2023 Tennessee Code › Title 9 - PUBLIC FINANCES (§§ 9-1-101 — 9-24-106) › Chapter 21 - LOCAL GOVERNMENT PUBLIC OBLIGATIONS ACT OF 1986 (§§ 9-21-101 — 9-21-1104) › Part 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO ALL BONDS AND NOTES ISSUED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS (§§ 9-21-101 — 9-21-134) › Section 9-21-105 - Chapter definitions

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)
"Bondholder," "holder of bonds" or any similar term means any person who shall be the bearer of any outstanding bonds, notes or other obligations registered to bearer or not registered, or the registered owner of any such outstanding bonds, notes or other obligations which shall at the time be registered other than to bearer, or the holder of any interim certificate pending the issuance of definitive bonds or notes;
(2)
"Bonds" means bonds or interim certificates issued pending preparation or delivery of definitive bonds of a local government issued pursuant to this chapter;
(3)
"Certain unfunded other post-employment benefits" means nonpension benefits paid on behalf of former employees of any local government having a population in excess of one hundred fifty thousand (150,000), according to the 2000 federal census or any subsequent federal census, or the former employees' beneficiaries after separation from service. The benefits may include, but shall not be limited to, medical, prescription drugs, dental, vision, hearing, medicare part B or part D premiums, life insurance, long-term care, and long-term disability. For purposes of this subdivision (3), the value of any "certain unfunded other post-employment benefits" shall be limited to the unfunded actuarial accrued liability as determined pursuant to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 45 and as certified by the actuarial consultant of the local government;
(4)
"Certain unfunded pension obligations" means pension benefits for past service of employees of a local government whose employment results from the local government's assumption of governmental responsibilities of another local government;
(5)
"Construction" means building, reconstruction, erection, replacement, extension, repairing, betterment, equipment, development, embellishment, improvement, acquisition by gift, lease, purchase or the exercise of the right of eminent domain, or any one (1) or more or all of the foregoing, including the acquisition of land and of rights in land, and including acquisition of all of the outstanding capital stock of any corporation whose assets consist entirely of one (1) or more public works projects which together constitute a waterworks, sewer system, natural gas system, electric system, or any combination thereof, including, but not limited to, a water, sewer, natural gas and/or electric distribution system, or any combination thereof, serving a local government and assets related to the operation thereof and whose liabilities consist entirely of those related to the ownership and operation thereof; provided, that upon any such acquisition of stock by a local government, the corporation thus acquired shall be promptly liquidated by the local government, which shall thereupon acquire its assets and assume its liabilities;
(6)
"Contract" or "agreement" between a state or federal agency, or both, and a local government or a local government instrumentality includes contracts and agreements in the customary form and also includes an allotment of funds, resolution, unilateral promise or other commitments by such state or federal agency or agencies by which it shall undertake to make a loan or grant or both, upon performance of specified conditions or with rules and regulations theretofore or thereafter promulgated, prescribed or published by such state or federal agency or agencies. In the case of such an allotment of funds, resolution, unilateral promise or other commitment by a state or federal agency, the terms, conditions and restrictions therein set forth and the rules and regulations theretofore or thereafter promulgated, prescribed or published shall, for the purpose of this chapter, constitute covenants of such a contract that are to be performed by the local government, if the local government accepts any money from such state or federal agency;
(7)
"Enterprise" means any one (1) of or combination of two (2) or more public works projects, undertakings or projects which the local government is or may hereafter be authorized to construct and from which the local government has heretofore derived or may hereafter derive revenues, and such enterprise includes all improvements, betterments, extensions and replacements thereto, and all appurtenances, facilities, lands, rights in land, water rights, franchises and structures in connection therewith or incidental thereto;
(8)
"Facsimile seal" means the reproduction by engraving, imprinting, stamping, or other means of the seal of the issuer, official or governing body;
(9)
"Facsimile signature" means the reproduction by engraving, imprinting, stamping, or other means of the manual signature of an authorized officer of a local government;
(10)
"Federal agency" includes the United States, the president of the United States, or any agency, instrumentality or corporation of the United States, which has heretofore been or may hereafter be designated, created or authorized by or pursuant to any act or acts or joint resolutions of the congress of the United States, to make loans or grants, or which may be owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the United States;
(11)
"Federal aid act" means any act or acts or joint resolution of the congress of the United States to reduce and relieve unemployment, or to provide for the construction of public works, or to relieve and rehabilitate veterans of any war, or to subsidize or aid any local government, public works or construction project by grants of money, materials, equipment or otherwise by any federal agency;
(12)
"Financial newspaper" means a financial newspaper, financial journal or other financial publication;
(13)
"Governing body" means the legislative body of any local government of this state or any other authority charged with the governing of the affairs of any local government in this state;
(14)
"Law" means any act or statute, general, special or local, of this state, including, but not limited to, any local government charter;
(15)
(A)
"Local government" means any county, municipality or metropolitan government in this state; and
(B)
