TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Paul Burch on Feb 29, 2024

The House today passed HB 1692 which seeks to allow records from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development to be exempt from public records laws if the tourism commissioner and attorney general deem them “sensitive,” reports the Tennessean. The bill, proposed by the Lee administration and sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, is modeled after a similar exemption for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development that passed in 1988 and keeps records deemed sensitive secret for five years, with the possibility of an extension for a second five-year term. Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, presented the bill in the House and stated, "This would allow the department of tourism, in their negotiations with businesses and tourism interests with the state of Tennessee, to keep their trade secrets and proprietary information safe while the negotiations are going on.” The House passed the legislation, on a 69-14 vote. The bill has not yet been heard in a Senate committee.