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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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 th…
Can the Tennessee House of Representatives expel a member for conduct that happened more than two decades before he took office and that voters knew about when they re-elected him?
It can, but the AG counseled that historical practice, sound policy, and constitutional limits all weigh against doing so. The expulsion power should be used only in extreme circumstances and with gre…
Does the 2019 Tennessee law that lets only Madison County voters recall school board members, by using a population bracket of 98,200 to 98,300, raise constitutional concerns?
Yes. Without a rational basis tied to population for the Madison-County-only bracket, the law raises serious questions under Tennessee's equal-protection clause and its prohibitions on class legislati…
Can Tennessee require U.S. citizenship for funeral director, embalmer, polygraph, or security licenses, and does federal law allow it?
No to citizen-only requirements (preempted and unconstitutional under Equal Protection); preempted in part for citizen-or-resident-alien requirements. The Tennessee AG instructed the Department of Com…
Would a Tennessee bill regulating motorboats carrying passengers for hire in tourist resort counties be preempted by federal law, and does its narrow application violate equal protection?
Partial preemption, no equal-protection problem. The AG concluded that the bill's state inspection and licensure requirements would likely be preempted as applied to inspected vessels (federal field p…
Can Tennessee deny a public weigher or weighmaster license to a non-citizen who is legally allowed to work in the U.S.?
No. The U.S.-citizenship requirements in Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 47-26-804 and 47-26-1004 likely violate the Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. and Tennessee Constitutions because they discriminate again…
Would adding 'as the elected representatives of the people' to Tennessee's public schools clause free the General Assembly from equal protection limits on how it funds schools?
No. The AG concluded HJR 493's added language was redundant of what the constitution already says, and even if it changed the public schools clause's meaning, the equal protection guarantees in articl…
Could Tennessee require beer-permit applicants to have been U.S. citizens or lawful residents for at least one year before applying?
No. The AG opined that the one-year durational citizenship and residency requirement was unlikely to survive equal protection review, because it discriminated on the basis of alienage and national ori…
Was it constitutional for Tennessee to allow distilleries to sell liquor on Sundays and holidays while requiring retail liquor stores to close?
The AG concluded that the disparate hours did not violate the Commerce Clause because they applied only to in-state businesses, and did not violate equal protection because distilleries and liquor sto…
Would a Tennessee bill exempting insured adult motorcyclists from the helmet law (but keeping uninsured and TennCare-covered riders required to wear one) violate equal protection?
No. The AG concluded the proposed bill would survive rational basis review. The state's interest in protecting publicly funded healthcare programs from accident costs was a legitimate basis for treati…
Does Tennessee's grandfather clause that exempts one specific distillery from the Lincoln County Process violate the Constitution?
Yes. The 2015 opinion concluded the subsection that exempted a single distillery (Prichard's) from the maple-charcoal filtering requirement was impermissible class legislation under article XI, sectio…
Can Tennessee impose a new fuel surcharge and per-mile fee on trucks but give a tax credit only to in-state motor carriers?
No. The 2015 opinion concluded SB 354 would have violated the dormant Commerce Clause and federal Equal Protection Clause by giving the credit only to motor carriers domiciled in Tennessee, effectivel…
Can Tennessee let bail bondsmen charge a higher premium when the defendant lives out of state?
The 2015 opinion concluded a proposed 5% surcharge on bonds for nonresident defendants would probably survive equal protection challenge, but was vulnerable under the federal Privileges and Immunities…
After a California court struck down that state's teacher-tenure law in Vergara v. State, were Tennessee's teacher-tenure and dismissal statutes also unconstitutional?
No. The AG concluded the Tennessee statutes differed in material ways from the California ones at issue in Vergara. Tennessee has a five-year tenure probation (vs. two), a faster and cheaper dismissal…
Does Tennessee's statute capping intellectual/developmental disability residential facilities at four people, and requiring spacing between facilities, violate equal protection or fair housing law?
Probably not facially, because the state can articulate a rational deinstitutionalization purpose. But the four-person cap and 500-yard spacing rule may be vulnerable to as-applied Fair Housing Amendm…
Is it constitutional for Tennessee to require liquor-by-the-drink bars and restaurants to pay wholesalers on delivery while letting package stores keep their 10-day credit?
Yes. SB2415 imposed payment-on-delivery on liquor-by-the-drink licensees and wine-selling grocery stores while letting package stores continue using 10-day credit. Because alcohol is not a fundamental…
Can the Tennessee legislature pass a bill that lets only one nursing home in one county relocate beds without going through the normal certificate-of-need rules?
Yes, but only if a rational basis supports treating that nursing home differently. As-written, HB2342 applied only to Davidson County and effectively only one 400-bed nursing home with 45 years of ope…
If a Tennessee juvenile commits a violent sex offense before turning 14 but is adjudicated after, do they go on the sex offender registry, and is that constitutional?
Yes to both. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-39-202(27), registry status is triggered by adjudication of delinquency (not by the date of the offense), so a juvenile adjudicated after age 14 for an offense …
Would the 2013 Tennessee charter-school bill (HB 702) unconstitutionally impose unfunded costs on school districts or violate equal protection?
No. The AG concluded that HB 702/SB 830, which would let the State Board of Education serve as 'chartering authority' for charter schools in LEAs containing 'priority schools,' would not violate Tenn.…
Can Tennessee limit a city annexation referendum to property owners, or to residents and nonresident property owners?
