Tennessee Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Tennessee, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Does Tennessee Food Freedom Act let a home food seller skip local zoning rules or building permits for a new structure?
No. The Act blocks local rules that prohibit or regulate the production and sale of homemade food, but it does not displace generally applicable zoning or building-permit rules for construction and…
When is a Tennessee farm-pond excavation an agricultural use exempt from county zoning, especially if minerals are sold?
Commercial mining and quarrying generally are not agricultural uses. A farm-pond excavation has no automatic size cutoff, and selling removed minerals does not by itself make it nonagricultural, but…
What happens under Tennessee law when a county and school board cannot complete an education budget under Tenn. Code § 5-21-111?
If a director of schools refuses to submit a revised budget within the county-approved expenditure total, the district attorney general may pursue quo warranto removal under § 5-21-125, and a court…
Can a Tennessee elected official delete or hide critical comments on an official social-media page?
It depends. The Tennessee Attorney General concluded that deleting or hiding criticism could raise serious First Amendment concerns, but a definitive answer required specific facts. Under Lindke v.…
Can Tennessee cap health care provider prices or stop insurers from cutting reimbursement rates for rural providers?
Likely yes in both cases. The Attorney General said Tennessee has constitutional room to regulate health care charges and prevent insurers from reducing rural provider reimbursement rates, but the…
When a Tennessee school district has to cut teaching positions, how does the law treat tenured versus non-tenured teachers, and who gets put on the rehire list?
Tennessee's reduction-in-force statute treats tenured and non-tenured teachers the same. Both groups get the same statutory protections, both can be cut based on effectiveness ratings, and both can…
In a Tennessee K-8 school, who counts as an 'elementary school student' for the 40-minutes-a-day physical activity rule, and can a school take recess away as punishment?
Students in grades K-4 always count as elementary school students. Fifth graders in a K-8 school can be classified either way; the local school board decides. And no, schools cannot withhold…
Can a Tennessee PLLC mix and match health care professionals across the categories listed in § 48-249-1109(e)(1), like combining chiropractors with optometrists, or putting physicians, physician assistants, and advanced practice nurses all in one PLLC?
No. The five combinations listed in § 48-249-1109(e)(1) are pairs, not building blocks. Each pair (e.g., podiatrists + physicians) is allowed; cross-combinations across the lettered subdivisions are…
If Tennessee passes a law shielding pesticide manufacturers from failure-to-warn lawsuits when their labels comply with state and federal law (S.B. 527/H.B. 809), what tort claims would still survive, and would the law conflict with FIFRA?
The proposed Tennessee bill would shield manufacturers and sellers from civil claims 'related to the labeling' of a registered pesticide whose label complied with FIFRA at the time of sale, but only…
Can Tennessee local governments consider price when choosing an energy savings contractor, and share the contract with other governments?
Yes, they may consider price without awarding the contract through competitive bidding. Energy-related services contracts can be shared through cooperative purchasing among Tennessee local…
If a Tennessee city has a private act passed before July 1, 2021, that authorizes up to a 5% hotel occupancy tax, but the city council didn't actually vote to charge the full 5% until after that cutoff date, is the city stuck with the new statewide 4% cap?
No. Tennessee's grandfathering provision protects pre-existing private acts that 'authorize the levy' of an occupancy tax, not just acts that already imposed it. The city can vote to levy the full…
Can the Tennessee General Assembly split a single county into two separate judicial districts? And if so, can those districts share the same courthouse or jail?
The AG finds no constitutional bar to splitting a county into judicial districts. The opinion perceives no constitutional limit on sharing a jail. Sharing a courthouse might be possible, but…
Does Tennessee's law banning religious entities from operating public charter schools violate the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause?
Likely yes. The U.S. Supreme Court's recent free-exercise rulings (Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, Carson) hold that excluding religious entities from generally available public benefits 'solely on…
Are utilities created under the Tennessee Municipal Energy Authority Act regulated the same way as government-owned utilities or electric cooperatives when it comes to setting rates and fees?
Generally no. An Energy Authority's board sets its own rates without state, municipal, or commission approval, and the only state oversight is for telecommunications services regulated by the…
Does the terms-related savings clause in Tenn. Code Ann. § 5-1-202(c) refer to Shelby County's charter officers (sheriff, register, county clerk, assessor, trustee), even though the codified version of the statute does not match the public act the legislature passed in 2025?
