Tennessee government corruption
From Sunshine Review
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Report concludes Tennessee cities overspending on lobbying
Taxpayer-funded lobbying in Tennessee, the report warns, leads to a dangerous cycle of overspending. When lobbyists for cities and other government agencies in Tennessee lobby at the state or federal level, they are intent on creating new taxes or raising existing taxes, and expanding their influence over the public. The money generated from new taxes, in turn, is used by Tennessee local entities to fund more taxpayer-funded lobbying [1]
Tennessee bill backed by those with insurance interests will aid insurance companies
A bill in the Tennessee General Assembly would benefit some of the largest insurance companies in the country with substantial tax credits. Some of the bill's sponsoring legislators are somehow connected to some of these insurance companies.
The bi-partisan Tennessee Small Business Investment Company Credit Act (House Bill 2083/Senate Bill 1203) would create a $100 million fund for small business investment in Tennessee and states that a private company would manage the money. This legislation creates the Tennessee Small Business Investment Company Credit or TSBIC wherein insurance companies can pay a $7500 fee and invest $500,000 or more to qualify for the credit.
The bill would make it so the insurance companies that participate in the fund would earn a tax credit that is 80 percent of their investment in the fund against their premium tax. The decreases in state revenue thanks to the tax credit program are estimated at over $5 million each year for a minimum of five years starting Fiscal Year 2013-2014.
A company most effected by this bill would be Advantage Capital Partners, a St. Louis, Missouri company with over $1 billion in small business and private equity lending ability, which has had success lobbying for similar bills in other states.
The bill sponsors include Senators Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), Eric Stewart (D-Belvidere) and the lead House sponsor for the bill, Rep. Charles Sargent (R-Franklin), is a State Farm Insurance agent. State Farm is on the Advantage Capital Partners website as having invested in "one or more of the Advantage Capital family of private equity and venture capital funds.".
"State Farm 'doesn't know anything about this bill,' insofar as he has been able to determine thus far, but that he was still trying to validate that understanding," Venture Nashville Connections reported Sargent telling the subcommittee.[2]
Secrecy finds backers in Legislature
"Information about the estimated 220,000 Tennesseans authorized by the state to carry loaded handguns in public isn’t the only thing state lawmakers want to shield from residents.
Legislative records show lawmakers have sponsored more than a dozen other bills this session to shut off various types of public information or meetings."
Keep gun permit information open
"A bill that would close all public access to the names of people with state-issued handgun carry permits is advancing in the Tennessee House. This is misguided legislation that should be killed.
The legislation is being sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bass, a Giles County Democrat and a retired sheriff. It passed the House Budget Subcommittee on Wednesday. The companion bill is awaiting a vote by the full Senate."
Judge To Examine Anderson Legal Billings To East Ridge
"Chancellor Howell Peoples ruled Monday that he will inspect the itemized legal billings of East Ridge City Attorney John Anderson to determine which, if any, should not be made public.
Judge Peoples gave East Ridge five business days to provide the records and asked attorney Anderson to highlight those he believes should be kept confidential because of 'attorney-client privilege.'"
Meeting in online forums? Officials should stick to in-person sessions
"If elected officials can't physically make it to most of their meetings, then perhaps they shouldn't be office-holders.
That thought came to mind after the Tennessee House last week unanimously approved a bill that would allow local bodies to meet in online forums rather than in person.
Under this legislation, the local government would have to submit a plan to the Office of Open Records Counsel to ensure that the local body complied with all of the requirements of the legislation."
Learn rights during this Sunshine Week
"Sunday kicked off Sunshine Week 2009. Sunshine Week is a national effort to draw attention to people's right to know. It is also the perfect time for Tennesseans to educate themselves about this most important and vital of American rights.
Tennessee's Sunshine Law is old. It was first passed in 1957. Before last year, it had not been updated since the 1970s. Then, last year, a package of reforms successfully made its way through the General Assembly. Among other things, public officials are now required to give the status of public records requests within seven days, or give a reason why the request cannot be filled."
Tennessee not putting some public records online
"While more and more government records are available with a few mouse clicks, Tennessee still does not provide some important state records and reports for free online.
A nationwide survey of state government information online found Tennessee, like many states, has no comprehensive database for state spending and doesn't put a variety of inspection reports online, including those for hospitals, child care centers and school buses and buildings."
Adams filing lawsuit to obtain attorney records
"Hamilton County Commissioner Curtis Adams said today he will file a lawsuit to try to open up East Ridge City Attorney John Anderson’s legal bills to the public.
Mr. Adams said 88 residents signed a petition asking him to get involved in the dispute to get itemized versions of Mr. Anderson’s bills."
Memphis paper uncovers problems with gun permits
"A newspaper review of public records has found dozens of handgun permit recipients in Shelby County with histories of arrests or convictions for robbery, assault and other crimes.
