County Government - As enacted, declares that the offices of sheriff, register, county clerk, assessor of property, and trustee are the constitutional officers of a county that has adopted a charter form of government; s, the official text

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PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 221

SENATE BILL NO. 274

By Taylor, Rose

                                             Substituted for: House Bill No. 307

By Gillespie, Vaughan, White, Leatherwood, Littleton, Powers, Faison, Lamberth, McCalmon, Davis

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 5, relative to constitutional officer duties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

          SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 5-1-202(c), is amended by deleting the
language "the constitutional county offices" and substituting instead "the charter or constitutional
county offices".

          SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 5-1-202(c), is amended by designating the
existing language as subdivision (c)(1) and adding the following as a new subdivision (c)(2):

                    (2) The offices of sheriff, register, county clerk, assessor of property, and trustee are
          the charter or constitutional officers of the county, and their duties are as follows:

                              (A) The duties of the sheriff include, but are not limited to, being the chief law
                    enforcement officer of the county. The sheriff and the sheriff's deputies are
                    conservators of the peace and have full law enforcement jurisdiction over the sheriff's
                    county. It is the sheriff's duty to suppress all affrays, riots, unlawful assemblies,
                    insurrections, and all other breaches of the peace; to detect criminal activities; to arrest
                    offenders lawfully; to provide civil and criminal warrant services; to execute civil process
                    of law; to seek out and execute criminal warrants; to fingerprint and make records of
                    offenders; to provide courthouse and courtroom security; and to investigate all
                    felonious activity throughout the sheriff's county. This includes, but is not limited to,
                    calls for service, investigation, and apprehension of those responsible for organized
                    crime and road patrol. The sheriff is responsible for the free flow of vehicular traffic
                    along all roads within the sheriff's county and apprehension of all offenders. The sheriff
                    is also responsible for maintaining the county's jails, as well as those duties traditionally
                    performed by the sheriff in accordance with common law;

                              (8) The duties of the register include, but are not limited to, the filing or
                    recordation of documents that affect the legal status of real or personal property;

                              (C) The duties of the county clerk include, but are not limited to, the collection
                    of business taxes, motor vehicle registration and licensing, the collection of wheel
                    taxes, the issuance of marriage and other licenses, and the keeping of records of the
                    county's notaries public;

                              (D) The duties of the trustee include, but are not limited to, the collection of
                    property taxes, the collection and disbursement of county funds, the management of
                    the county's cash flow, and the investment of idle county funds; and

                              (E) The duties of the assessor of property include, but are not limited to,
                    determining and recording the value of all property within the county, whether real,
                    personal, or mixed, except for the property of public utilities.

          SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.
         SENATE BILL NO. 274

PASSED:  April 7, 2025

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                        '           RANDYMcN
                           SPEAKER OF THE SENATE

                        CAMERON ~ON, SPEAKER
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

~ /\pri APPROVED this      I        2025
         day of

         •

               BILL LEE, GOVERNOR