"Local government" also means any separate legal or administrative entity duly created by interlocal agreement between two (2) or more political subdivisions of the state acting pursuant to title 12, chapter 9, IF AND ONLY IF:
(i)
Such political subdivisions retain at least secondary liability for the debts of such legal entity;
(ii)
The terms of such interlocal agreement authorize the entity to exercise powers actually conferred upon such political subdivisions by this chapter; and
(iii)
The terms of such interlocal agreement conform to the restrictions set forth in §
12-9-104(e)(2)(A)(i), (ii) and (iii)
;
(16)
"Local government instrumentality" means any authority created by law on behalf of a county, metropolitan government, municipality or any combination thereof;
(17)
"Mandated project" means a public works project that a local government is required by a court order or other governmental mandate to construct as determined by the local government with the approval of the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee;
(18)
"Metropolitan government" means the political entity created by consolidation of all, or substantially all, of the political and corporate functions of a county and a city or cities pursuant to the authority of title 7, chapters 1-3;
(19)
"Municipality" means any incorporated city or any incorporated town of this state;
(20)
"Notes" means notes or interim certificates issued pending preparation or delivery of definitive notes of a local government issued pursuant to this chapter;
(21)
"Obligations" means bonds, notes and any other evidence of indebtedness lawfully issued or assumed by a local government;
(22)
(A)
"Public works project" includes any one (1) or any combination of the following: acquisitions of land for the purpose of providing or preserving open land; airports; alleys; ambulances; auditoriums; bridges; city and town halls; convention and event centers; corrective, detention, and penal facilities, including, but not limited to, jails and transition centers; courthouses; culverts; curbs; dispensaries; drainage systems, including storm water sewers and drains; electric plants and systems; equipment, including vehicles; technology equipment and related software used for local government purposes; expositions; facilities for persons with disabilities; facilities for the indigent; fairgrounds and fairground facilities; fire department equipment and buildings; fire alarm systems; flood control; garbage collection and disposal systems; gas and natural gas systems and storage facilities; greenways; heat plants and systems; harbor and riverfront improvements; health centers and clinics, including medical and mental health centers and clinics; highways; highway and street equipment; hospitals; hotels and supporting or incidental facilities built by local governments that are built adjacent to and as a supporting facility of civic or convention centers located in municipalities that have created a central business improvement district under the Central Business Improvement District Act of 1971, compiled in title 7, chapter 84; improvements made pursuant to a plan of improvement for a central business improvement district created pursuant to the Central Business Improvement District Act of 1971; law enforcement and emergency services equipment; levees; libraries; markets; memorials; museums; nursing homes; parks; parking facilities; parkways; playgrounds; plazas; port facilities; docks and dock facilities, including any terminal storage and transportation facilities incident thereto; public art; public buildings; preserves; railroads, including the extension of railroads and railway beltlines and switches; reclamation of land; recreation centers and facilities; reservoirs; rights-of-way; river and navigation improvements; roads; schools; transportation equipment for schools; sewers; sewage and waste water systems, including, but not limited to, collection, drainage, treatment, and disposal systems; ship canals; sidewalks; stadiums; streets; swimming pools; thermal transfer generating plants or distribution systems or both; tunnels; viaducts; voting machines; water treatment distribution and storage systems; wharves; and zoos;
(B)
"Public works project," also includes:
(i)
"Business park," which includes lands and rights, easements and franchises relating thereto, and may include roads and streets, water, sewer, electric and other utilities, landscaping and related elements as required for the orderly development and use of corporate or professional office space by one (1) or more commercial, financial or service business, and such appurtenant land for necessary incidental use. "Business park" does not include a retail operation except for an incidental retail use. A "business park" shall contain not less than five (5) acres of land. The building finance committee in the industrial development division of the department of economic and community development is authorized and empowered to determine whether a local government shall have the right to engage in any or all of the rights and privileges accompanying such a public works project. Before a local government may undertake the financing of such a public works project, it shall apply to the committee for a certificate of public purpose and necessity. The committee shall issue such a certificate once it is affirmatively determined that:
(a)
There are adequate property values and suitable financial conditions so that the total bonded indebtedness of the local government, solely for this authorized purpose and those other purposes authorized by title 7, chapter 55 and title 13, chapter 16, shall not exceed ten percent (10%) of the total assessed valuation of all the property in the local government ascertained by the last completed assessment at the time of the issuance of such bonds; and
(b)
The project is well conceived, has a reasonable prospect of success, will provide economic development and employment, will tend to encourage businesses to locate there and will not become a burden upon the taxpayers of the local government;
(ii)
"Industrial park," which includes lands, rights, easements and franchises relating thereto, and may include adequate roads and streets, water and sewer facilities, utilities and docks and terminals. Any of the foregoing improvements which are to be located within the geographic boundaries of the industrial park may only be financed after compliance with title 13, chapter 16, part 2;
(iii)
"Urban renewal project," which means the same as such projects which are defined in §§
13-20-209
