State Rep. G.A. Hardaway Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

14 Nov, 2018

Questions about photography ban, ID requirement prompts committee to stop agency’s public records rules

By Deborah Fisher|2018-11-16T12:17:04-06:00November 14, 2018|Categories: requests, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: identification, photos of public records, public records policies, State Rep. Bo Mitchell, State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, State Rep. Jeremy Faison, State Sen. Janice Bowling, State Sen. Mark Pody, State Sen. Mike Bell, State Sen. Rusty Crowe|1 Comment

The Joint Government Operations Committee voted today to ask the Department of Financial Institutions to hold a public hearing on its rules related to public records requests after questions about the agency's proposed ban on photography of records and the requirement of a Tennessee driver's license or photo ID to inspect or get copies of records. Some committee members said that hearing public records rules of state agencies during the rule-making process this year has prompted them to believe changes to the public records act are due. The Department of Financial Institutions is one of many state agencies going through the rule-making process related to public records access. All state [...]

21 Mar, 2017

Bill to bring transparency to TBI investigations of police shootings advances

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-22T07:53:04-05:00March 21, 2017|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: body camera, district attorneys, police shootings, State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, State Rep. Lee Harris, TBI|0 Comments

A bill that would make public the investigative record of TBI investigations of police shootings after the case is over advanced in a House subcommittee today. The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted to move the bill to the full committee. State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, is sponsoring the bill, H.B. 277, in the House, and state Sen. Lee Harris, D-Memphis, is the sponsor in the Senate. (S.B. 1039) State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis Currently, some district attorneys in the state say they cannot release the investigative record in a police shooting case, even after the case is over, because of an exemption to the Tennessee Public Records Act [...]

12 Apr, 2016

Two bills on transparency of police shooting investigations advance in Legislature

By Deborah Fisher|2018-11-09T08:23:45-06:00April 12, 2016|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: legislature, police shootings, State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, State Sen. Brian Kelsey, TBI|0 Comments

A Shelby County state senator and Memphis state representative have both gained passage in legislative committees of different amendments to bills that would govern access to TBI files in police shooting investigations. Both amendments carve out a pathway for the public to see elements of the investigation that led to a decision to clear law enforcement officers or charge them. Most police shootings where someone is killed in Tennessee do not result in charges against the officer. State Sen. Brian Kelsey An amendment to S.B 2023 by State Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, says: "After completion of an investigation by the Tennessee bureau of investigation into an officer-involved shooting [...]

5 Apr, 2016

Bill keeps TBI records about officer-involved shootings confidential unless police agree to release

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-21T16:59:17-05:00April 5, 2016|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: police body cameras, police shootings, State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, State Sen. Brian Kelsey, TBI|1 Comment

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article referenced language in the original Senate Bill 2023 and House Bill 2091 that required the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to handle investigations into all officer-involved shootings in the state. The amended bill that passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week does not appear to mandate TBI investigate all shootings, but when TBI does handle the investigation, it gives the district attorney and law enforcement agency discretion on whether to release public records regarding the investigation. A bill that passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week regarding TBI investigations into officer-involved shootings would keep public records of the investigation closed after the [...]

5 Jan, 2016

Commercial Appeal: Focus on police shootings draws attention to policy secrecy

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-21T16:59:32-05:00January 5, 2016|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: crime records, police shootings, State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, TBI, TBI files, The Commercial Appeal|0 Comments

Marc Perrusquia of The Commercial Appeal Memphis investigative reporter Marc Perrusquia provided an outstanding overview in The Commercial Appeal on Sunday of the legal exemption for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that allows it to keep files of long-closed cases confidential forever. A movement to open records of closed TBI cases -- at least for investigations into police shootings where citizens have been killed -- started last year as the city of Memphis began to grapple with the number of deaths, including a recent fatal shooting of a black teenager Darrius Stewart. The story is reprinted here, with permission from The Commercial Appeal: Tennessee not alone in sealing police investigations. By Marc [...]

12 Next