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The Tennessee Government Transparency & Performance Act (TN-GT&P)

Tennessee state companion to GT&P. Extends the Tennessee Public Records Act (Tenn. Code Ann. Ch. 10-7), Open Meetings Act (Ch. 8-44), Comptroller of the Treasury oversight, and the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act whistleblower framework.

THE TENNESSEE GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY & PERFORMANCE ACT (TN-GT&P)

Vehicle: State passage. Tennessee General Assembly, regular session. Primary referral to House State Government Committee and Senate State and Local Government Committee; civil-service provisions additionally to House Government Operations and Senate Government Operations.

Relationship to federal GT&P: Tennessee companion within the Tennessee Public Records Act, the Comptroller of the Treasury / Office of the Comptroller oversight framework, and the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act (Tennessee has no general state false-claims statute).

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

This Act may be cited as the “Tennessee Government Transparency & Performance Act (TN-GT&P).”

SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT

The General Assembly finds that Tennessee operates a robust public-records regime under Tenn. Code Ann. Ch. 10-7 (Tennessee Public Records Act) and Ch. 8-44 (Open Meetings Act); that the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury operates under Tenn. Code Ann. Title 4 Ch. 3 Part 3 and Title 8 Ch. 4 and performs state audits; that State-agency performance reporting operates under the Financial Integrity Act (Tenn. Code Ann. Ch. 9-18); that whistleblower protection for state employees operates under the Tennessee Public Protection Act (Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 50-1-304); and that the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act under Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 71-5-181 et seq. provides a qui-tam-style recovery mechanism for Medicaid fraud. This Act extends these frameworks.

TITLE I — DEFINITIONS & COORDINATION WITH TENNESSEE LAW

Sec. 101. Definitions

  1. (a) “State agency” has the meaning assigned in Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 4-3-101.
  2. (b) “Comptroller” means the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury under Tenn. Code Ann. Title 8 Ch. 4.
  3. (c) “TMFCA” means the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act under Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 71-5-181 et seq.

Sec. 102. Coordination with Existing Tennessee Law

  1. (a) This Act shall be construed consistently with:
  • Tenn. Code Ann. Ch. 10-7 (Public Records Act).
  • Tenn. Code Ann. Ch. 8-44 (Open Meetings Act).
  • Tenn. Code Ann. Title 8 Ch. 4 (Comptroller of the Treasury).
  • Tenn. Code Ann. Ch. 9-18 (Financial Integrity Act; performance reporting).
  • Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 50-1-304 (Tennessee Public Protection Act).
  • Tenn. Code Ann. Title 8 Ch. 30 (state service hiring).
  • Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 71-5-181 et seq. (TMFCA).
  • Tenn. Code Ann. Title 4 Ch. 5 (Uniform Administrative Procedures Act).

TITLE II — STATE-AGENCY OUTCOME PUBLICATION

Sec. 201. Tennessee Agency Outcome Dashboard

  1. (a) The Department of Finance and Administration, in coordination with the Comptroller and the Office of Legislative Budget Analysis, shall maintain a Tennessee Agency Outcome Dashboard (“TN-AOD”).
  2. (b) Each State agency shall publish, for each major program identified in its Financial Integrity Act reporting under Tenn. Code Ann. Ch. 9-18, machine-readable performance data describing cost per unit, output volume, and outcome measurement.
  3. (c) TN-AOD shall be published in machine-readable form and updated at least quarterly.

Sec. 202. Integration with Financial Integrity Act Reporting

  1. (a) Beginning with the reporting cycle following the effective date of this Act, each State agency shall include the TN-AOD data in its Ch. 9-18 reporting.

TITLE III — STATE CIVIL-SERVICE ACCOUNTABILITY

Sec. 301. Published Performance Expectations

  1. (a) Tenn. Code Ann. Title 8 Ch. 30 shall be applied so that each executive-level and director-level State-agency position’s appointing authority establish, and publish, annual performance expectations tied to the agency’s program performance measures under Ch. 9-18.
  2. (b) Failure to satisfy published expectations for two consecutive annual review cycles shall constitute grounds for non-retention consistent with existing Tennessee preferred-service and executive-service authority.

TITLE IV — REGULATORY PARTICIPATION

Sec. 401. Tennessee Regulatory Participation Dashboard

  1. (a) The Secretary of State, in coordination with agencies that adopt rules under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 4 Ch. 5), shall publish a Tennessee Regulatory Participation Dashboard displaying, for each pending rulemaking, docket status, comment text, and summary disposition.
  2. (b) The Dashboard is informational and shall not alter rulemaking authority or party rights under Title 4 Ch. 5.

TITLE V — WHISTLEBLOWER REWARDS

Sec. 501. Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act Reward Enhancement

  1. (a) Tenn. Code Ann. Sec. 71-5-183 (awards to persons bringing actions under TMFCA) is hereby amended so that a person bringing an action under TMFCA may receive a share of proceeds aligned with the federal range under 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3730(d).
  2. (b) Amounts payable shall be drawn from amounts recovered to the State and shall not exceed amounts available after restitution to the injured State program.
  3. (c) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to create a general state false-claims cause of action outside the Medicaid-fraud context of TMFCA.

TITLE VI — IMPLEMENTATION & GENERAL PROVISIONS

Sec. 601. Severability

If any provision of this Act is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect the remainder.

Sec. 602. Effective Date

This Act shall take effect July 1 of the year following enactment.

Canonical federal version: GT&P. Other Tennessee bills: TN-ACSA, TN-MEWRA, TN-AI-Workforce.