislators, stakeholders, and those visiting to see government in action must [...]

30 Jan, 2019

Let’s not throw citizens out for video streaming the Legislature

By Deborah Fisher|2019-01-30T10:57:36-06:00January 30, 2019|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: camera ban, legislature, open meetings, video streaming|1 Comment

Some House committee and subcommittee chairs announced Tuesday that they are not permitting video streaming in their committee meetings or they won't allow it without prior permission from the chair, according to a report today in The Tennessean. Some said the policy will only apply to lawmakers; others did not make that distinction and their statements appeared to suggest it could apply to anyone in the audience. Cade Cothren, chief of staff for House Speaker Glen Casada, clarified that members of the news media would not be banned from taking video of meetings and told me that only if someone was causing a disruption would they be removed. And, as [...]

17 Jan, 2019

Nashville housing board agrees to put more information on meeting agendas

By Deborah Fisher|2023-04-11T10:58:09-05:00January 17, 2019|Categories: Open Meetings|Tags: agendas, MDHA|0 Comments

Updated Friday, 4:30 p.m. Nashville Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency told a Metro Council committee this week that it will improve what it shares with the public on its meeting agendas, and the board members will now file annual ethics and disclosure forms, according to The Tennessean. The Tennessean had earlier reported how the board awards millions of dollars to developers, but operates with little oversight or transparency. For example, while the board posts its meeting agendas online, the agendas are bare-bones with few clues as to what actually might be discussed. The public doesn't much chance in guessing what an agenda item might mean. See an example here from [...]

16 Jan, 2019

House makes it easier for public to see bill amendments earlier

By Deborah Fisher|2019-01-16T09:49:35-06:00January 16, 2019|Categories: Legislature|Tags: Beth Harwell, Glen Casada|0 Comments

In what may seem like a small tweak, the Tennessee House of Representatives has added a new feature to the bill tracking process online that will add a great deal more public transparency into amendments earlier. Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada said that amendments that are added in a House subcommittee will now go directly online so that the public can see them instead of waiting until the amendment passes a full committee. Amendments adopted in House subcommittees will now be accessible through the subcommittee's webpage. Previously, those amendments did not go on the website until after the full standing committee had voted to adopt the amendment. Previously, bill amendments [...]

17 Dec, 2018

Open Records Committee recommends changes to exemption process

By Deborah Fisher|2018-12-18T08:00:30-06:00December 17, 2018|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: exemptions, Hamilton County Board of Education, open government law, State Rep. Jason Zachary, State Sen. Mike Bell, State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, sunset provision, Tennessee Risk Management Trust|1 Comment

An open records committee that has met over the past five months to consider the growing number of exemptions to Tennessee’s Public Records Act says it will recommend a new, more robust process to vet both existing and future exemptions. State Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, co-chair of an ad hoc Open Records Committee appointed by House and Senate leaders, said the task of going through 563 exemptions was too large to get done in the few months they were allotted. However, the committee is recommending two major changes: a process for sunsets on existing exemptions and more robust vetting of proposed new exemptions. “We’ve learned that Tennessee needs [...]