Restricting the vote to property owners alone would violate equal protection because nonproperty-owning residents have a substantial interest in annexation. Allowing both residents and nonresident pro…
Does Tennessee annexation by ordinance violate property owners' constitutional rights when they don't get to vote on being absorbed by the city?
No. Absent invidious discrimination or violation of the one person, one vote principle, annexation by ordinance under Tenn. Code Ann. § 6-51-102 is constitutional. Neither the U.S. nor the Tennessee C…
Can a Tennessee bar or restaurant refuse entry to people wearing motorcycle club colors, or does that violate civil rights laws?
Yes, a private bar, restaurant, or similar establishment can deny admittance to people wearing motorcycle club insignia. The First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment constrain only government action; …
Can Tennessee require home-schooled students to attend a Tennessee home school for two years before graduation to qualify for the HOPE scholarship?
Yes. The 2-year-Tennessee-home-school requirement in Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-4-902(23) is defensible against an equal protection challenge under rational basis review. Tennessee home schools are separate…
Can the Tennessee legislature exempt one county from a state-wide education law by using a narrow population bracket?
No. The AG concluded Chapter 1077 of 2012, which exempted any county with a 2010 population between 183,100 and 183,200 (a bracket that fit only Williamson County) from the Move on When Ready Act's ea…
Can the state bar insurance companies from giving discounts based on group membership or employer affiliation?
Yes. The AG concluded Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-8-104(18), which prohibits insurance companies from offering insurance discounts or other preferences based on a person's affiliation with or employment by a…
Can a state require everyone in a polling place to be a U.S. citizen?
The AG concluded HB985, which would have required all poll watchers and any person admitted to a polling place during an election to be U.S. citizens, was constitutionally suspect under the Fourteenth…
Would Tennessee SB 2835 making open-adoption visitation agreements enforceable cause inheritance, support, or constitutional problems?
No on all four. The AG concluded that SB 2835, which would have made open-adoption visitation agreements judicially enforceable and allowed adult adoptees in some divorce situations to restore a decea…
Can Tennessee cap how many foreign-worker visa holders a charter school employs?
Likely no. The AG concluded that Chapter 879's 3.5% cap on non-immigrant H-1B and J-1 visa workers at charter schools was constitutionally suspect under the Equal Protection Clause and the Supremacy C…
Can a Tennessee city require its employees to live in the city, give local contractors preference, or use race-based contracting?
Local governments may constitutionally require employees to live in the jurisdiction (rational basis); the General Assembly may also constitutionally prohibit such residency rules. Resident-contractor…
Can Tennessee constitutionally bar public officials charged with on-the-job crimes from pretrial or judicial diversion?
Yes. The AG concluded Chapter 766 of the 2012 Public Acts does not violate the U.S. or Tennessee Constitutions. Pretrial and judicial diversion are not fundamental rights; public officials are not a s…
Was the 2012 Tennessee law forcing Memphis Light, Gas & Water to pay PILOTs directly to Shelby County constitutional?
Mostly no. The AG concluded Chapter 984 cleared the local-approval, home-rule, and charter-county hurdles, but flagged it as likely unconstitutional under Article XI, Section 8 because there was no ra…
When recalling a Tennessee district officeholder, do you need signatures from 15% of the whole city or county, or just the district?
The whole city or county. The Tennessee AG concluded Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-5-151(d) requires 15% of the registered voters of the entire municipality or county, even when the recall targets a single-dist…
Can Tennessee bar religious and political nonprofits from partnering with the state Department of Safety without violating the Constitution?
Yes, the opinion concluded. The blanket exclusion of religious and political nonprofits from new partnership contracts with the Department of Safety and Homeland Security was constitutionally defensib…
Can Tennessee require older drivers to retake the driving test, and can doctors tip off the state when a senior's health makes them unsafe behind the wheel?
Yes to age-based retesting, modified examinations for seniors, accident-triggered retesting, and family-member-triggered retesting, as long as each rule bears a rational relation to a legitimate state…
Would Tennessee's 2011 voter photo ID bill (HB 0007/SB 0016), which requires in-person voters to show photo identification but does not provide a free state-issued ID for those who lack one, survive constitutional challenge as a poll tax under the Twenty-Fourth Amendment and Equal Protection Clause?
The AG concluded that the bill, as drafted, would likely be struck down as a poll tax. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana's photo ID law in *Crawford v. Marion County Election Board* (2008) only be…
If Tennessee transferred Department of Safety officers to Revenue, can it later put just those grandfathered officers back under mandatory retirement?
Tennessee can constitutionally bring transferred revenue regulatory agents (formerly Department of Safety officers, now in the Department of Revenue) back under the mandatory retirement age while leav…
Can Tennessee make convicted felons pay all court fines, restitution, and court costs before getting their right to vote restored?
Yes. The proposed amendment to Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-29-202 was constitutional. Felons do not have a fundamental right to vote, wealth is not a suspect classification, and a federal court (Johnson v. B…
Could Tennessee constitutionally treat a non-viable fetus as a victim under its assault and homicide statutes, in light of Roe v. Wade and the right to abortion?
Yes. The 2010 bill (SB 3699) extending Tennessee's assault and homicide statutes to cover non-viable fetuses was constitutionally defensible. Federal precedent allows states to recognize unborn childr…
Does Tennessee's dual-majority requirement for city-county consolidation violate 'one person, one vote'?
No. Under both the Charter Government Unification Act and the Metropolitan Government Act, voters inside the principal city and voters in the county outside that city each have to approve a unified go…
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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.