Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

New System Replaces Controversial TN House Voice Votes

For years, citizens and some lawmakers have complained that voice votes on bills in Tennessee House legislative committees reduce transparency and, sometimes, are unfair.

In a voice vote, the chair decides if he or she heard more ayes or nays. There is no vote count recorded, and no one really knows who voted how.

Senate committees don’t have this problem where roll call votes are standard for all bill votes.

The House adopted new rules recently that require roll call votes in committees through an electronic roll call system similar to the electronic roll call system used for votes on the House floor. Committee members would not be allowed to change their votes after the votes are displayed.

“All votes constituting final action on any bill or resolution and all votes taken on demand by any three (3) members, or by request of the sponsor if made prior to any vote, shall be taken by the electronic roll call system,” says the recommendation for the new rules from the Select Committee on Rules.

A final action on a bill would be the final vote on the bill.

The recommendations say that if the electronic roll call system is inoperative, the committee can take a voice vote or a traditional verbal roll call vote by calling out members’ names for their votes.

The Calendar & Rules Committee is the only committee that would have the option to use voice votes or use the electronic roll call system.

The new system required required technology upgrades in House committee rooms.

State Rep. Chris Todd (R-Madison County) praised the new electronic roll call votes on the House floor on Thursday. He said that he has heard complaints from constituents ever since he was elected about the lack of a roll call vote in House committees. He said one constituent even offered to pay for any system that allowed roll call votes.

Another new recommended rule adds a penalty to a member who “transgresses the rules” of the House after the member has already lost the ability to be recognized because of other rule transgressions. The member can be removed from the House chambers upon a House majority vote and loses the ability to vote for the next three legislative days. However, the member would be allowed to vote remotely from a room designated by the Chief Clerk.

Several bills before the Tennessee General Assembly were aimed at government transparency this year. Some hit. Some missed. One was sent out for some of that famous “summer study.”

All of this information comes from the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government (TCOG), a group that (you guessed it) advocates for government transparency here. A recent roundup of bills found moves on “harassing” records requesters, economic development deals, and 911 calls.

“Harassment”

A bill was delayed this year that would have stopped records requesters from making further requests if a judge found the requests made a records custodian “be seriously abused, intimidated, threatened, or harassed.”

The bills’ sponsors, Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland) and Sen. Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin) said the bill was filed at the request of city of Gallatin. Officials there said they’d been overwhelmed by requests from one requester.

An amendment to the bill gave a pass to journalists as requests for the purposes of broadcasting, publishing, or distributing information to others could not constitute harassment.

The sponsors delayed the bill until 2020.

No Deal (Information)

Economic development trumps transparency in Tennessee, according to a report in MuckRock.

Lawmakers shot down a bill that would have made public more information about government-led economic development deals.

From the story written by Kent Hoover:

“Under current law, economic development officials disclose information about grants awarded to companies who open corporate headquarters, manufacturing plants, data centers, or select other facilities in the state.

But they don’t disclose who gets the millions of dollars in tax credits the state offers these companies, nor what the state gets in return for these investments in terms of new jobs and capital expenditures. Tax information about specific companies is confidential under state law.”

A bill would have made public what companies got tax breaks, where they are located, how many jobs they create, and how much money they spend on machinery and other capital investments.

The bill was spurred by Gov. Bill Lee’s call for more transparency in government, according to the story. But it met push back from economic development officials who said the bills would make Tennessee less competitive for deals.

911

Lawmakers wanted to make 911 calls and transmission confidential, but the bill was pulled as the sponsor wanted more time to study the issue over the issue.

The bill would have made calls open only to law enforcement, courts, and other governmental agencies.

The Tennessee Press Association and Tennessee Association of Broadcasters lobbied against the bill, pointing out that access to 911 calls have led to numerous news stories uncovering problems within the 911 system.