Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 8 > Chapter 44 - Public Meetings

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• affiliate: means any entity that exercises control over or is controlled by the HMO, directly or indirectly through:
  (A) Equity ownership of voting securities. See Tennessee Code 56-32-102
• Aggregator site: means a website that provides access to information regarding insurance products from more than one (1) insurer, including product and insurer information, for use in comparison shopping. See Tennessee Code 56-33-102
• Agricultural enterprise: means the acquisition, reconstruction or improvement of land or buildings or other improvements thereto, or any combination thereof, and any breeding stock and machinery or equipment necessary or suitable for use in farming, ranching, the production of agricultural commodities, including the products of agriculture and silviculture, or necessary and suitable for treating, processing, storing or transporting raw agricultural commodities. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• Agriculture: means :
  (i) The land, buildings and machinery used in the commercial production of farm products and nursery stock. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Alcohol abuse: means a condition characterized by the continuous or episodic use of alcohol that results in social impairment, vocational impairment, psychological dependence or pathological patterns of use. See Tennessee Code 33-10-102
• Alcohol dependence: means alcohol abuse that results in the development of tolerance or manifestations of alcohol abstinence syndrome upon cessation of use. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Alcoholism: means alcohol abuse that results in the development of tolerance or manifestation of alcohol abstinence syndrome upon cessation of use. See Tennessee Code 33-10-102
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney: means the person designated and authorized by subscribers as the attorney-in-fact having authority to obligate them on reciprocal insurance contracts. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• Authority: means the Tennessee local development authority, a public agency and instrumentality of the state, created by this chapter, or if such authority shall be abolished, the board, body, commission or agency succeeding to the principal functions thereof or to which the powers and duties granted or imposed upon the authority shall be given by law. See Tennessee Code 4-31-102
• Baled waste: means all waste that has been mechanically compacted to achieve high density per unit volume and strapped to retain its form as a bale. See Tennessee Code 68-211-103
• basic health care services: includes , but is not limited to, services made necessary as the result of Title XIX federal programs or waivers for which TennCare is primarily responsible for implementation or enforcement. See Tennessee Code 56-32-102
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means , unless otherwise indicated, the underground storage tanks and solid waste disposal control board created in §. See Tennessee Code 68-211-103
• board: means the board provided for in part 3 of this chapter. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Coinsurance: means an enrollee's share of covered medical expenses when an enrollee and the HMO share in a specific ratio of the covered medical expenses. See Tennessee Code 56-32-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of mental health and substance abuse services. See Tennessee Code 33-11-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-32-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance, or the commissioner's designee. See Tennessee Code 56-33-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of environment and conservation or the commissioner's authorized representative. See Tennessee Code 68-211-103
• Commissioner: means any person in office as a member of the public service commission, as prescribed by title 65, chapter 1, prior to June 30, 1996. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of mental health and substance abuse services. See Tennessee Code 33-10-502
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of mental health and substance abuse services when the statute at issue relates to mental illness or serious emotional disturbance and means the commissioner of intellectual and developmental disabilities when the statute at issue relates to intellectual and developmental disabilities. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consent: means voluntary agreement to what is reasonably well understood regardless of how the agreement is expressed. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Council: means the Tennessee opioid abatement council. See Tennessee Code 33-11-102
• Custodial health officer: means an employee of the county health department trained in detecting intoxication or incapacitation, or both, of persons due to the consumption of alcohol or drugs, or both, and also trained in the proper handling and transport of those persons. See Tennessee Code 33-10-404
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the department of mental health and substance abuse services. See Tennessee Code 33-11-102
• Department: means the department of environment and conservation. See Tennessee Code 68-211-103
• Department: means the health department of any county to which this part applies. See Tennessee Code 33-10-404
• Department: means the department of mental health and substance abuse services. See Tennessee Code 33-10-502
• Department: means the department of mental health and substance abuse services when the statute at issue deals with mental illness or serious emotional disturbance and means the department of intellectual and developmental disabilities when the statute at issue deals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Department: means the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Director: means the executive director of the council. See Tennessee Code 33-11-102