Yes. The 2025 public act made the savings clause refer to both 'charter' and 'constitutional' county offices, but the Tennessee Code Commission failed to update the concluding sentence of subsection…
How is a single-family home that is rented out long-term, or a duplex where the owner lives in one half and rents the other half, classified for Tennessee property-tax purposes?
Both are generally classified as residential property and assessed at 25% of value, not industrial and commercial property assessed at 40%. The key statutory line is 'two or more rental units': a…
Can a Tennessee qualified electronic monitoring provider also own, operate, or work for a professional bail bondsman, given that the legislature passed two laws in 2025 that seem to clash on the question?
From July 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025, no. Public Chapter 253 imposes an unqualified ban on a professional bondsman owning, operating, directing, or being an employee or agent of a qualified…
Can a part-time Tennessee general sessions and juvenile court judge in one county also serve as an appointed juvenile magistrate in a different county?
Likely no. Article VI, Section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution forbids judges of inferior courts from holding any other 'office of trust or profit.' Under the controlling Frazier v. Elmore…
Is Tennessee's law making the Tennessee Association of Professional Bail Agents the only provider of required continuing education for bail bondsmen an unconstitutional monopoly?
Likely no. The Tennessee Constitution's anti-monopoly clause forbids exclusive grants of what was previously a 'common right.' Because no one else has ever had a right to provide this state-mandated…
If the directors of a Tennessee mutual-benefit nonprofit (one with no members) abuse their authority or breach their duties, who can sue them?
Another director on the board can bring a derivative suit on behalf of the corporation. The Tennessee Attorney General can file a direct action seeking judicial dissolution or remedies for ultra…
When state employees get a big raise, what is the cap on a Tennessee certified elections administrator's annual pay increase: 5% (the cap on county-officer raises) or 10% (the cap in the elections administrator statute)?
10%. Tennessee Code Annotated § 2-12-208(f) specifically governs elections administrators and caps the annual increase in their compensation at 10%. The 5% cap in § 8-24-102(d) applies to general…
Can Tennessee carve out an exception from its drinking-water regulations so that water softeners installed at apartment buildings and large multifamily complexes are not treated as regulated 'treatment facilities'?
Probably yes. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act does not require water softening to count as 'treatment,' and several states (Florida, Oregon, Massachusetts) already exempt aesthetic-only…
Under Tennessee's Age-Appropriate Materials Act, what procedures govern challenges to school library books, who decides if a book gets removed, and can a removed book still be used in classroom instruction?
The local school board adopts the procedures and makes the call. Once a parent, student, or employee challenges a book, the board has 60 days to decide whether it meets the Act's age-appropriateness…
Can a Tennessee county school system refuse to enroll students who live inside a separate municipal school district, or stop providing services to those students?
Generally yes, with important exceptions. Counties retain broad discretion over out-of-district enrollment, subject to specific protections for homeless and foster-care students and some military…
When can a Tennessee property assessor reassess a property between scheduled reappraisal years if the owner remodeled, replaced a roof, or added an HVAC system?
Only when the work is a true 'improvement' that adds value, beauty, utility, or new uses, not when it is repair or replacement. The assessor reassesses the new improvement only, not the property as…
Can Tennessee enforce its weather-modification ban on activities like cloud seeding when the chemicals are released in federally controlled airspace?
It depends. The AG says a court is likely to allow enforcement against ground-based weather-modification activity and that preemption problems there appear unlikely. Aircraft-related enforcement…
If a Tennessee parent signs a 'blanket consent' for a school or provider to treat a minor's physical ailments and administer medication, does that consent also waive the parental-consent requirement for psychological or counseling services?
Likely no. The AG concluded that a blanket consent in Tennessee covers only the activity it specifically authorizes. A consent listing physical treatment and medication does not extend to…
Can a Tennessee municipality annex territory that is both outside its urban growth boundary and not adjacent to its existing city limits?
No. A municipality may only annex noncontiguous territory if that territory sits entirely within the urban growth boundary. Land that is both noncontiguous and outside the urban growth boundary is…
Can a Tennessee property assessor correct an erroneous property classification or square-footage error after the original assessment year, and can the trustee then collect additional taxes?
Yes to both, as long as the correction happens before March 1 of the second year following the tax year. Once the assessor certifies a correctable error in writing, the trustee or municipal…
Can a Tennessee county add race-conscious 'culturally-competent community engagement' criteria to its tax-increment-financing approval process?
