AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 7 and Title 62, Chapter 32, relative to restrictions on a local government's authority related to regulation of private businesses.
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 62-32-321(e), is amended by designating the existing language as subdivision (1) and adding the following as subdivision (2):
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (e)(1) or a charter, ordinance, or resolution to the contrary, a county or
municipality shall not enact any legislation, ordinance, or resolution requiring an alarm systems
contractor or alarm business to pay for, collect, or be responsible for fines or fees relative to false
alarms, false alarm dispatches, alarm permits, or alarm renewal permits.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 62-32-321, is amended by adding the following new
subsections:
(f) Notwithstanding a charter, ordinance, or resolution to the contrary, a county or municipality shall not
require an alarm systems contractor or alarm business to acquire or pay for a permit or renewal permit
to operate an alarm system at an alarm site that is owned or leased by a customer of the contractor or
business. However, this subsection (f) does not apply to an installation permit required by code.
(g) Notwithstanding subdivision (e)(2) and subsection (f), an alarm systems contractor or alarm business:
(1) Shall collect monies until December 31, 2019, from a customer of the contractor or business to pay
for an annual alarm permit fee imposed on the customer by the county or municipality pursuant to
this section if the contractor or business was collecting that fee prior to the effective date of this act;
and
(2) May, in the sole discretion of the contractor or business, collect monies from a customer of the
contractor or business to pay for an annual alarm permit fee imposed on the customer by the
county or municipality pursuant to this section if the customer agrees to such collection by the
contractor or business.
(h) A contractor or business that collects monies pursuant to subsection (g):
(1) Shall pay the collected monies to the applicable county or municipality in accordance with the
deadline established by the applicable county or municipality for the payment of the collected
monies;
(2) May stop the collection of monies pursuant to subdivision (g)(2)at any time in the sole discretion of
the contractor or business; and
(3) Is not subject to an audit by the county or municipality, or any other entity, relative to the collection
of monies pursuant to subsection (g).
SECTION 3. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, then the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to that end the provisions of this act shall be severable.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.