NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WMOT) -- The Tennessee Press Association says it’s seeing a trend toward less transparency in state and local government.
Association Policy Director Frank Gibson says he’s currently tracking some 20 bills in the State Legislature the group believes would curb access to public records. One of those bills would severely restrict how much police body camera footage the public would have access to.
“Proposals to deploy these cameras are designed to provide transparency and more accountability, but yet they want to close the records that basically would provide that accountability.”
The speakers of the Tennessee House and Senate have now asked for a review of the hundreds of exemptions that have been passed over the years to Tennessee’s 1957 open government law.