State Rep. Ryan Williams Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

21 Mar, 2021

Bill closes information about reported crimes involving minors on school property

By Deborah Fisher|2021-04-15T12:17:04-05:00March 21, 2021|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: crime records, juveniles, State Rep. Ryan Williams, student records|0 Comments

Proposed legislation that would make confidential law enforcement records of incidents on school property involving a minor passed the House State Government Committee on Tuesday. The bill is scheduled to be heard by the House Government Operations Committee on Monday afternoon. HB 368 arose from a situation in Putnam County after an incident involving two minors at a school, state Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, told the House State Government Committee on Wednesday. (See video of testimony and questions about the bill, including testimony from TCOG.) Though the incident did not result in any charges, a parent of one of the minors sought to get the law enforcement records related to [...]

9 Feb, 2017

Tennessean: GOP caucus decides to have closed-door meetings after all

By Deborah Fisher|2017-02-09T07:11:21-06:00February 9, 2017|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: House Republican caucus, legislature, State Rep. Ryan Williams, Tennessee Capitol Press Corp|0 Comments

Jake Lowary with The Tennessean reported yesterday that House Republicans have decided they will decide major issues on pending bills behind closed doors. (See: GOP caucus to have closed-door meeting to decide positions on issues.) State Rep. Ryan Williams "Caucus positions give us an opportunity to tell people where we believe the vision of the state as House Republicans should be," said House GOP Caucus Chair Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, as reported by The Tennessean. The strategy is a new one. Late last year, Williams told the Capitol Hill press corps that caucus meetings during the legislation session would be presumed open "unless it's a family discussion." The press [...]

20 Dec, 2016

House Republican caucus meetings to be open unless it’s “family discussion”, chairman says

By Deborah Fisher|2016-12-20T11:45:57-06:00December 20, 2016|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: House Republican caucus, legislature, State Rep. Ryan Williams, Tennessee Capitol Press Corps|1 Comment

House Republican Caucus Chairman Ryan Williams told the Capitol Hill press corps last week that caucus meetings would be presumed to be open while the legislature is in session, according to a report in The Tennessean. However, he said, if a member wanted to have a "family discussion," the caucus would take a vote on closing the meeting. State Rep. Ryan Williams The meeting with the press corps came after the House caucus, departing from tradition, held a closed door session in early December to discuss the state budget surplus and the fires in Sevier County. The press corps asked to discuss what appeared to be a new [...]

9 Dec, 2016

Capitol Press Corps asks to discuss closed meetings of Republican caucus

By Deborah Fisher|2016-12-09T17:59:51-06:00December 9, 2016|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: Chas Sisk, legislature, State Rep. Ryan Williams, Tennessee Capitol Press Corps, Tennessee Constitution, Tennessee Open Meetings Act|0 Comments

The Capitol Press Corp has requested to meet with the House's Republican Caucus Chair, Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, to discuss an apparent change in policy where journalists are no longer allowed to cover caucus meetings. Chas Sisk, chairman of the Capitol Press Corps “Past practice — especially since Republicans gained supermajority status — has been that the meetings are open unless closed by caucus vote. If that is to change, we think it’s important for both sides to understand the rules of the road going forward,” wrote Chas Sisk, news reporter for WPLN and chairman of the Tennessee Capitol Press Corps, in a letter to Williams. “…Our fundamental concern is [...]