State Rep. William Lamberth

21 May, 2024

Lawmakers retain public inspection of autopsy reports of minors, but prohibit release of copies

By |2024-05-21T10:12:48-05:00May 21, 2024|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments

A contentious bill to close autopsy reports of minors whose cause of death is listed as a homicide ended up with a compromise: Copies cannot be released but a person can still inspect such reports in person. The bill was first introduced in the special session called by the governor in the wake of the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville in which six people were killed, including three children. The parents of at least one of the children was deeply alarmed that the autopsy report of her child could be released to the public. The bill got stuck in the Senate during the special session and was reintroduced in 2024. It passed with the amendment, a compromise sought by TCOG and news media organizations.

26 Apr, 2024

Quick take on open government wins, losses at 2024 legislature

By |2024-04-26T12:13:02-05:00April 26, 2024|Categories: Legislature|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Lawmakers handed open government some wins and losses during the session that ended Thursday. Among the wins was a bill by state Rep. Susan Lynn to add muscle to the Sunshine Law by allowing recovery of attorney fees and reasonable costs when a citizen prevails in an open meetings lawsuit.

15 Aug, 2023

Autopsy reports of children killed by violence would be confidential under proposed bill

By |2023-08-22T16:16:25-05:00August 15, 2023|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

House Majority Leader William Lamberth has filed a bill for the special session next week that would close autopsies and other reports of medical examiners in cases involving "victims of violent crime who are minors." The bill, HB 7007, seeks to make those reports and autopsies of children who are 17 and younger "not public documents."

23 Feb, 2020

Bill would require government entities to put meeting agendas online

By |2023-04-11T10:57:55-05:00February 23, 2020|Categories: Public Records, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: , , , , , |1 Comment

State Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, and state Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, are pushing a bill that would require government entities to post meeting agendas on their websites, as well as other basic government information. House Bill 2132 and Senate Bill 2756 would make it easier and faster for the public to get and review agendas for upcoming meetings. State Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, (left) and State Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, (right) have proposed legislation that would require government entities with a website to include meeting agendas and other basic government information on the website. The bill requires a government entity with a website to post its meetings agendas on the [...]

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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