(a) Every meeting of the general assembly, senate, house of representatives, or any joint committee, standing committee, statutory committee, special committee, select committee, oversight committee, ad hoc committee, any other committee or any subcommittee shall be open to the public. Only when considering a matter involving the security of the state or nation or when investigating a proposed Article V impeachment of a public official other than a member of the general assembly, pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of Tennessee, may a meeting be closed to the public, but only if there is an affirmative vote of at least three-fourths (3/4) of the members present. Adequate public notice of every meeting shall be provided. The term “meeting” means at least a quorum of the members of a subcommittee, committee, the senate, the house of representatives, or the general assembly is present and public business within the jurisdiction of that body is being deliberated and decided.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 3-1-118

  • Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
  • Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
  • Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) Procedures for enforcing subsection (a) shall be set forth in the rules of the senate and the rules of the house of representatives.
(c) The 104th general assembly recognizes that the appellate courts of Tennessee, in specifically considering the open meetings laws, compiled in title 8, chapter 44, have unequivocally ruled that Article II, § 12 of the Constitution of Tennessee prevents this or any other general assembly from statutorily binding a future general assembly on rules of proceedings. Therefore, this general assembly truthfully acknowledges that subsection (a) can be legally binding only for the duration of the 104th general assembly. However, each future general assembly is strongly encouraged and vigorously urged to adopt rules incorporating provisions no less open than subsection (a).
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