(a) Notwithstanding title 47, chapter 25, or any other law to the contrary, a cooperative agreement for which a certificate of public advantage has been issued is a lawful agreement. Notwithstanding title 47, chapter 25, or any other law to the contrary, if the parties to a cooperative agreement file an application for a certificate of public advantage governing the agreement with the department, the conduct of the parties in negotiating and entering into a cooperative agreement is lawful conduct. Nothing in this subsection (a) immunizes any person for conduct in negotiating and entering into a cooperative agreement for which an application for a certificate of public advantage is not filed.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 33-2-706

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Cooperative agreement: means an agreement among two (2) or more community mental health centers for the offering, provision, operation, coordination, planning, funding, pricing, contracting, utilization review, or management of mental health and related services under programs funded or administered by departments or agencies of state government, including, but not limited to, the TennCare program, or the sharing, allocation, or referral of service recipients, personnel, instructional programs, support services, ancillary services, and facilities, or other services traditionally offered by community mental health centers for the programs. See Tennessee Code 33-2-703
  • Department: means the department of mental health and substance abuse services. See Tennessee Code 33-1-101
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • 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) If the department, or the other department or agency of state government to which the department has referred the application under § 33-2-704(d), determines that the likely benefits resulting from a cooperative agreement do not outweigh any disadvantages attributable to any potential reduction in competition resulting from the agreement, the agreement is invalid and has no further force or effect.
(c) Any dispute among the parties to a cooperative agreement concerning its meaning or terms is governed by principles of contract law.
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