BrianHornbackdotcom & TheMegaBulllhornofTruth.com has bad, awesome respect for Deborah Fisher, Executive Director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. FIsher sees legislation, considers how impacts folks like me, an almost 22 year blogger., not the daily paper with hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars. While I have friends who are sponsoring some of this legislation, it isn’t personal. Someone made the case for how this impacts them. I get it! just consider folks like me that Fisher is advocating for.
SB2540 / HB2500 Gets rid of free inspection. This bill is being pushed by the Tennessee Municipal League and would eliminate free inspection, allowing government entities to apply the same exorbitant and unlimited labor fees (often attorney hourly rates) to reviewing and redacting records for inspection. This bill probably has the widest impact on ordinary citizen requesters and members of the media who can’t afford to pay the $500 or $2,000 fees cited to them when they ask for copies. In 2015, a similar bill to get rid of free inspection led to statewide hearings in which members of the public expressed overwhelming opposition. You can read about it in an Office of Open Records Counsel report. The sponsors are Rep. Kip Capley of Summertown and Rep. Rebecca Alexander of Jonesborough/Washington County (I’m told Alexander will be point on carrying the bill) and Sen. Tom Hatcher of Maryville.
SB2141 / HB 2095 Classic back-room decision-making. This bill, among other things, allows the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to hold private meetings to “deliberate on matters related to senior administration, personnel positions, and contracts” while requiring only that the official vote be in public.
This is a broad and vague exception for a major state board to the Open Meetings Act, which says that it is the “policy of this state that the formation of public policy and decisions is public business and shall not be conducted in secret” and requires members of governing bodies to “deliberate” in a public meeting. What is not related to “senior administration”? And why should discussion about contracts, which could involve thousands or even millions of dollars, be secret? More to come. Bill is filed by Rep. Mark White-Memphis and Sen. Dawn White-Murfreesboro.
SB2219 / HB2352 Shuts down access to juvenile court orders and petitions. This bill removes from state law public access to petitions and orders of the court in juvenile courts, even in cases when the act, if committed by an adult, would be murder, rape or other violent crimes and acts of terrorism. The attorneys involved in the cases would be prevented from sharing any information as well. The part of the statute the bill removes is:
“(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), petitions and orders of the court in a delinquency proceeding under this part shall be opened to public inspection and their content subject to disclosure to the public if:
“(1) (A) The juvenile is fourteen (14) years of age or older at the time of the alleged act; and
(B) The conduct constituting the delinquent act, if committed by an adult, would constitute first degree murder, second degree murder, rape, aggravated rape, aggravated sexual battery, rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child, aggravated robbery, especially aggravated robbery, kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, or especially aggravated kidnapping; or
(2) The conduct constituting the delinquent act, if committed by an adult, would constitute an act of terrorism, as defined by § 39-13-803, or an attempt to commit an act of terrorism.”
Bill sponsors are Sen. Ferrell Haile of Gallatin and Rep. Mary Littleton of Dickson.
SB2292 / HB2141 College sports. If you are interested in government money in college sports, you will want to read this bill. It extends a current exemption on records that contains information relating to “game or player integrity” and adds an exemption for “records that are commercial contracts entered into solely in furtherance of an intercollegiate athletics program and contain information that if disclosed to the public, reasonably could be used to affect the economic advantage of a business over its competitors.” My initial take is that contracts that state colleges enter into would be confidential when they are related to their athletic programs. But I’m waiting on more clarification. I’m not a fan of making government contracts confidential, so will be watching this bill. Sponsors are Rep. Jason Zachary of Knoxville and Sen.. John Stevens of Huntingdon.
There are many more bills that I’ll be sharing next week.
Some bills in committee this week:
SB178 by Sen Adam Lowe in Senate State and Local on Tuesday. This bill would allow public comment at local governing body meetings on items that are germane to the jurisdiction of the governing body. Currently, the law requires only that local governing bodies allow public comment on items on the agenda. In this bill, the governing body still retains authority to set time limits and the number of speakers and require signup in advance. This bill passed the House in 2025. I think it’s a good bill.
SB1797 by Rep. Susan Lynn in House Public Service Subcommittee on Wednesday. This is the agenda bill that expands the governing bodies that must make meeting agendas for regular meetings available to the public at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting. This bill expands the requirement to school boards and any other local governing body of government that “has the authority to make binding decisions or the ability to appropriate funds.” This is a good bill for citizens. They deserve to know what’s on a governing body agenda before the meeting.
HB1858 by Rep. Dave Wright in House Public Service Subcommittee on Wednesday. This allows local governing bodies to meet electronically in a “community meeting,” defined as “the convening of members of a community in a political subdivision to discuss and receive information about community public business.” A recording of the meeting has to be made and posted within four days of the meeting on the governing body’s website.
HB1496 by Rep. Jerome Moon in House State and Local Government on Wednesday. This bill makes confidential the addresses and telephone numbers of members of all state boards and commissions. But it doesn’t provide any alternative way to reach those people. This passed in subcommittee this week
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