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SB0212 • 2026

Open Meetings

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 8-44-110, relative to agendas for meetings of governing bodies.

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Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Gardenhire, Todd
Last action
2025-05-13
Official status
Effective date(s) 05/05/2025
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on penalties for non-compliance with the new requirements.

Open Meetings Act

This bill changes Tennessee's laws to require certain local government bodies and specific nonprofit organizations to share their meeting agendas with the public before meetings happen.

What This Bill Does

  • Expands the list of groups that must give out their meeting agendas to include more local government bodies like planning commissions, zoning boards, public utility boards, industrial development corporation board of directors, housing authorities, regional or municipal airport authorities, and county election commissions.
  • Changes the law so that if a group has a website, they are required to post their agenda there instead of just being allowed to do it.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Local government bodies such as city councils and county commissions
  • Specific nonprofit organizations receiving federal funding or certain state/local grants

Terms To Know

governing body
A group that makes decisions for a city, town, county, or specific nonprofit organization.
agenda
The list of topics to be discussed at a meeting.

Limits and Unknowns

  • Does not specify what happens if a governing body fails to follow the new requirements.
  • It is unclear how this bill will affect nonprofit organizations that do not receive federal or state/local grants.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

Amendment 1-0 to HB0885

Plain English: The amendment changes how meetings of certain governing bodies are handled by altering specific terms and requirements in Tennessee's laws.

  • Changes 'state governing body or a local government legislative body' to 'state governing body or a local governmental body'.
  • Replaces 'may' with 'shall' in subsection (d) of the law, making it mandatory instead of optional.
  • Updates and clarifies what is meant by 'local governmental body', listing specific examples like city councils, planning commissions, zoning boards, public utility boards, industrial development corporations, housing authorities, airport authorities, county election commissions, and budget committees.
  • The amendment text does not provide details on how these changes will affect the operations of governing bodies beyond altering terminology and requirements.
Amendment 1-0 to SB0212

Plain English: The amendment changes Tennessee's open meetings law by removing specific language and making some requirements mandatory instead of optional.

  • Removes references to 'state governing body or a local government legislative body' and replaces them with just 'governing body'.
  • Changes the word 'may' in subsection (d) to 'shall', which means that something is now required rather than optional.
  • Replaces existing subsection (e) with new conditions under which certain types of governing bodies are exempt from this section.
  • The amendment text does not provide full context about the original language, so some details might be unclear without reviewing the entire bill and current law.
Amendment 2-0 to SB0212

Plain English: The amendment changes certain parts of Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 8-44-110, to make requirements for meeting agendas more strict and limit exceptions.

  • Changes 'state governing body or a local government legislative body' to just 'governing body' in the code.
  • Replaces 'may' with 'shall' in subsection (d) of Section 8-44-110, making it mandatory instead of optional.
  • Removes and replaces subsection (e), adding an exception for governing bodies that are TennCare vendors.
  • The amendment text does not provide full context or details about the original language being replaced, which limits a complete understanding without reviewing the entire bill.
Amendment 3-0 to SB0212

Plain English: The amendment changes how meetings of certain governing bodies are handled by altering specific terms and requirements in Tennessee's laws.

  • Changes 'state governing body or a local government legislative body' to 'state governing body or a local governmental body'.
  • Replaces 'may' with 'shall' in subsection (d) of the law, making it mandatory instead of optional.
  • Updates and clarifies what is meant by 'local governmental body', listing specific types of bodies that fall under this definition.
  • The amendment text does not provide details on how these changes will affect meetings or public access to agendas, which limits understanding of the full impact.

Bill History

  1. 2025-05-13 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 05/05/2025

  2. 2025-05-13 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 360

  3. 2025-05-13 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 360

  4. 2025-05-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Governor.

  5. 2025-04-23 Tennessee General Assembly

    Transmitted to Governor for action.

  6. 2025-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by H. Speaker

  7. 2025-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Senate Speaker

  8. 2025-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled and ready for signatures

  9. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., Ayes 95, Nays 0, PNV 0

  10. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0354)

  11. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  12. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. SB subst.

  13. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  14. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/14/2025

  15. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.

  16. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/10/2025

  17. 2025-04-08 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee

  18. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  19. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 32, Nays 0

  20. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Amendment withdrawn. (Amendment 2 - SA0312)

  21. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Amendment withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - SA0300)

  22. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 3 - SA0338)

  23. 2025-04-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/7/2025

  24. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 7, Nays 0 PNV 0

  25. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. State & Local Government Committee for 4/9/2025

  26. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in State & Local Government Committee to 4/9/2025

  27. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 4/2/2025

  28. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate State and Local Government Committee

  29. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 4/1/2025

  30. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. State & Local Government Committee for 4/2/2025

  31. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in State & Local Government Committee to 4/2/2025

  32. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 4/1/2025

  33. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/25/2025

  34. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. State & Local Government Committee for 3/26/2025

  35. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to State & Local Government Committee

  36. 2025-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 3/25/2025

  37. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Public Service Subcommittee for 3/19/2025

  38. 2025-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/18/2025

  39. 2025-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 3/18/2025

  40. 2025-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/11/2025

  41. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee

  42. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Public Service Subcommittee

  43. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to State & Local Government Committee

  44. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  45. 2025-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  46. 2025-01-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  47. 2025-01-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

ON APRIL 7, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #3 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 212, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #3 revises, for purposes of the bill, the definition of a "local governmental body" to, instead, mean
(
i) t
he legislative body of an incorporated city or town, a metropolitan government, or a county
,
(
ii
)
a
regional or municipal planning commission
,
(
iii
)
a
board of zoning appeals
,
(
iv
)
a
public utility board
,
(
v
)
a
n industrial development corporation board of directors
,
(
vi
)
a
housing authority
,
(
vii
)
a
regional or municipal airport authority
,
(
viii
)
a
county election commission
,
and

(
ix
)
t
he budget committee of a legislative body of an incorporated city or town, a metropolitan government, or a county.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HOUSE BILL 885
By Todd

SENATE BILL 212
By Gardenhire

SB0212
000782
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 8-
44-110, relative to agendas for meetings of
governing bodies.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 8-44-110, is amended by deleting the
language "state governing body or a local government legislative body" wherever it may appear
and substituting "governing body", and is further amended by deleting the language "may" in
subsection (d) and substituting "shall", and is further amended by deleting subsection (e).
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.