New Bill Would Repeal Summers' Measure to Require Non-Profit Open Meetings

Council Members Ronnie Steine and Rip Ryman are co-sponsoring an ordinance Tuesday night to repeal a previous bill sponsored by ex-member John Summers that requires non-profit boards to make their directors' meetings open to the public when deliberating the expenditure of Metro earmarks. The rationale for the repeal: the Summers bill, which was passed unanimously on August 21 and signed by the previous Mayor would duplicate services "since the Metropolitan Government already tracks the expenditure of the funds."

I am interested to hear the arguments in favor of the repeal, although we probably won't hear them on first reading this Tuesday, since most first-reading ordinances are passed on consent without debate. I'm particularly curious as to the reasons why requiring open meetings is considered a "duplication of services."

There also seems to be a companion bill exempting non-profits that receive grants from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission.