utilities

2 Apr, 2021

Bill to allow local utility boards to end in-person public meetings moves forward

By |2021-04-04T16:03:21-05:00April 2, 2021|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: , , |0 Comments

The House Public Service Subcommittee passed a bill last week that would permit hundreds of local utility boards that govern rates for electric, water, gas and other public services to stop meeting in person if they choose. The bill, HB 509, will be heard next week by the House State Government Committee at its 1:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday in the Cordell Hull building in Nashville. The bill has the potential to open the door for local governing bodies to start conducting meetings all electronically and casting votes on key issues by phone outside the public eye. Sponsor Clark Boyd, R-Lebanon, told the committee that the intention is to allow a [...]

21 Mar, 2021

Proposed law would allow hundreds of local utility boards to avoid meeting in person

By |2021-03-21T11:45:07-05:00March 21, 2021|Categories: Legislature, Open Meetings|Tags: , , |0 Comments

A proposed change to the Open Meetings Act, scheduled to be heard this week in a House subcommittee, would allow hundreds of local utility boards that manage water, sewage, solid waste, natural gas and electric systems to avoid meeting in person in front of the public. HB 509 allows the utility boards that otherwise are governed by the Open Meetings Act to allow any of their members to call into a meeting or participate by "other means of communication" if a quorum is present at the location of the meeting, creating a hybrid meeting of some board members there in person and some attending by phone or other means. [...]

28 Apr, 2015

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

By |2015-09-25T17:03:32-05:00April 28, 2015|Categories: fees, Legislature|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |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 [...]

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