The concept of an open government is a critical component in a functioning democracy. There is no better way to make sure that the government is working for the people than to keep it transparent through access to public records. Unfortunately, there are some situations where certain individuals or organizations try to take advantage of public records laws. Tennessee is trying to make it so that frivolous requests have a cost associated with them that the requester will have to bear.

Many people are familiar with a criminal background check that searches the history of an individual to see if they were ever convicted of a crime. This works for many situations, but sometimes you will want a more specific search that focuses exclusively on jail and inmate records. There are many online resources that help people search for and find jail and inmate records in the state of Tennessee.

Some lawmakers are considering making some significant changes to child custody laws in Tennessee. The idea is to give equal custody to both parents when there is a divorce.

The logic behind the change is that children might do better when they get to spend equal amounts of time with each parent. This would dramatically impact divorce courts and judges that currently have the ability to determine the best custody arrangement for children on a case by case basis.