Likely not. The AG concluded that if the Shelby County Commission considers race when approving TIF projects, the policy almost certainly fails strict scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause and…
If Tennessee identifies a doctor as a high-risk prescriber of controlled substances, are the remedial steps the licensing board imposes (continuing education, waiting-room literature, special opioid consents) optional or required?
Required, not optional. Once a Tennessee licensing board is told a clinician is a high-risk prescriber, it must impose every remedial step in Tenn. Code Ann. § 68-1-128(c)(3)(A) through (D) that is…
Can Tennessee outsource its water and wastewater operator licensing exams to a third-party testing company without violating state law? And could a proposed law banning that practice run into constitutional problems?
Outsourcing the exam to a third party is likely fine under current Tennessee law because the certification statute gives the Board broad discretion over exam content. A future statute banning…
Can a Tennessee-licensed athletic trainer perform dry needling, also called intramuscular manual therapy or trigger-point dry needling?
Likely no. The Athletic Trainers Practice Act lets athletic trainers use 'physical modalities' such as 'heat, light, sound, cold, electricity, or mechanical devices.' Dry needling penetrates the…
Who pays for preliminary hearings in General Sessions criminal court when a defendant is later convicted of a felony, and who pays for court-ordered mental health evaluations of felony defendants?
For felony prosecutions where the defendant ends up convicted (by trial or by guilty plea after an indigency finding) and the case fits the classes in Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-25-129(a)(1)-(3), the…
Must a county mayor or city mayor who sits on a Tennessee development district board resign from both the board and their elected office before applying for the development district's executive director job?
Yes. Tennessee's general conflict-of-interest statute (Tenn. Code Ann. § 12-4-101(a)(1)) prohibits a board member from being directly interested in a contract for which they vote, oversee, or…
Are rifles, shotguns, muzzleloaders, and other long guns protected under the Second Amendment and the Tennessee Constitution regardless of whether they are single-shot, pump, lever, bolt, or semi-automatic?
Some long guns are protected, in some circumstances. The Second Amendment covers bearable arms 'in common use' for lawful purposes, which clearly reaches many rifles and shotguns and likely reaches…
Can the Tennessee General Assembly delegate emergency powers to the governor or another department, or does the state constitution's separation-of-powers clause forbid that?
The legislature cannot delegate raw lawmaking power, but it can grant the governor or an agency the authority to carry out emergency statutes through rules and orders, as long as the statute itself…
Does a Tennessee nonprofit (including a church) that runs a retreat center, hotel, or guest house with food and lodging have to collect and remit sales tax and local occupancy tax from its guests?
Yes. The 501(c)(3) tax exemption only excuses a nonprofit from paying sales tax on its own purchases. When the nonprofit sells lodging, food, or beverages to guests, it must collect and remit…
Can a Tennessee city like Memphis ban its police officers from making traffic stops for minor equipment violations when they suspect a driver of a more serious crime?
No. Tennessee law (§ 7-63-301) bars any local policy that limits an officer's ability to make a traffic stop based on observed or reasonably suspected violations of state or local law, so the…
Is a biological half-sibling a 'family member' under Tennessee's Alcoholic Beverage Commission conflict-of-interest rule, even if one of them was adopted out by different parents?
Yes. Half-siblings are family members under § 57-1-108. The statute's list of relatives uses 'including,' which Tennessee courts treat as illustrative rather than exclusive. Nephews and nieces are…
If a Tennessee city gives the county school district money for school construction, does the city have to keep funding the schools at that level every year going forward?
Probably not. Tennessee's maintenance-of-effort laws apply only to local education agencies (LEAs) and the local governments specifically obligated to fund them, which is usually the county…
Does Tennessee's 2019 statute protecting 'constitutional county officers' apply in Shelby County, where the county charter replaced those offices with new 'county charter officers' in 2008?
Likely not. Shelby County's voters approved a charter amendment in 2008 that abolished the constitutional offices of sheriff, trustee, register, county clerk, and assessor and created parallel…
What does the Tennessee statute requiring the Commissioner of Education to be of 'literary and scientific attainments' actually mean, and what happens if the appointee doesn't meet the requirements?
The Commissioner must satisfy all three statutory tests in § 4-3-802(b): literary and scientific attainments, skill and experience in school administration, and qualification to teach in the…
Can a Tennessee constable arrest someone outside their own county?
No. A constable's official jurisdiction is county-wide only. Outside their county, a constable has no more arrest authority than any private citizen, and they have no authority to serve process…
Could Tennessee legally pass a law letting the state nullify federal laws, executive orders, or court decisions it considers unconstitutional?
