'Sunshine' Law could get overhaul

Lobbyist for one county officials association vows to kill bill

 By ERIK SCHELZIG

Associated Press

Feb. 20, 2006

            NASHVILLE - Tennessee lawmakers are considering the first major overhaul of the state's open government law since it was created in the aftermath of Watergate in 1974, but the lobbyist for one county officials’ group says the changes are too drastic and they will push to kill it.

Under the proposed changes to the "Sunshine in Government" law, city councils and county commissions could get hit with a $50 fine and attorneys' fees for knowingly violating open-meetings rules.

The bill also would clarify rules for when and how governments can hold a closed meeting, how notice of meetings should be given, and what activities constitute an official meeting.

Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said the proposal incorporates several court decisions on open meetings from the past decades and adds teeth to the existing laws.

Tennessee needs the changes because of a growing trend of violations around the state, Gibson said.

Doug Goddard, executive director of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association, called open-meetings violations isolated incidents and said the proposed changes would go too far.

Setting a penalty for violations could scare off qualified candidates from seeking office, Goddard said. "You're just going to have nuts out there who want to burden local governments," he said.

Goddard said he has decided against trying to “make a bad bill better” in committee, and instead will try to defeat the measure.

The open government group found 115 alleged violations between January 2003 and October 2005, including an average of one a week for the first 10 months of last year.

“At least 40 of those were filed by public officials who were members of city councils, school boards, county commissions, their attorneys and citizens,” he said. “Some members were meeting, and others weren’t being told about the meetings.”

The proposal also comes in the wake of last year's Tennessee Waltz sting operation, which led to the arrests of four sitting lawmakers, a former lawmaker and others on bribery charges.

Gov. Phil Bredesen signed an ethics reform bill into law (Feb. 15) following a four-week special legislative session called in response to shaken public confidence following the sting involving undercover FBI agents posing as lobbyists. 

While Bredesen does not comment on the specifics of proposed bills, “in the area of open meetings, he believes in a transparent and open government,” said his spokeswoman, Lydia Lenker.

The open government coalition was created in 2003 to protect and improve Tennessee's public access laws. Members include the Tennessee Press Association, the state's major daily newspapers, the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, The Associated Press and Common Cause of Tennessee.

The increase in suspected public-meeting violations came a year after the coalition conducted a statewide audit of public record compliance by local governments. That survey showed about one-third of government agencies denied access to public records.

But Gibson said much of the new open meetings proposal has already been ruled as precedent in several court cases, and that other states impose much heftier fines for willful violations of the law.

Tennessee's civil penalties must remain low because under state law any fine higher than $50 gives the defendant the right to an expensive jury trial.

The changes are being sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate. House Judiciary Chairman Joe Fowlkes, a main sponsor of the bill, said the measure also is being met with resistance by some judicial and school groups.

“They think business can be done more efficiently with the doors closed. Of course, I disagree with them,” said Fowlkes, a Democrat from Pulaski.

“Two or three years ago I don’t think we would have been able to pass this bill,” he said. “But I think this environment now is proper to pass it.”

Gibson said there has been some unfounded apprehension that the proposal would reach beyond governing bodies.  “This is basically for local legislative bodies,” he said.

Copyright 2006, Associated Press. All rights reserved.

TPA members have permission to reprint this article from Feb. 20. 

“Open meetings bill proposes major overhaul”

A proposed overhaul to the state's ``Sunshine in Government'' act
includes the following provisions:
_Defining a meeting as one attended by two members of the same
local legislative, regulatory, administrative or quasi-judicial body.
_Requiring closed meetings be announced and the reason for the
executive session given.
_Prohibiting votes during closed meetings.
_Establishing criteria for posting public notice of the time and
subject of upcoming meetings.
_Imposing up to a $50 fine for members of public body found to
have violated open meeting laws.
_Reimbursing legal fees for individuals who prevail in appeals of
closed meetings.

Open Meetings-Glance

Suspected violations of Tennessee's open meetings law at a glance

For a list of sunshine law incidents reported over the past three years, go to the Headlines page of www.tcog.info

By The Associated Press

Examples of suspected violations of Tennessee's open meetings law
as reported by the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government last year.

_ Madison County Commission had three unannounced meetings in
which they decided to recommend another county commissioner from a list
of 13 reported applicants for county finance director. When the meetings
were discovered, the committee started the search process over and there
were three of the 13 original applicants still interested. The fellow
commissioner got the job.

_ The White House, Tenn., Board of Mayor and Alderman refused to
release applications for the city administrator's position and then held
a private meeting to discuss them. The city attorney later apologized
for the board and said the meeting should have been public.

_ Charles Love, a Hamilton County Board of Education and lobbyist
charged in the FBI's Tennessee Waltz case, used e-mail to lobby county
officials. In another report, Hamilton County commissioners used phone,
e-mail and memos to discuss filling a school board vacancy.

_ The Nashville city council members used e-mail to develop an
alternate budget despite advice from the city's Department of Law that
it was illegal.

_ The Red Boiling Springs city attorney said the city council had
an illegal meeting because it only gave 24 hours notice for a meeting
when there was no emergency.

_ The Elizabethton City Council closed its meeting to discuss
hiring a new electric utility manager after audit found irregularities
under a former manager.

_ Six of seven Hawkins County Commission Building Committee
members met to discuss a proposed jail expansion. One said he did not
attend because the meeting was unannounced and his attendance would have
violated the Sunshine Law.

_ The Maury County school board met to discuss a ``legal matter''
in Columbia. The law allows boards to meet in private to receive advice
from its lawyers, but no lawyer attended the meeting.

_ The Savannah City Commission gave its fired city manager Carl
Thrasher an extra month's pay after his wife accused three of the five
commissioners of violating the Sunshine Law. The other two members said
they did not know about the meeting.

_ Franklin's mayor scheduled one-on-one meetings with aldermen to
explain why the city paid or had to pay two police officers $80,000 for
time they were under suspension. They had retired after the suspension.

Source: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government.