State Sen. Richard Briggs Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

14 Feb, 2021

Bills would allow more governing bodies to meet electronically outside of Open Meetings Act rules

By Deborah Fisher|2021-02-16T12:10:48-06:00February 14, 2021|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: electronic meetings, Rep. Dave Wright, State Sen. Richard Briggs|3 Comments

Several bills seek to waive electronic participation rules for governing bodies so that public officials can attend more freely by phone instead of in person Permission for governing bodies to meet electronically during the COVID-19 epidemic has whet the appetite of some government officials to change the law permanently. Lawmakers have filed several bills that would give various types of governing bodies more exceptions to meet electronically — either allowing an entire governing body to meet by conference call or video conference or allowing certain members of a governing body to patch into a physical meeting by phone or video. Only one of the bills requires that meetings held electronically [...]

20 Mar, 2017

Ethics bills would require lawmaker disclosure of gifts, including for travel

By Deborah Fisher|2017-03-20T11:03:17-05:00March 20, 2017|Categories: Legislature|Tags: financial disclosures, lawmaker travel, State Rep. Bud Hulsey, State Rep. Gerald McCormick, State Sen. Doug Overbey, State Sen. Richard Briggs|1 Comment

Two different sets of ethics legislation on House and Senate calendars this week would require more disclosure of gifts, including for travel, received by lawmakers from people with an interest in influencing public policy. Both sets of bills would increase transparency. Currently, anyone who is not a lobbyist or an employer of a lobbyist can give any amount of money or gift to a lawmaker and the lawmaker does not need to report that gift to the Tennessee Ethics Commission. The issue of such unreported gifts came to light last year after Dave Boucher and Joel Ebert of The Tennessean reported about a Gulf Shores fishing trip hosted by a [...]

5 Dec, 2016

TCOG encourages citizens to comment on draft model public records policy

By Deborah Fisher|2016-12-05T13:12:20-06:00December 5, 2016|Categories: Public Records, requests, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: advisory opinions, citizen id, Ken Jakes, model public records policy, Office of Open Records Counsel, open data, requests by email, State Rep. Bill Dunn, State Sen. Richard Briggs, Sumner County School Board, TCOG news|0 Comments

The Office of Open Records Counsel is giving the public a chance to review and comment on a draft of a statewide model public records policy. A new law requires all government entities in Tennessee to adopt a public records policy by July 1, 2017. [T.C.A. §10-7-503 (g)]. The law also requires the Office of Open Records Counsel, a state agency housed in the State Comptroller’s Office, to develop a model best practices and public records policy that can be used by the government entities. The deadline for commenting is Dec. 15. Comments and feedback should be sent to [email protected]. The model draft policy is extensive and includes many new guidelines [...]

5 Dec, 2016

Law requiring public records policy

By Deborah Fisher|2016-12-05T10:14:41-06:00December 5, 2016|Categories: Public Records, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: legislation, model public records policy, State Rep. Bill Dunn, State Sen. Richard Briggs|0 Comments

T.C.A. § 10-7-503(g) (g) No later than July 1, 2017, every governmental entity subject to this section shall establish a written public records policy properly adopted by the appropriate governing authority. The public records policy shall not impose requirements on those requesting records that are more burdensome than state law and shall include: (1) The process for making requests to inspect public records or receive copies of public records and a copy of any required request form; (2) The process for responding to requests, including redaction practices; (3) A statement of any fees charged for copies of public records and the procedures for billing and payment; and (4) The name [...]

25 Mar, 2016

New Tennessee law could make requesting public records less confusing

By Deborah Fisher|2016-12-08T07:50:46-06:00March 25, 2016|Categories: Legislature, Office of Open Records Counsel, requests|Tags: Advisory Committee on Open Government, public records request, State Rep. Bill Dunn, State Sen. Richard Briggs|0 Comments

From Associated Press: The state Legislature has passed a bill that will require nearly every government office across Tennessee to tell citizens how they can get public records. State Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, led the bill's passage. The measure first directs the open records counsel in the state comptroller's office to come up with a model public records policy that local government agencies could adopt. The legislation would then require government offices to have a written public records policy by July 1, 2017. The policy can't be less open than state law allows, and it should explain to citizens how to make a request to either inspect or [...]