Bill > SB1197

This bill modifies Tennessee's law regarding county official compensation by allowing counties experiencing economic hardship to forgo an automatic compensation increase. Specifically, if the Department of Economic and Community Development determines that a county has "substantial characteristics of economic distress" in the previous fiscal year, the county legislative body can pass a resolution to skip the standard compensation increase. The bill defines economic distress as including factors like significant job losses, high unemployment, low family incomes, high poverty rates, and concentrated employment in declining industries. If a county opts out of the increase, the minimum compensation will automatically be restored when the county is no longer considered economically distressed or when new county officials take office after the next election. The department must assess each county's economic status annually by July 1, using unemployment, per capita income, and poverty data from state or federal sources. The bill takes effect immediately for determining economic distress and will fully implement on July 1, 2025, providing counties with flexibility to manage compensation during challenging economic periods.

Government Affairs

https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/Billinfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB1197&ga=114