legislative study committee

Officials would have 4 days to respond
By MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer • March 16, 2008

A proposal advancing in the state legislature would make some key changes to the Tennessee Public Records Law, including a deadline of four business days for government officials to respond to records requests.

There is no deadline now.

As I was reading the Tennessean yesterday, I came across an article on the lethal injection debate. Governor Bredesen stated that he believes the state needs to wait on the Supreme Court decision before making a move to execute anyone. I couldn't agree more. He goes on to say that moving to a one drug protocol would invite years of litigation before anyone could be executed.

Mary Mancini updates us on the push to get paper-verifiable elections in Tennessee:

Tomorrow, Thursday, January 17, at 9:30 a.m., the legislature’s Voter Confidence Act Legislative Study Committee will meet to discuss SB 1363 (Senator Haynes), HB 1256 (Representative Moore) - legislation that will mandate that all voting equipment in

Yesterday’s New York Time’s Magazine cover story, Can You Count on Voting Machines?, offers valuable and in depth coverage of electronic voting machines and the threat they pose to the foundation of our democratic process - our right to vote in free and fair elections.

This weekend the New York Times published a story reporting that Ohio elections officials believe there are “critical flaws that could undermine the integrity of the 2008 general election.”

In yesterday's New York Times, an article appeared about the cost of capital cases and the drain of the death penalty on state resources. Particularly, the article highlighted a high profile case in Georgia, the case of Brian Nichols who was charged with killing four in a courthouse shooting in 2005. The cost of his defense so far has totaled $1.2 million. Legislative cuts to the budget, in addition to the high cost of his case, have left the public defender system in Georgia with no money. U