Email bill rolls one week in House committee
A bill that would require government entities to accept public records requests they receive by email, if they already use email as an official mode of communication, was rolled a Continue Reading...
View ArticleLawmakers question redaction of vendor names
Proposed legislation clarifying a 2016 law that made identities of certain government vendors confidential passed out of a Senate committee and House subcommittee this week after questions from...
View ArticleBody camera bill passes Senate committee
A bill that would exempt from the state’s public records laws police body camera footage collected inside schools, hospitals and, when no crime is being investigated, private residences passed the...
View ArticleNew public records study: Problems with access and how to improve
A new public records study commissioned by the Knight Foundation and released today during Sunshine Week outlines key problems seen by freedom of information experts in access to public records across...
View ArticleInterested in open government? Bills to watch in 2017 in Tennessee
Lawmakers have filed dozens of bill this year that could affect a citizen’s ability to get information about their local and state government. While it’s still early, here is a Continue Reading...
View ArticleLawmaker faces opposition in trying to open up state lottery records
State Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, is facing stiff opposition in his effort to open up state lottery records. According to a story in the Bristol Herald Courier, the Tennessee Lottery Continue Reading...
View ArticleMcNally, Harwell seek review of Tennessee open records exemptions
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 Continue Reading...
View ArticleHouse committee passes bill allowing requests by email with some limits for...
The House State Government committee unanimously passed H.B. 58 this week, which would make clear that citizens may send records requests by email to records custodians. The email bill also contains...
View ArticleEven elected officials have trouble prying loose government information
Tucked in a Nashville Scene article about Nashville councilman John Cooper is an anecdote that is not altogether unusual — an elected official hitting a roadblock in getting what he thinks Continue...
View ArticleEmail bill passes the House 96-0
A bill that would make clear that public records requesters can make their requests via email passed the House 96-0 last night. See video from presentation of the bill on the Continue Reading Tennessee...
View ArticleBill to bring transparency to TBI investigations of police shootings advances
A bill that would make public the investigative record of TBI investigations of police shootings after the case is over advanced in a House subcommittee today. The House Criminal Justice Continue...
View ArticleWATE 6: DA’s request could prevent closure for Gatlinburg fire victims
From WATE 6 in Knoxville on efforts to get information about the emergency response to the Gatlinburg fire: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government
View Article5 things to watch in public records policies
To influence government, citizens must have access to information. In Tennessee, an important safeguard to that access is the state’s public records law. But sometimes that law gets ignored or Continue...
View ArticleNo tax-supported entity should get secrecy in spending
A shadowy situation has emerged in Chattanooga with an organization that manages millions of taxpayer dollars with no transparency and such a surprising disregard for accountability that one wonders...
View ArticleSenate approves bill to open TBI records in police-involved shootings
The Senate this week voted 30-0 to make TBI investigative records in police-involved shootings open to the public after the “prosecutorial function” is finished. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation...
View ArticleBody camera footage inside schools, hospitals would be exempt under bill...
Legislation that would exempt some body camera footage from the Tennessee Public Records Act is headed to the governor’s desk for signature. The House and the Senate passed legislation that Continue...
View ArticleNew laws passed in 2017 affect access to public records
TCOG Legislative Report 2017 Following is a summary of new laws affecting access to government information. They include 7 new exceptions to the Tennessee Public Records Act, 2 existing exemptions...
View ArticleKnoxville News Sentinel: Judge lifts blackout on Gatlinburg fire records
After months of unfulfilled public records requests to state and local government agencies for Gatlinburg fire records, the Knoxville News Sentinel learned that a judge issued an order three weeks...
View ArticleJudge rules Fall Creek Falls privatization records should be released
In a win for government transparency, Davidson County Chancellor Bill Young ruled today that government records requested by the Nashville Scene regarding the privatization of Fall Creek Falls State...
View Article7-month quest for Gatlinburg fire records reflects poorly on state transparency
The November 2016 Gatlinburg fire killed 14 people and cost millions of dollars in damages. It was one of Tennessee’s worst disasters. A central question remains: Why did state and Continue Reading...
View Article