State Sen. Randy McNally

28 Apr, 2022

Legislature invigorates campaign finance reporting, ethics rules

By |2022-04-29T10:23:03-05:00April 28, 2022|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

The Legislature passed comprehensive legislation closing several loopholes and adding more transparency and accountability to campaign finance reporting and ethics measures Thursday. House Speaker Cameron Sexton describes the bill as bringing money flows "from the dark into the light." One provision of the bill requires nonprofits organized under IRS code 501(c)(4), (5) and (6) to report expenditures related to a candidate during election periods, causing pushback from such groups, but the bill goes much farther than this one change.

19 Apr, 2018

Column: Lawmakers give Advisory Committee on Open Government opportunity for new life

By |2018-04-19T11:42:47-05:00April 19, 2018|Categories: Advisory Committee on Open Government, Legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel|Tags: , , , , |4 Comments

A decade ago, in the spring of 2008, the Legislature created the Advisory Committee on Open Government to provide guidance to the newly created Office of Open Records Counsel. The Legislature also gave the committee the ability to review and provide written comments on proposed legislation related to open records and open meetings laws. But for most of the past 10 years, the group has barely met. Aside from its initial whirlwind participation in setting a “reasonable fee schedule” for copies of public records, committee discussions have been so infrequent as to cause some who have attended to wonder whether even those were worth the time. The open government committee [...]

30 Jan, 2018

538 public records exemptions in Tennessee law

By |2019-09-11T19:02:12-05:00January 30, 2018|Categories: exemptions, Legislature|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A report has found that there are now 538 exemptions to Tennessee's public records law, about six times as many as there were three decades ago. According to the state comptroller's office, the Tennessee Public Records Act only had two statutory exceptions when it was enacted in 1957. By 1988, a legislative committee reported there were 89 exceptions. In its report released Tuesday, the comptroller's Office of Open Records Counsel found that number has grown to include hundreds of exceptions in Tennessee Code. "I will tell you, they are hodgepodge all over the Tennessee Code Annotated," Jason Mumpower, comptroller's office chief of [...]

26 Jan, 2018

Senate committee to hear report on public records exemptions

By |2018-01-26T16:30:40-06:00January 26, 2018|Categories: exemptions, Office of Open Records Counsel|Tags: , , |1 Comment

The Senate State and Local Government Committee is scheduled to hear a report on exemptions to the Public Records Act on Tuesday. The House State Government Committee is also scheduled to hear the report at its Tuesday meeting. Lt. Gov Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge Last year, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) and House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) asked the state's Office of Open Records Counsel to conduct a comprehensive review of exemptions and produce a detailed list. "In the interest of transparent and open government, we would like to review this list in order to remove or place in sunset at least some of the various exemptions," [...]

17 Mar, 2017

McNally, Harwell seek review of Tennessee open records exemptions

By |2017-03-17T12:39:23-05:00March 17, 2017|Categories: exemptions, Legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel|Tags: , , , , |2 Comments

The speakers of the House and Senate have asked the Office of Open Records Counsel for a "thorough and comprehensive review" of the various exemptions to the Tennessee Public Records Act, reports Joel Ebert in a story in The Tennessean. Letter from McNally and Harwell asking for a thorough review of the exemptions to the Public Records Act. "We ask that a detailed list of current exemptions in the Tennessee Code Annotated be compiled as soon as possible," says the letter from State Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, and State Rep. Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, to Open Records Counsel Ann Butterworth. "In the interest of transparent and open government, [...]

Go to Top