Behind Closed Doors
Today the Tennessee Senate will consider Senate Bill 2207 as shown below. This is a bill that the Governor wants to be able to negotiatate how your tax money will be spent to entice a company to come to Tennessee instead of the other 49 states or maybe going to China.
I am a long time advocate of open records as is Ben Cunningham as mentioned in the CA article today on this subject. Ben is a friend and is responsible for the Nashville not being able to raise their property taxes without the voters being able to say Yes or No. I wish we had such a provision here. Also Frank Gibson, Tennessee’s leading advocate for open records, is also against these bills. Even the CA wants open records in most cases.
There is another bill shown below, SB 1168, which is the bill wanted by the local chamber of commerce to close the doors and records on giving away our tax money. You only need to look at the Electrolux deal to see what a bad idea that is. I ask you to oppose both of these bills in the name of open records and against closed door deals with our tax money.
SB 2207
Public Records – As introduced, classifies as confidential the due diligence materials submitted by a company to the department of economic and community development; confidentiality applies until such time as the provider of the material no longer requires its confidentiality.
SB 1168
| Public Records – As introduced, authorizes a local government’s legislative body to designate certain records as proprietary information, and thereby not subject to public records law. |