Controversial provision stripped from open records bill
A controversial provision on a major open records bill, which required notification of public officials subject of a request, was stripped from the legislation today.
Open government advocates had argued the provision, sponsored by Rep. Mary Pruitt (D-Nashville), would have led to intimidation and prevented citizens from filing records’ requests.
Today, the House Budget Subcommittee stripped Pruitt’s provision from the bill, as well as another provision that would have notified public employees.
Frank Gibson, the executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said removing the notice provisions “substantially improves the bill.”
“It would have added a lot of costs,” Gibson said of the notification provision. “It would have probably had the effect of probably closing records in some cases because public employees might not be able to recognize whether someone named in a public record was a public official or not so to be safe they just wouldn’t release the record if they didn’t know how to contact the person to notify them.”
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Capitol Hill Conversations - Open Records
Monday, April 28th, 2008
Tennessee’s laws on open records and open meetings haven’t been changed since the early 80s. Open government advocates are hopeful for some changes this year. WPLN’s State Capitol correspondent Joe White tells Morning Edition’s Jacqueline Fellows that there are still some obstacles before it gets to the Governor.
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Controversial Amendment on Public Notification
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