• Director: means the director of the health department of any county to which this part applies. See Tennessee Code 33-10-404
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Drug abuse: means a condition characterized by the continuous or episodic use of a drug or drugs that results in social impairment, vocational impairment, psychological dependence or pathological patterns of use. See Tennessee Code 33-10-102
• Drug dependence: means drug abuse that results in the development of tolerance or manifestations of drug abstinence syndrome upon cessation of use. See Tennessee Code 33-10-102
• Drug dependence: means drug abuse that results in the development of tolerance or manifestations of drug abstinence syndrome upon cessation of use. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Eligible group: means two (2) or more persons who are engaged in a common enterprise, or have an economic, educational, or social affinity or relationship, including:
  (A) A person engaged in the business of providing travel or travel services, including:

  (i) Tour operators. See Tennessee Code 56-33-102
• Employer: means a person that employs one (1) or more employees within this state. See Tennessee Code 56-33-102
• Employer: means :
  (A) The state or any department, commission, institution, board or agency of the state government by which a member is paid, with respect to members in its employ. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Enrollee: means an individual who is enrolled in an HMO. See Tennessee Code 56-32-102
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Evidence of coverage: means any certificate, agreement or contract issued to an enrollee setting out the coverage to which the enrollee is entitled. See Tennessee Code 56-32-102
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Foreign: when used without limitation, includes all companies formed by authority of any other state or government. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Fulfillment materials: means documentation sent to the purchaser of a travel protection plan confirming the purchase and providing the travel protection plan's coverage and assistance details. See Tennessee Code 56-33-102
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Health care services: means any services included in the furnishing to any individual of medical or dental care, or hospitalization, or incidental to the furnishing of the care or hospitalization, as well as the furnishing to any person of any and all other services for the purpose of preventing, alleviating, curing, or healing human illness, injury or physical disability. See Tennessee Code 56-32-102
• Health professional: means a person trained and licensed in the health sciences, including medical doctors, registered nurses and licensed practical nurses. See Tennessee Code 33-10-404
• Highway: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Hospital: means a public or private hospital or facility or part of a hospital or facility equipped to provide inpatient care and treatment for persons with mental illness or serious emotional disturbance. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Incapacitated by alcohol: means that a person, as a result of the use of alcohol, is unconscious or that the person's judgment is otherwise so impaired that the person is incapable of realizing and making a rational decision with respect to the person's need for treatment, is unable to take care of the person's basic personal needs or safety or lacks sufficient understanding or capacity to make or communicate rational decisions concerning the person's welfare. See Tennessee Code 33-10-404
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• insurance company: includes all corporations, associations, partnerships, or individuals engaged as principals in the business of insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• judicial commissioner: means those officials as defined by §. See Tennessee Code 33-10-404
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system, as provided in chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Mental illness: means a psychiatric disorder, alcohol dependence, or drug dependence, but does not include intellectual disability or other developmental disabilities. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Net worth: means the excess of total admitted assets over total admitted liabilities, but the liabilities shall not include fully subordinated debt approved by the commissioner. See Tennessee Code 56-32-112
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Opioid abatement and remediation purposes: means programs, strategies, expenditures, and other actions designed to prevent and address the misuse and abuse of opioid products and treat or mitigate opioid use or related disorders or other effects of the opioid epidemic. See Tennessee Code 33-11-102
• Opioid abatement fund: means the fund created by §. See Tennessee Code 33-11-102
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• person: includes an individual, insurer, company, association, organization, Lloyds, society, reciprocal insurer or interinsurance exchange, partnership, syndicate, business trust, corporation, agent, general agent, broker, solicitor, service representative, adjuster, and every legal entity. See Tennessee Code 56-32-102
• Person: means a business entity or a natural person. See Tennessee Code 56-33-102
• Person: means any and all persons, natural or artificial, including any individual, firm or association, and municipal or private corporation organized or existing under the laws of this state or any other state, and any governmental agency or county of this state and any department, agency, or instrumentality of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government. See Tennessee Code 68-211-103
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Physician-hospital organization: means an organization formed to allow hospitals and physicians to jointly obtain provider contracts with HMOs and other payers of health care benefits. See Tennessee Code 56-32-102
