(a) Not later than June 30, 2007, the governing body of each entity covered by this chapter shall adopt by ordinance or resolution, as appropriate, ethical standards for all officials and employees of such entity. To the extent that an issue covered by an ethical standard is addressed by a law of general application, public law of local application, local option law, or private act, any ethical standard adopted by a governing body shall not be less restrictive than such laws.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 8-17-103

  • Commission: means the Tennessee ethics commission. See Tennessee Code 8-17-102
  • County: means a county, metropolitan or consolidated government, inclusive of any boards, commissions, authorities, corporations or other instrumentalities appointed or created by the county or an official of the county. See Tennessee Code 8-17-102
  • Ethical standards: includes rules and regulations regarding limits on, and/or reasonable and systematic disclosure of, gifts or other things of value received by officials and employees that impact or appear to impact their discretion, and shall include rules and regulations regarding reasonable and systematic disclosure by officials and employees of their personal interests that impact or appear to impact their discretion. See Tennessee Code 8-17-102
  • Officials and employees: means and includes any official, whether elected or appointed, officer, employee or servant, or any member of any board, agency, commission, authority or corporation, whether compensated or not, or any officer, employee or servant thereof, of a county or municipality. See Tennessee Code 8-17-102
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
  • State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
(b) By resolution of the county legislative body, any county having a population of eight hundred thousand (800,000) or more, according to the 2000 census or any subsequent federal census, may elect to include all of its administrative officials and employees and all of its legislative officials and employees within the meaning and scope of title 3, chapter 6, part 3, as if the county officials and employees were officials and employees of state government. Upon adopting the resolution on or before June 30, 2007, the county shall be deemed to be in compliance with the requirements of this part; provided, that the county shall periodically reimburse the Tennessee ethics commission for the commission’s increased costs arising from oversight and regulation of the county officials and employees.
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