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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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 superint…
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 lis…
Can a Tennessee school board member also sit on the board of (or be the executive director of) the local teachers' association?
Probably not without serious legal exposure. Holding both roles will generally create a conflict of interest under common law, may violate the prohibited-interest-in-public-contracts statute (with man…
Can a Tennessee district attorney represent a petitioner seeking an order of protection, and can a public defender represent the person it is sought against?
No to both. A Tennessee district attorney general has no authority to represent a private petitioner in a civil order-of-protection proceeding; the DA represents the State and the public interest, and…
Can the spouse of a Tennessee deputy sheriff legally write bail bonds in the same county?
Yes, but only if the spouses keep their finances strictly separate. If they commingle funds, share expenses, or jointly accumulate assets, the deputy sheriff is treated as receiving an indirect benefi…
In Tennessee, can the same person be a county commissioner and the clerk and master of the chancery court, and can a clerk and master practice law on the side?
Yes to both, with limits. The Tennessee AG concluded that the two offices are local rather than state offices, so the constitutional ban on holding more than one lucrative office does not apply. A cle…
Can a Tennessee county commissioner vote on the school budget if they (or their company, or their charter school application) have a financial connection to the school system?
If the commissioner is a school employee whose job predates the election, they can vote after disclosing the conflict. If the job came after the election, they can't vote at all. If the commissioner's…
Can one person hold both the City Administrator and Police Chief jobs in Algood, Tennessee?
No. Algood Code of Ordinances Title 1, Ch. 4, § 1-401 requires the city administrator to give 'full time' to the office. Tennessee's conflict-of-interest statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 12-4-101(a)(1), and…
Can a company that's partly owned by a Tennessee Board of Regents member bid as a subcontractor on a TBR contract?
No. The AG concluded Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-8-203(d), which makes it unlawful for any TBR board member to be financially interested in any contract or transaction affecting any institution governed by t…
Is it a conflict of interest if a Tennessee school board member's family electrical company gets the subcontract on a school remodel?
Probably not, on these facts. The AG concluded that a school board member whose family electrical company is awarded a subcontract on a school remodel (or no-bid minor repairs) probably does not viola…
Who counts as an 'official' under Tennessee's county purchasing conflict-of-interest rule, and can recusal cure a conflict?
The Tennessee AG concluded that 'other officials of the county' in Tenn. Code Ann. § 5-14-114(a) covers those appointed to non-statutory committees with a defined term of office, but not appointees la…
If I sit on a Tennessee human resource agency board because of my elected office, must I resign that office to apply for the agency's executive director job?
Yes, the opinion said. Once a board member decided to pursue the agency's executive director position, the broad Tennessee conflict-of-interest statute (Tenn. Code Ann. § 12-4-101) required them to re…
Can the same person serve as a Tennessee county's finance director and as a member of the same county's school board?
Yes. The AG concluded that in counties using the County Financial Management System of 1981, the same person could hold both positions. The finance director is a county employee, not an official, so t…
Can a notary public in Tennessee notarize their own spouse's signature?
The Tennessee AG advised against it. Notaries take an oath to act 'without favor or partiality,' and the AG concluded in 2010 that the spousal relationship prevents that. A spouse-notarized signature …
Can Tennessee's State Comptroller serve on a state procurement commission that the Comptroller's office also audits?
Yes. The Comptroller's service on a proposed State Procurement Commission would not violate Tennessee's separation of powers (the Comptroller's role is substantially executive). And serving on a board…
Can a member of a Tennessee industrial-development authority board vote to make themselves the executive director?
No. If the executive director slot is structured as a public office with a term, Tennessee common law forbids self-appointment by an appointing body or its members. If the slot is structured as ordina…
Can a Tennessee state legislator lease a building to a nonprofit that pays the rent with state grant funds?
Yes. A Tennessee state legislator can lease property to a nonprofit grant recipient that pays the rent with state grant money, as long as the legislator's only role is voting on the overall budget tha…
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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.