Public Chapter 411, Acts of 2025, was passed by the Tennessee General Assembly during the 2025 legislative session and became effective on May 9, 2025.
This new law amends Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 5-5-106, to authorize electronic participation in county legislative body meetings under certain circumstances. County legislative bodies must opt in to the new provision by a 2/3 vote. Once adopted, members may participate electronically if they cannot physically attend the meeting for the following reasons: (1) they are dealing with a family or medical emergency, as determined by the county legislative body; (2) they have been called to military service; or (3) they cannot attend due to inclement weather. Under the law, electronic participation includes videoconferencing or other web-based media. Those participating electronically must be visually identified by the chair.
A quorum of members must be physically present for the meeting. No more than twenty percent, with a maximum of three members, may participate electronically in a meeting. Individual members may only participate electronically twice a year.
Counties opting in to the law are required to provide real-time live audio or video of the meeting. They are also required to provide recordings of the meetings to the public. Public notices of the meetings must include instructions on how to access the real-time, live stream of the meetings as well as the recordings. Counties are required to adopt policies outlining how they will conduct these meetings. We have provided a sample policy for guidance.
The statutory authorization for electronic meeting participation is set to expire July 1, 2028.
If you have any questions on this new law, please reach out to your CTAS County Government Consultant.