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• premiums: as used in this chapter includes, but is not limited to, any and all payments made by the state to any entity providing health care services pursuant to any federal waiver received by the state that waives any or all of Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act, compiled in 42 U. See Tennessee Code 56-32-112
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Provider: means any physician, hospital or other person that is licensed or otherwise authorized in this state to furnish health care services. See Tennessee Code 56-32-102
• Public debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
• public vote: means a vote in which the "aye" faction vocally expresses its will in unison and in which the "nay" faction, subsequently, vocally expresses its will in unison. See Tennessee Code 8-44-104
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Reciprocal: means the aggregation of subscribers under a common name. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Registration: means a process by which a solid waste disposal or processing operation is granted a permit to operate. See Tennessee Code 68-211-103
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Retirement: means withdrawal from membership with a retirement allowance granted under chapters 34-37 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Retirement system: means the Tennessee consolidated retirement system as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Serious emotional disturbance: means a condition in a child who currently or at any time during the past year has had a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder of sufficient duration to meet psychiatric diagnostic criteria that results in functional impairment that substantially interferes with or limits the child's role or functioning in family, school, or community activities and includes any mental disorder, regardless of whether it is of biological etiology. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Service: means service as a general employee, a teacher, a state police officer, a wildlife officer, a firefighter, a police officer, a state judge, a county judge, an attorney general, a commissioner or a county official which is paid for by an employer, and also includes service for which a former member of the general assembly is entitled to under former §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Solid waste: means garbage, trash, refuse, abandoned material, spent material, byproducts, scrap, ash, sludge, and all discarded material including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, and agricultural operations, and from community activities. See Tennessee Code 68-211-103
• Solid waste disposal: means the process of permanently or indefinitely placing, confining, compacting, or covering solid waste. See Tennessee Code 68-211-103
• Solid waste processing: means any process that modifies the characteristics or properties of solid waste, including, but not limited to, treatment, incineration, composting, separation, grinding, shredding, and volume reduction. See Tennessee Code 68-211-103
• State: includes states, territories, districts and insular and other possessions of the United States. See Tennessee Code 33-9-101
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
• 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
• State-subdivision opioid abatement agreement: means an agreement entered into by the state and one (1) or more political subdivisions of the state that addresses the allocation of funds dedicated to opioid abatement and remediation. See Tennessee Code 33-11-102
• Statewide opioid settlement agreement: means a settlement agreement entered into by the state and one (1) or more entities involved in activities related to the manufacture, marketing, distribution, dispensing, or sale of opioids in which political subdivision claims are addressed. See Tennessee Code 33-11-102
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subscriber: means a person obligated under a reciprocal insurance agreement. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• Subscription: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Support: means any activity or resource that enables a service recipient to participate in a service for mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, or developmental disabilities or in community life. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Travel protection plans: means plans that provide at least one (1) of the following:
  (A) Travel insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-33-102
• Treatment: means the broad range of emergency, outpatient, intermediate and inpatient services and care, including diagnostic evaluation, medical, psychiatric, psychological care or social service care, or both, vocational rehabilitation or career counseling, or both, that may be extended to alcoholics and intoxicated persons. See Tennessee Code 33-10-404
• Treatment resource: means any public or private facility, service, or program providing treatment or rehabilitation services for mental illness or serious emotional disturbance, including, but not limited to, detoxification centers, hospitals, community mental health centers, clinics or programs, halfway houses, and rehabilitation centers. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
• Treatment resource: means any public or private facility, service, or program providing treatment or rehabilitation services for alcohol and drug dependence, mental illness or serious emotional disturbance, including, but not limited to, detoxification centers, licensed hospitals, community mental health centers, clinics or programs, halfway houses and rehabilitation centers. See Tennessee Code 33-10-102
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• working capital: means current assets, including admitted stocks and admitted bonds, minus current liabilities. See Tennessee Code 56-32-112
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105