Amendments	Fiscal Memos
SA0875	Amendment 1-0 to SB1802

	Amendments	Fiscal Memos
HA0921	Amendment 1-1 to HB2611

NOTE: Each fiscal memorandum applies only to the amendment(s) identified in the memorandum. The fiscal memorandum must be matched to any amendments that have been adopted.

Fiscal Summary

Other Fiscal Impact – To the extent the Attorney General seeks to prosecute a criminal offense, there will be an increase in expenditures for additional staff and supplies to accommodate the increase in workload. Additionally, there will be an increase in state expenditures to the District Attorneys General Conference to retain outside counsel. The timing and amount of any increase in expenditures is dependent upon multiple unknown factors and cannot be determined with reasonably certainty.

Bill Summary

This bill grants the attorney general the authority to investigate human trafficking offenses, organized crime offenses, and any criminal act that arises out of, is related to, or affects an investigation, prosecution, or other proceeding which the attorney general is authorized to conduct under this bill. The attorney general is so authorized to prosecute such criminal offenses if the attorney general seeks written consent from a district attorney general to conduct the criminal proceedings, including grand jury proceedings, which the district attorney general is authorized by law to conduct in that district.

However, if the district attorney general denies or otherwise does not consent to the attorney general conducting the criminal proceedings, then the district attorney general must certify in writing to the attorney general the reasons for denying or otherwise not consenting to authorize the attorney general conducting the criminal proceedings. If a district attorney general does not respond to the attorney general within 21 days, then the district attorney general is deemed to have granted consent to the attorney general.

This bill provides that, even if the district attorney general denies consent to the attorney general, the attorney general may petition the supreme court to appoint the attorney general, or an assistant attorney general, as a district attorney general pro tempore for the sole purpose of prosecuting persons accused of committing an offense described above.

If the attorney general initiates an investigation or conducts criminal proceedings under this bill, then this bill authorizes the attorney general to request the director of the Tennessee bureau of investigation (TBI) to furnish any assistance that may be required by the attorney general in the performance of the duties under this bill. The TBI may provide such assistance as the attorney general may request.

If the attorney general initiates a criminal prosecution under this bill, then this bill provides that (i) the attorney general, or a deputy or assistant attorney general, has the authority to exercise all of the powers and to perform all of the duties before a court or grand jury with respect to the prosecution that the appropriate district attorney general would otherwise be authorized or required by law to exercise or perform, and (ii) the appropriate district attorney general must fully cooperate with the attorney general and participate in the prosecution to the extent requested or approved by the attorney general.

ON APRIL 4, 2024, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1802, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, enact "The District Attorney General Second Opinion Act," which provides that in any investigation involving a human trafficking offense, an organized crime offense, or an offense classified as a Class A or Class B felony, in which a district attorney general declines prosecution, an investigating state or local law enforcement agency may report and submit evidence of the offense to the district attorney general for another judicial district, in which jurisdiction and venue over the offense are proper, according to law and consistent with venue rules in the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, for consideration and action. However, this amendment does not affect, impair, or limit the sole, exclusive, and absolute discretion of a district attorney general in the performance of duties and responsibilities, or in the allocation of any investigatory, prosecutorial, administrative, staffing, and fiscal resources available to the district attorney general.