State Rep. Steve McDaniel Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

28 Apr, 2016

So what ever happened to the fees to inspect bill?

By Deborah Fisher|2022-02-11T09:31:45-06:00April 28, 2016|Categories: fees, Legislature|Tags: Ann Butterworth, fees for public records, Office of Open Records Counsel, State Rep. Steve McDaniel, State Sen. Jim Tracy|0 Comments

Last year at this time, open government advocates in the state had successfully convinced lawmakers to delay action on an ill-conceived proposal to allow government to charge fees to inspect public records. Already, the law allows charging citizens fees to get copies of records and the rules have led to out-of-control labor costs with few limits or recourse for citizens and journalists. The free inspection option is the law's safety valve, and the last protection for a citizen or journalist who can't afford the prices and the fights with government officials over costs. The sponsors of the legislation, who were carrying it at the request of the Tennessee School Boards [...]

30 Jun, 2015

Public hearings, survey to gather citizen, government input on public records fee proposal

By Deborah Fisher|2015-06-30T16:03:41-05:00June 30, 2015|Categories: fees|Tags: Advisory Committee on Open Government, Ann Butterworth, Blake Farmer, David Moore, Dick Williams, Don Long, fees for public records, Janet Kleinfelter, Lucian Pera, Robb Harvey, State Rep. Bob Ramsey, State Rep. Steve McDaniel, State Sen. Jim Tracy, Sumner County|0 Comments

Three public hearings will be held around the state in September to gather opinions and input about a legislative proposal to allow local and state government agencies to charge fees to citizens to inspect public records. Currently, the Tennessee Public Records Act says that citizens must be allowed to view public records for free, but citizens can be charged if they request copies of those records. In the case of copies, citizens by law can be charged both the actual cost of the copy and a per-hour labor fee for the time it takes to compile the records after the first hour. Open Records Counsel Ann Butterworth outlined her draft [...]

28 Apr, 2015

Lawmakers tweak public records law, but avoid new fees for now

By Deborah Fisher|2015-09-25T17:03:32-05:00April 28, 2015|Categories: fees, Legislature|Tags: Advisory Committee on Open Government, City of Franklin, Erlanger Health Systems, executive session, fees for public records, legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel, performance evaluations, public hospital boards, State Rep. Mike Carter, State Rep. Steve McDaniel, State Sen. Jim Tracy, TCOG news, Tennessee School, TSSAA, utilities|1 Comment

Sponsors delayed action on legislation that could have made accessing public records more expensive for citizens and news media, but lawmakers in the 109th General Assembly moved ahead on other changes to the state's public records law. A new exemption was added to make performance evaluations of more state employees confidential. Another was added to make sure student academic and health information remained private. And yet another reinforced already existing exemptions to protect credit card numbers and email addresses of citizens held by government. The most far-reaching public records bill was one that never made it to committee for discussion — a proposal to impose new fees on citizens who asked to inspect public [...]

25 Mar, 2015

Bill to allow new public records fees pulled from House consideration

By Deborah Fisher|2015-04-28T11:33:33-05:00March 25, 2015|Categories: Legislature|Tags: ACOG, Ann Butterworth, fees for public records, legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel, State Rep. Steve McDaniel|0 Comments

State Rep. Steve McDaniel this morning took off notice a bill that would allow new charges to be assessed citizens who want to inspect public records. House Bill 315 and its companion in the Senate is a top legislative priority for the Tennessee School Boards Association. Before pulling the bill, McDaniel kept the idea of new public records fees alive by saying the Office of Open Records Counsel has agreed to conduct public hearings in conjunction with the Advisory Committee on Open Government this summer on the proposal, and make a recommendation on the bill by January 2016. Ann Butterworth is the Open Records Counsel who would be in charge of [...]

22 Feb, 2015

News Sentinel: Bill would charge extra fees for public records

By Deborah Fisher|2015-03-02T07:36:45-06:00February 22, 2015|Categories: fees|Tags: fees for public records, Knox County school board, State Rep. Steve McDaniel, State Sen. Jim Tracy, Tennessee School Boards Association|0 Comments

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports in its Sunday edition what Knox County school board members think of an effort by the Tennessee School Boards Association to change the law so that citizens can be charged inspection fees for public records. The story "Bill would charge extra for public records" by reporter Lydia X. McCoy is reprinted here, with permission: A majority of Knox County school board members said they support proposed legislation that would allow government agencies, including school systems, to charge residents more to inspect public records. For others, the bill raises some concerns. The bill, being sponsored by state Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, and state Rep. Steve McDaniel, R-Parkers [...]