No. Senate Bill 1092 is constitutionally infirm. Tennessee's separation-of-powers doctrine bars the legislature and governor from declaring federal action unconstitutional (that's a judicial…
Does Tennessee's requirement that a DUI defendant report ignition interlock installation to the prosecutor violate the right against self-incrimination?
No. Reporting compliance with the bond condition is favorable to the defendant, not incriminating. And even if a defendant reported noncompliance, that alone is not criminal activity, just grounds…
Does Tennessee's 2023 ban on at-large elections for district-nominated candidates apply to home-rule cities that draw their districts geographically rather than by population?
Yes. The amended § 6-53-110(a) applies to all Tennessee municipalities, including home-rule cities, regardless of how they draw their districts. If a city requires candidates to be nominated from…
Can the Tennessee House of Representatives require visitors to get a ticket before sitting in the public gallery during a session?
Yes. The 'open doors' clause in Article II, § 22 of the Tennessee Constitution doesn't guarantee public seating; it just says the doors stay open. A ticketing system manages limited gallery space…
Can Tennessee bar its National Guard from active-duty combat overseas unless Congress formally declares war?
Probably not. House Bill 1609 (2024) is constitutionally suspect under the Supremacy Clause. Federal law already lets Congress and the President order Guard members into active service in war,…
Does Tennessee's property tax law unconstitutionally exclude small RVs and pop-up campers from being taxed as real property?
No. The exclusion of self-propelled vehicles and small (under 300 sq ft) sleeping/camping units pulled by a pickup or car is consistent with Article II, § 28 of the Tennessee Constitution, which…
Did Tennessee's 2023 foreign ownership law ban foreigners from buying property in the state?
No, not as a blanket ban. The law (effective July 1, 2023) bars only 'sanctioned' foreign businesses, governments, and nonresident aliens, defined by reference to the U.S. Treasury OFAC sanctions…
Can an elected Tennessee municipal court clerk set bail for arrested defendants, even when the municipal court has concurrent jurisdiction with general sessions?
No. Under Tennessee's Bail Reform Act, only three categories of officials can admit a defendant to bail: committing magistrates, circuit/criminal court judges, and circuit/criminal court clerks. A…
Can a Tennessee court clerk require people to put up a deposit before letting them bid at a delinquent property tax auction?
No. Court clerks are ministerial officers with only the powers expressly given by statute. Nothing in Tennessee's delinquent tax sale statutes authorizes a clerk to require a bidder deposit, so the…
Can a Tennessee private K-12 school that also runs a preschool on the same campus let its teachers carry concealed handguns under § 49-50-803?
Yes, as long as the school adopts the policy in compliance with § 49-50-803 and only allows faculty with a valid Tennessee enhanced handgun carry permit (not the concealed carry permit under §…
Can a Tennessee regional planning commissioner be removed for skipping the required annual training, and how does the removal and replacement process work?
Yes. Failing to complete four hours of annual training, or failing to file the year-end certification statement, is statutory cause for removal. The removal must come with at least fifteen days'…
Can a Tennessee county redirect wheel tax money to a different purpose than the one the county originally said the tax would fund?
Yes, but only going forward and only by following the same procedure used to levy the tax in the first place. Money already raised for a stated purpose has to be spent on that purpose; it can't be…
Can a Tennessee enhanced handgun carry permit holder still be charged with the firearm-after-DUI offense if their DUI history doesn't disqualify them from the permit?
No. The DUI lookback in the firearm-after-DUI statute mirrors the DUI lookback in the permit eligibility statute. If your DUI history is old enough that you can lawfully hold an enhanced permit, the…
If a Tennessee director of schools breaks the rule against side contracts or extra paid work, does the school board have to fire them, or can the board choose a lighter penalty?
The board has to fire them. The 'shall' in Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-2-301(c) is mandatory, not discretionary. A director who is duly found to have taken outside contracts under the board, accepted…
Do private companies that run Tennessee jails and prisons have to report deaths in custody and follow the same public records rules as government correctional agencies?
Yes. A private prison company operating a state, county, or municipal correctional facility under contract is the functional equivalent of a government correctional agency. It must submit reports to…
Can a Tennessee school board member also sit on the board of (or be the executive director of) the local teachers' association?
The AG says conflicts between the roles are foreseeable and likely, so recusal is appropriate when a conflict arises. Depending on the facts, compensation and contracts may implicate the…
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Attorney general opinions in Tennessee are written by the Tennessee Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.