- 13-20-215. Any local government is hereby authorized to contribute money, property, and municipal services to any public agency engaged in the development of urban renewal projects in that local government;
(iv)
"Urban transit facility," which includes any or all real and personal property needed to provide public passenger transportation by means of street railway, electric railway, incline railroad, trolley coach, bus, motor coach, or any combination thereof, including terminal, maintenance and storage facility, whether owned and operated by a local government or owned by a local government and leased to private operators, all of which are hereby found and determined to be in the public interest and a proper public purpose;
(v)
Facilities for the storage and maintenance of any of the items of equipment which constitute public works projects;
(vi)
Facilities or capital expenditures paid or incurred with respect to property located in a "recovery zone," as defined in § 1400U-1(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, codified in
26 U.S.C. § 1400U-1(b)
, that are made for a "qualified economic development purpose," as defined in § 1400U-2(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, codified in
26 U.S.C. § 1400U-2(c)
;
(vii)
Facilities or expenditures paid or incurred for "qualified conservation purposes," as defined in § 54D(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, codified in
26 U.S.C. § 54D(f)
, in connection with the issuance of "qualified energy conservation bonds," as defined in § 54D of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, codified in
26 U.S.C. § 54D
;
(viii)
All property real and personal, appurtenant thereto or connected with any public works project, work or undertaking and the existing public works project, work or undertaking, if any, to which such public works project, work or undertaking is an extension, addition, betterment or improvement; and
(ix)
Facilities or capital expenditures paid or incurred with respect to development of affordable housing or workforce housing in a county having a metropolitan form of government with a population of not less than six hundred thousand (600,000), according to the 2010 federal census or any subsequent federal census, including expenditures related to a housing trust fund established in accordance with title 7, chapter 8 or title 13, chapter 23, part 5. For purposes of this subdivision (22)(B)(ix), only local governments within which the affordable or workforce housing is located are authorized to issue debt or borrow money, and in no event, shall the credit of any county, city, or town be given or loaned to or in aid of any person, company, association, or corporation, within the meaning of the Constitution of Tennessee, Article II, § 29, without first complying with the applicable requirements of the Constitution of Tennessee, Article II, § 29;
(C)
This enumeration does not exclude any other project for the benefit of the people at large of any local government where any state or federal agency will match the funds of the local government with grants-in-aid or gratuities to subsidize or assist the development of a public works project;
(D)
Notwithstanding subdivision (22)(B)(i), a certificate of public purpose and necessity shall not be required for a public works project of a local government with a population of not less than three hundred thousand (300,000), according to the 2000 federal census or any subsequent federal census. The total pledge of full faith and credit of any such local government related to the project shall not exceed ten percent (10%) of the total assessed valuation of all property in the local government, ascertained by the last completed assessment at the time of issuance of the obligations. In any resolution pledging the full faith and credit and unlimited taxing power of any such local government to secure any obligations related to a public works project, the governing body of the local government shall state that the project being considered is well conceived, has a reasonable prospect for success, will provide proper economic development and employment, and will not likely become a burden on the taxpayers of the local government;
(23)
"Refinancing" means funding, refunding, paying, or discharging, by means of refunding bonds or the proceeds received from the sale thereof, all or any part of any bonds, notes, or other obligations heretofore or hereafter issued or lawfully assumed and payable solely from all or any part of the revenues of one (1) or more enterprises, or from a combination of such revenues and taxes, except notes issued in anticipation of bonds;
(24)
"Refunding bonds" means bonds issued to refund all or any part of bonds, notes or other obligations, except notes issued in anticipation of bonds, heretofore or hereafter issued or lawfully assumed by a local government pursuant to this chapter, or any other provision of this code or any other general or special law;
(25)
"Revenues" means all fees, rents, tolls, rates, rentals, interest earnings, or other charges received or receivable by the local government from any public works project or enterprise then existing or thereafter to be constructed, including any revenues derived or to be derived by a local government from a lease, agreement or contract with any other local government, local government instrumentality, the state, or a state or federal agency for the use of or in connection with a public works project or enterprise, or all other charges to be levied and collected in connection with and all other income and receipts of whatever kind or character derived by the local government from the operation of any public works project or enterprise or arising from any public works project or enterprise;
(26)
"State" means the state of Tennessee;
(27)
"State agency" means any agency of the state created by the general assembly; and
(28)
"Taxable property" means all property subject to ad valorem taxation within the local government, or any portion of the local government, if applicable.
Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 128, Secs.s 3, s 4, s 5 eff. 4/13/2021.
Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 738, s 1, eff. 4/7/2016.
Amended by 2013 Tenn. Acts, ch. 467, Secs.s 1, s 2, s 3, s 4 eff. 5/20/2013.
Acts 1986, ch. 770, § 1-5; 1990, ch. 593, § 6; 1992, ch. 880, § 1; 1997 , ch. 390, § 2; 1998, ch. 728, § 1; 1998, ch. 751, § 1; 2004, ch. 705, § 1; 2006, ch. 770, § 1; 2006, ch. 847, § 1; 2007 , ch. 131, § 1; 2008 , ch. 991, § 1; 2009 , ch. 608, § 2; 2010 , ch. 868, § 41.