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Tenn. Code Ann. § 3-1-118

This is the official text of Tenn. Code Ann. § 3-1-118, part of Tennessee’s Code Ann — part of the compiled statutory law of Tennessee, published by the state as "Code Ann." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Open meetings - Exceptions - Enforcement

Official statutory text

(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. (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). Acts 2006 (1st Ex. Sess.), ch. 1, § 41.
(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.
(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).
Acts 2006 (1st Ex. Sess.), ch. 1, § 41.

Status: in_force

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.