(C) Tennessee Lookout
This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Conservative Beacon Impact advocacy group opposes move to close state tourism documents • Tennessee Lookout [1]
['Sam Stockard', 'More From Author', '- March']
Date: 2024-03-07
Lawmakers are trying to assuage concerns of the conservative Beacon Center’s advocacy arm as it opposes the governor’s push to close access to Department of Tourist Development recruiting information for up to a decade.
Sen. John Stevens, a Huntingdon Republican ferrying the bill through the Senate, confirmed Wednesday he and other senators met with Beacon Impact and are “open” to working out problems the group has with the bill. The House version of the governor’s bill passed that chamber already, and the Senate measure is waiting to move.
Stevens noted senators share Beacon’s concerns and want to “match” the guidelines with those used by the Economic and Community Development Department for recruiting.
“It’s a timing issue of when records become public,” Stevens said.
Beacon Impact lobbyist Jordan Long issued a statement this week in response to Tennessee Lookout questions, saying: “Beacon Impact opposes the bill and lack of transparency when it comes to how tax dollars are spent. We have expressed our concerns with the language to both Leader (Jack) Johnson and Senator (John) Stevens. While we oppose the bill, we are not actively lobbying against it. However, we are having ongoing discussions on how best to clarify the language and to bring their exemption in line with ECD’s.”
Under the House-passed bill, tourism department information would fall under the Public Records Act unless the commissioner and state attorney general decide it’s so “sensitive” that “disclosure would adversely impact the department’s ability to carry out its statutory functions.” Items initially could be kept secret for five years and then up to 10 years if officials decide to extend the exemption.
Stevens wasn’t certain Wednesday how the time frame might change through an amendment. Under the bill’s language, trade secrets would remain confidential, along with marketing and capital planning documents, as well as a company’s proprietary information.
State Rep. Andrew Farmer, a Sevierville Republican who passed the House version, said Wednesday the bill is designed to make businesses and events “comfortable negotiating” with the state to lure businesses to Tennessee.
Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville, questioned Farmer about expenses for hotel rooms, airfare and other costs on the House floor and whether those would remain confidential. He wasn’t certain how those would be handled under this legislation.
“In my mind, I’m thinking we’re protecting business strategy, proprietary information of businesses of (projects) we’re working on,” Farmer said.
In fact, Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, told the Tennessee Lookout she’s not as concerned about private enterprise information as she is the wide latitude the bill gives the tourism commissioner to keep any documents confidential at his and the attorney general’s discretion.
Rep. John Ray Clemmons, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Wednesday his biggest concern is “lack of governmental transparency” with spending and the state budget.
Even with Economic and Community Development deals, he pointed out, lawmakers don’t know what the state is offering, making it difficult to track once a contract is signed.
“If somebody’s breaching those agreements, we should at least know if the state is seeking damages for those breaches,” Clemmons said.
He pointed out SmileDirect Club recently shut down operations after receiving a $3.5 million state grant through and $6.5 million for job training assistance from Gov. Bill Lee’s administration.
Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, told the Tennessee Lookout she’s not as concerned about private enterprise information as she is the wide latitude the bill gives the tourism commissioner to keep any documents confidential at his and the attorney general’s discretion.
The Nashville Democrat’s other point of contention is that the details of economic and tourism recruiting deals should become public information once the contract is inked.
Tourist Development Commissioner Mark Ezell did not respond through a spokesperson when asked Wednesday about Beacon’s opposition.
Previously Ezell told the Lookout that since the department took on the authority for “destination development,” which he said is comparable to economic development, “protections must be added” to its guidelines for companies that want to work with the state. He noted the “negotiation process” is important to protect and that sometimes it can last longer “than the immediacy of the negotiation because a city or a company is trying to go to multiple places.”
With its “mega-event fund,” the department is competing with other cities and states, for instance, to bring a Super Bowl and other major events to Tennessee, he said.
After the event takes place, the amount spent typically would become public record, Ezell said. But he noted, the protection for counties, cities and companies sometimes needs to go past “a few years to allow those negotiations to be continual.”
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://tennesseelookout.com/2024/03/07/conservative-beacon-impact-advocacy-group-opposes-move-to-close-state-tourism-documents/
Published and (C) by Tennessee Lookout
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-ND 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/tennesseelookout/
