As Kentucky lawmakers claim that our open records law's "bias favoring disclosure" discourages economic development in the Commonwealth, and drives industry to neighboring states with laxer laws, Tennessee's Coalition for Open Government expresses grave concern:

"Part of what fuels the purported need for secrecy is that disclosing too much of the state's 'secret sauce' for luring business to Tennessee would give other states an advantage in competing against us.

"The businesses also want secrecy — or privacy, as they might describe it.

"But secrecy also can hide cronyism. And opaque deals, with little public reporting on outcomes, can obscure what the government is really getting in exchange for taxpayer dollars."