At least two known white nationalist conferences have been held this year at Tennessee state parks.

Both organizations — American Renaissance and Stormfront — are designated as white nationalist hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and have hosted their annual gatherings for several years now in state-owned facilities.

All those years, it was a matter of public record when and at which state park building such conferences took place.

But since April, that has no longer been the case in Tennessee, where the General Assembly passed House Bill 312, legislation that now makes confidential "personal identifying and financial information of guests at state parks," according to the bill's description.

This summer, the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee requested from the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation, which oversees the state park system, a list of individuals and organizations that have reserved state park meeting spaces in recent years.

In denying the request, TDEC pointed to the legislation that was passed this spring, maintaining that the bill also retroactively applied to old state park records.

HB 312 does not specify that it applies to reservation information that was public prior to the bill taking effect.

Its sponsor, Rep. David Hawk, R-Greeneville, described the legislation as an "administrative bill" from state officials, and had been under the impression that the legislation was intended to protect guests at the state-run hotels and campgrounds from identity theft upon making their reservations.

 

Read more:  USA Today