§ 2-10-126 — Disclosure of fees, commissions or any other form of compensation for consulting services or campaign services to the Tennessee ethics commission

(a) Any staff person or employee of the general assembly; member of a commission established by and responsible to the general assembly or either house of the general assembly; member or employee of a state regulatory commission, including, without limitation, commissioners of the Tennessee public utility commission; or member or employee of any executive department or agency or other state body in the executive branch, who contracts to receive a fee, commission or any other form of compensation for consulting services or campaign services from a person or entity other than the state, a county or municipality, shall be required to make the same disclosure required by § 2-10-125 . The Tennessee ethics commission may devise a new form for disclosure of consulting fees or may modify the one required by § 2-10-125 for use by all parties required to disclose. (b) All disclosures made to the commission pursuant to this section are public records and open for inspection during regular business hours. (c) The disclosure must be on a form designed by the Tennessee ethics commission, be made under oath, and contain a statement that a false statement on the report is subject to the penalties of perjury. A disclosure form must be filed within five (5) days of entering any contract for consulting services or campaign services. If services continue to be provided under the contract for a period exceeding twelve (12) months, the disclosure form must be updated annually within five (5) days of the initial contract date in each subsequent year in which the contract is in effect. (d) (1) It is a Class A misdemeanor for a person or entity to knowingly fail to file a disclosure or to knowingly provide false, incomplete, or misleading information on the disclosure form. (2) It is a Class C misdemeanor for any person or entity to file a disclosure form required by this section more than thirty (30) days after the date on which the report is due. (e) If a member of the general assembly or a staff person or employee of the general assembly contracts to receive a fee, commission, or other form of compensation, for the provision of campaign services to a person or political campaign committee attempting to influence the result of a state election, the member, staff person, or employee shall make the disclosures required under § 2-10-125(a)(1)-(5) with respect to the campaign services provided. (f) As used in this section, "campaign services" means services to advise or assist a candidate, political campaign committee, affiliated political campaign committee, or multicandidate political campaign committee in affecting the result of a state election, including, without limitation, campaign work, paper and electronic advertising, producing mailers and fliers, and the distribution thereof.

Legislative History

Amended by 2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 37, s 2, eff. 3/14/2023. Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1087, s 20, eff. 8/15/2022. Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1087, s 19, eff. 8/15/2022. Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 94, s 1, eff. 4/4/2017. Acts 2005, ch. 102, § 1; 2006 (1st Ex. Sess.), ch. 1, § 28.