harassment

31 May, 2021

New law targets people who try to disrupt government operations with public records requests

By |2021-06-22T16:31:04-05:00May 31, 2021|Categories: Legislature, requests|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

A new law that went into effect in late April will allow government officials to seek relief in court from people who use the public records process with an intent to disrupt government operations. The bill was aimed at curbing public records requests from so-called "bad actors." [...]

7 Sep, 2020

Advisory committee to meet on legislation to limit ‘harassing’ requesters

By |2020-09-07T11:33:08-05:00September 7, 2020|Categories: Advisory Committee on Open Government, Legislature, requests|Tags: , , , , |1 Comment

The Advisory Committee on Open Government will meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday to discuss legislation that would limit public records requests from people found to be harassing the government. The meeting will be livestreamed and can be viewed by the public through the following link: https://tngov.webex.com/tngov/onstage/g.php?MTID=ebf38667b9ad074a64ca63d6e491c9ab1. Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, asked the 14-member committee to review his proposed bill that would allow a government entity to seek an injunction against a person whose behavior met a harassment definition outlined in the bill. Haile has worked on the bill for two years. He introduced it in 2019 and presented an amended version in February to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee [...]

23 Feb, 2020

Harassment bill fails on 5-4 vote

By |2020-02-23T16:38:31-06:00February 23, 2020|Categories: requests, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

A bill that would allow a government entity to petition a court for an injunction against someone who was using the public records process to harass government employees failed in a Senate committee last week. Sen. Ferrell Haile, R- Gallatin. The harassment bill, sponsored by Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, arose last year after reports of a man who city officials in Gallatin and others believe is abusing the process and wasting government time through multiple and voluminous requests with seemingly no purpose. Haile amended the bill, working with stakeholders including Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, which eventually supported the amended version of the bill. Haile characterized the bill as an [...]

22 May, 2019

2019 Legislative Report: New exemptions to Public Records Act, and bills that failed or were delayed

By |2021-10-14T14:32:58-05:00May 22, 2019|Categories: economic development, exemptions, Legislature, Public Records|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Following is a list of new public records exemptions and other public record laws passed by the 111th General Assembly, plus some proposals that failed or were delayed until next year. TCOG 2019 Legislative Report (If you would like to print this, here is the legislative report in PDF format without photos.) The new exemptions add to a list that is nearing 600. Citizens can expect some bills related to public records to re-emerge when the Legislature reconvenes Jan. 14, 2020. One of the more significant bills that was delayed, but attracted a lot of attention late in the session, would create a process for an injunction against a public [...]

17 Apr, 2019

Bill to punish “harassing” public records requesters delayed until first calendars in 2020

By |2019-04-17T12:48:30-05:00April 17, 2019|Categories: adequate public notice, Legislature, requests|Tags: , , , |1 Comment

Proposed legislation that would allow a government entity in Tennessee to get an injunction to stop public records requesters whose requests constituted "harassment" has been delayed until next year. The bills, Senate Bill 590 and House Bill 626, sought to allow government entities to stop a public records requester from making further requests if a judge found the requests to be made "in a manner that would cause a reasonable person, including a records custodian or any staff of the public entity in control of the public records, to be seriously abused, intimidated, threatened, or harassed." The bills' sponsors, Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, and Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, offered different [...]

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