Tennessee Valley Authority Transparency Act of 2025
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Would require the Tennessee Valley Authority's Board of Directors to hold public meetings at least four times a year and expand the definition of 'meeting' to cover all Board deliberations, making TVA's governance more open to the public.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would amend the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 to require the TVA Board of Directors to hold open, public meetings at least four times each year. It would broaden the definition of "meeting" — for purposes of the federal open-meetings law (5 U.S.C. § 552b) — to cover all deliberations of the Board, its committees, and its subcommittees, including discussions not formally scheduled for a vote or official action. The Board would be required to publish public notice of meetings on its website and to post all required disclosure information there as well.
The bill would allow the Board chairman to waive the standard one-week advance notice requirement by designating a meeting as an emergency. It also preserves two categories of non-public information: details related to power availability requests, and contract negotiation information — including labor relations and procurement matters — whose disclosure could harm TVA's competitive position.
Key provisions
- 1Would require the TVA Board of Directors to hold public meetings at least four times each year.
- 2Would expand the definition of 'meeting' to include all Board, committee, and subcommittee deliberations — not just those scheduled for official votes — for open-meeting law purposes.
- 3Would require the Board to publish meeting notices and all required public disclosures on the Board's website.
- 4Would allow the Board chairman to waive the standard one-week advance-notice requirement by designating a meeting as an emergency special meeting.
- 5Would exempt from public disclosure information on power availability requests and contract negotiation details whose release could harm TVA's competitive position.
Who would be affected
The TVA Board of Directors would face new procedural requirements for how and when it deliberates. Residents, businesses, elected officials, and journalists in the seven states TVA serves — Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia — would gain greater visibility into Board decision-making through the new open-meeting and website-publication requirements.
Why it matters
Because TVA is a federally owned corporation that provides electricity to millions of customers across seven states without a traditional market regulator, how its Board makes decisions has direct consequences for utility rates, energy policy, and environmental management across the Tennessee River region. Expanding mandatory public access to Board deliberations would give stakeholders earlier and broader insight into major decisions before they are finalized.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Amends Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 (Sec. 2)
Rewrites Section 2(g)(2) to require at least four public Board meetings per year, expand the meeting definition to cover all deliberations, mandate website publication of notices, and add two non-disclosure exemptions.
Agencies directed to act
How implementation would work
The TVA Board would be required to apply the federal Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. § 552b) to a broader set of deliberations than currently covered. The Board would publish meeting announcements and all required public disclosures on its website. The Board chairman retains authority to designate emergency meetings that bypass the advance-notice requirement. For closed portions of meetings, the Board may invoke existing Sunshine Act exemptions plus the two bill-specific carve-outs for power availability requests and competitive contract information.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Official CRS summary
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This bill revises the duties of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Board of Directors to include holding public meetings at least four times each year. The board must provide public notice at least six days before such a meeting, unless the meeting is designated as an emergency. TVA, a federally owned electric utility corporation, provides low-cost electricity in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. It also provides flood control, navigation, and land management for the Tennessee River system.
Legislative subjects
Energy; Government ethics and transparency, public corruption; Tennessee Valley Authority
Committee report
H. Rept. 119-140