The review by The Commercial Appeal of Memphis comes amid a statewide debate over public access to Tennessee handgun permit records, and the newspaper has stirred those discussions by posting a database of license holders on its Web site.
The state Legislature is considering a call to close the handgun records, with proponents arguing that open access violates the privacy of permit holders."
Public records policy passes
"It was a question of public records accessibility that was brought before Dresden City Board members Monday evening.
While the resolution to establish procedures for the general public to gain access to public records passed, the topic brought out a lengthy discussion between Dresden’s aldermen.
Under the adopted resolution, people requesting open records from the City of Dresden must fill out a records request form and present identification when seeking access to the record."
Handgun permit data should be kept public
"A bill working its way through the General Assembly that would close handgun permit records to the public is unconstitutional and should be rejected. Handgun permit records have long been public records, and they should stay that way. Closing them would unfairly inhibit the news media from doing its job in protecting the public.
The legislation is sponsored in the House by Rep. Eddie Bass, a Prospect Democrat. Under the proposed bill, information about handgun permit holders would become confidential. Unauthorized publication of that information would be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,500."
Johnson: General Assembly seeks to close inboxes to public
"When the Tennessee Center for Policy Research recently asked members of the Tennessee General Assembly for insight into their e-mail, two legislators not only didn’t respond — they filed legislation to exempt “electronic mail” from open records requests.
TCPR, a Nashville-based research institute, sent e-mails to all 132 legislators requesting a “screenshot” of their inboxes and their “sent items” folders. (My son, Reed, is an intern at TCPR and assisted in the research.) Only 60 lawmakers complied."
Lawmakers get new shot to close gun permit records
"Tennessee lawmakers are ready again to try to muzzle state records that list who has a permit to carry a concealed handgun, and this time they are considering making it a crime to publish information about gun ownership.
The measure sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bass, a Democrat from Prospect, would make information on gun permit holders confidential and exempt from the state's open records law. The bill is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday by the House Criminal Practice Subcommittee."
Knox Co. offices open their records, defend operations
"The investigation into improper payroll allegations at the Knox County Trustee's Office has some commissioners questioning what might be going on in the other county offices.
Their operating systems have been called into question and some are calling for audits.
6 News is looking into payroll records from the Register of Deeds, Property Assessor and County Clerk's Offices."
TN Records access opened
"Tennesseans have begun to use the Office of Open Records Counsel to get the help they need to access the government information to which they are entitled under state law. In the past year, the office has received some 600 calls from the public on open government issues.
The office was set up last year under an overhaul of the open records law, which classifies most state, county and municipal records as available to any Tennessee citizen.
In wake of a 2004 audit in Tennessee by reporters, college students and volunteers, the law was beefed up. The audit had found that government agencies denied access to public records about a third of the time."
Open records office is off to a solid start
"After a year in operation, the Office of Open Records Counsel — commonly known as the Ombudsman's Office — appears to be doing exactly what it was designed to do. It also appears that plenty of people are taking advantage of it. That's good news. The more people take advantage of it, the more transparency there will be in state government. And the more transparency we have in state government, the better.
The office's director, Ann Butterworth, and open records specialist Elisha Hodge gave a progress report to the Senate State and Local Government Committee on Tuesday. They told lawmakers that in its first year of operation, they had received about 600 calls. Questions ranged from what's considered adequate public notice for a meeting to how to deal with someone making a records request."
TN editorial: Open records a free, easy fix
"In a year when a lack of money should restrain the Legislature from costly projects, lawmakers should focus on a few projects that are cheap (even free) and achievable.
First up among the doable projects is the so-called automatic recovery bill that would help keep government honest.
Under the bill, winners of lawsuits over public records would recover attorney fees from the government bodies they successfully sued. Currently granting of attorney fees is discretionary."
Lawmakers Dispute Closed Gun Records
"What some are calling a matter of privacy, others are calling a dangerous idea. At issue is whether or not applications for gun-carry permits should be kept confidential.
Getting a permit isn't only about learning the rules; a lot of personal information must be given up.
"You have to answer a lot of questions," said John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association. "Like, for example, 'How were you discharged from the military?' 'Have you ever been addicted to any kind of alcohol or other substances?' 'Have you ever had any psychiatric problems?' A lot of information is disclosed on the forms that really shouldn't be public.""
Brentwood streamlines open records fees
"Brentwood citizens will have an easier time getting their hands on open city records with a new change in city procedure.
The city is changing its fees on copies of open records as a result of Tennessee's Office of Open Records Counsel's new schedule of reasonable charges, which went into effect Oct. 1.
The schedule is designed to give city governments a guideline of what to charge for copies of records. If cities charge more than the amount suggested in the schedule, they must justify each charge to the counsel."
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