National News:

State News:

Local News & Arts:

SB521 / HB 907 (Law enforcement investigatory privilege)

Rep. Johnny Garrett of Goodlettsville is set to present a bill on Wednesday that would create a new law enforcement investigatory privilege. The bill would allow law enforcement to keep records in certain cases confidential unless a district attorney “chooses” to close an investigation. The bill contains no standards about about what constitutes an ongoing or active investigation. It would create an easy way to keep law enforcement records confidential indefinitely in certain types of cases, such as the Covenant school shooter case, without having to prove or attest to a judge that an investigation is indeed still active. The bill is up in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, which begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday. TCOG opposes this bill as unnecessary and an irresponsible expansion of the current investigative exemption that, if passed, will ultimately reduce law enforcement transparency. This bill is from the Tennessee District Attorney Generals Conference.

HB152 / SB136 (hybrid meetings for county commissioners, city councils) A bill would allow hybrid meetings of county commissions, city councils and boards of aldermen in which some members could attend by telephone or video and not in person. The bill passed out of subcommittee last week. It is on the calendar of the House State and Local Government committee at 1 p.m. Wednesday. This is the third time that Rep. Dave Wright of Knoxville has sponsored the bill at the request of the Knox County Commission. TCOG testified against the bill as written, raising concerns about the ability of members of the public to follow who is speaking when as many as three people are calling into the meeting on the phone, as well as the lack of definition of “family emergency,” which is one of three reasons commissioners or aldermen can participate electronically. The other two conditions are “medical emergency” and “inclement weather.”

Political Cartoon:

Seniors: