(a) It is an offense for any member of the general assembly, member-elect of the general assembly, governor, member of the governor’s cabinet, member of the governor’s staff, secretary of state, treasurer, or comptroller of the treasury to knowingly receive a fee, commission or any other form of compensation for consulting services from any person or entity, other than compensation paid by the state, a county or municipality.

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class C felony3 to 15 yearsup to $10,000
class A misdemeanorup to 11 monthsup to $2,500
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 2-10-123

  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Person: means an individual, partnership, committee, association, corporation, labor organization or any other organization or group of persons. See Tennessee Code 2-10-102
  • Secretary of state: means the secretary of state or the secretary of state's designee. See Tennessee Code 2-10-102
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) It is an offense for any person or other entity, other than the state, a county or a municipality, to pay a fee, commission or any other form of compensation for consulting services to a person such person or entity knows to be a member of the general assembly, member-elect of the general assembly, governor, member of the governor’s cabinet, member of the governor’s staff, secretary of state, treasurer, or comptroller of the treasury.
(c)

(1)

(A) If conduct giving rise to a violation of this section would also constitute the offense of bribery prohibited by § 39-16-102, then such violation is a Class C felony. Any person convicted of such offense shall forever afterwards be disqualified from holding any office under the laws or constitution of this state.
(B) Nothing contained within this section shall be construed to prohibit prosecution and conviction for the Class C felony offense of bribery of a public servant, set forth in § 39-16-102; nor shall it be construed to prohibit prosecution and conviction for any other applicable criminal offense.
(2) Any other violation of this section is a Class A misdemeanor. Any person convicted of such offense shall forever afterwards be disqualified from holding any office under the laws or constitution of this state.
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