TN Code § 4-5-102 (2021)
2021 Tennessee Code|Title 4 - State Government|Chapter 5 - Uniform Administrative Procedures Act|Part 1 - General Provisions|§ 4-5-102. Chapter Definitions

 As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:   “Administrative judge” means an agency member, agency employee or employee or official of the office of the secretary of state, licensed to practice law and authorized by law to conduct contested case proceedings pursuant to § 4-5-301;   “Agency” means each state board, commission, committee, department, officer, or any other unit of state government authorized or required by any statute or constitutional provision to make rules or to determine contested cases;   “Contested case” means a proceeding, including a declaratory proceeding, in which the legal rights, duties or privileges of a party are required by any statute or constitutional provision to be determined by an agency after an opportunity for a hearing. Such proceeding may include rate making; price fixing; granting of certificates of convenience and necessity; the making, review or equalization of tax assessments; the granting or denial of licenses, permits or franchises where the licensing board is not required to grant the licenses, permits or franchises upon the payment of a fee or the finding of certain clearly defined criteria; and suspensions of, revocations of, and refusals to renew licenses. An agency may commence a contested case at any time with respect to a matter within the agency's jurisdiction;   “Hearing officer” means an agency member, agency employee or employee or official of the office of the secretary of state, not licensed to practice law, and authorized by law to conduct a contested case proceeding pursuant to § 4-5-301;   “License” includes the whole or part of any agency, permit, certificate, approval, registration, charter or similar form of permission required by law;   “Licensing” includes the agency process respecting the grant, denial, renewal, revocation, suspension, withdrawal or amendment of a license;   “Order” means an agency action of particular applicability that determines the legal rights, duties, privileges, immunities or other legal interests of a specific person or persons;   “Party” means each person or agency named or admitted as a party, or properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party;   “Person” means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, or public or private organization of any character, including another agency;   “Policy” means any statement, document, or guideline prepared or issued by any agency pursuant to its delegated authority that merely defines or explains the meaning of a statute or a rule. “Policy” also means any statement, document, or guideline concerning only the internal management of state government that does not affect private rights, privileges, or procedures available to the public. For purposes of this subdivision (10), “internal management” means the administration of an agency's internal operations for the purpose of facilitating operational effectiveness and efficiency;   “Publication” means a posting of materials on the appropriate website by the secretary of state that have been submitted in accordance with this chapter or any other information for which the secretary of state is responsible;   “Rule” means any agency regulation, standard, statement, or document of general applicability that is not a policy as defined in subdivision (10) that:  Describes the procedure or practice requirements of an agency; or   Implements, prescribes, or interprets an enactment of the general assembly or congress or a regulation adopted by a federal agency. “Rule” includes the establishment of a fee and the amendment or repeal of a prior rule. “Rule” does not include:   Declaratory orders issued pursuant to § 4-5-223;   Intra-agency memoranda;   General policy statements that are substantially repetitious of existing law;   Agency statements that:        Relate to the use of the highways and are made known to the public by means of signs or signals; or   Relate to the curriculum of individual state-supported institutions of postsecondary education or to the admission or graduation of students of such individual institutions but not to the discipline or housing of students;    Rate filings pursuant to title 56, chapters 5 and 6; or   Statements concerning inmates of a correctional or detention facility, or statements concerning offenders who are serving a sentence under probation or parole in the community; and   “Small business” means a business entity, including its affiliates, that employs fifty (50) or fewer full-time employees.