<BillNo> <Sponsor>
SENATE BILL 140
By Lowe
SB0140
001441
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2;
Title 6; Title 7; Title 8 and Title 49, relative to recall
of elected officials.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 8, Chapter 47, is amended by adding
the following as a new part:
8-47-201. As used in this chapter:
(1) "District" means a district from which a public officer is elected; and
(2) "Public officer" means a member of a municipal legislative body or a city or
county school board.
8-47-202.
(a) A public officer is subject to recall from office under this chapter.
(b) A public officer may be recalled by the qualified electors entitled to vote in the
district from which the officer was elected.
(c)
(1) A public officer may be recalled only for the following reasons:
(A) Physical or mental lack of fitness;
(B) Incompetence;
(C) A violation of the oath of office;
(D) Official misconduct;
(E) Lack of confidence;
(F) Malfeasance;
(G) Neglect of duty;
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(H) Voter dissatisfaction; or
(I) Conviction of a felony offense.
(2) A person must not be recalled for performing a mandatory duty of the
office that the person holds or for not performing an act that, if performed, would
subject the person to prosecution for official misconduct.
8-47-203. The recall process established under this chapter is cumulative and additional
to, rather than a substitute for, other methods for removal of public officers.
8-47-204.
(a) A person who is a qualified elector of a district in this state from which a
public officer is elected may sign a petition for recall of the public officer.
(b)
(1) A person commits an offense who:
(A) Knowingly signs a name other than the person's own to a
petition;
(B) Knowingly signs a petition more than once for the recall;
(C) Signs the petition knowing that the person is not at the time of
the signing a qualified elector; or
(D) Knowingly makes a false entry upon an affidavit required in
connection with the filing of a petition for the recall of a nonpartisan public
officer.
(2) A violation under subdivision (b)(1) is a Class C misdemeanor.
8-47-205.
(a) A recall petition must not name more than one (1) public officer to be
recalled.
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(b) A recall petition against a public officer must not be approved for circulation,
as required in § 8-47-209(c), until a public officer has held office for at least two (2)
months.
(c) A recall petition must not be filed against a public officer for whom a recall
election has been held for a period of two (2) years during the officer's term of office
unless the political subdivision financing the recall election is first reimbursed for all
expenses of the preceding recall election.
8-47-206.
Recall petitions for public officers must contain the signatures of qualified
electors equaling at least twenty percent (20%) of the number of persons registered to
vote at the preceding general election in the district for which the public officer was
elected.
8-47-207.
(a) Recall petitions for public officers must be filed with the county election
commission that serves the district in which the public officer serves and the secretary of
state.
(b) If the county election commission or secretary of state refuses to accept and
file a petition for recall with the proper number of signatures of qualified electors, an
elector may, within ten (10) days after such refusal, apply to the district court for a writ of
mandamus. If it is determined that the petition is sufficient, the district court shall order
the petition to be filed with a certified copy of the writ attached thereto, as of the date
when it was originally offered for filing. On a showing that any filed petition is not
sufficient, the court may enjoin certification of the recall election.
(c) All such suits or appeals therefrom must be advanced on the court docket
and heard and decided by the court as expeditiously as possible.
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(d) An aggrieved party may file an appeal within ten (10) days after an adverse
order or decision as provided by law.
8-47-208.
(a) The form of the recall petition must be substantially as follows:
WARNING
A person who knowingly signs a name other than the person's own to this
petition, who signs the person's name more than once upon a petition to recall
the same officer at one (1) election, or who is not at the time of signing this
petition qualified to sign this petition under law, is guilty of a Class C
misdemeanor.
RECALL PETITION
To the Honorable ............, Secretary of State of the State of Tennessee,
and the county election commission for ……….. County: We, the undersigned
qualified electors of the State of Tennessee in the ……….. (name of appropriate
district) respectfully petition that an election be held as provided by law on the
question of whether ..............., holding the office of ..............., should be recalled
for the following reasons: (Setting out a general statement of the reasons for
recall in not more than two hundred (200) words). Each signer certifies: I have
personally signed this petition; I am a qualified elector of the State of Tennessee
and of the ………. (name of appropriate district); and my residential and post
office address are correctly written after my name to the best of my knowledge
and belief.
(b) Numbered lines must follow the language in subsection (a). Each numbered
line must contain spaces for the signature, residential address, post office address, and
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printed last name of the signer. Each separate sheet of the petition must contain the
heading and reasons for the proposed recall as prescribed in subsection (a).
8-47-209.
(a) The signatures on each petition must be placed on sheets of paper known as
circulation sheets. Each circulation sheet must be substantially eight and one-half by
fourteen inches (8 1/2" x 14"), or a continuous sheet may be folded so as to meet this
size limitation. The circulation sheets must be ruled with a horizontal line one and one-
half inches (1 1/2") from the top of the sheet. The space above the line must remain
blank and must be for the purpose of binding.
(b) The petition, for purposes of circulation, may be divided into sections, each
section to contain not more than twenty-five (25) circulation sheets.
(c) Before a petition may be circulated for signatures, a sample circulation sheet
must be submitted to the appropriate county election commission and the secretary of
state in the form in which it will be circulated. The commission and the secretary of state
shall review the petition for sufficiency as to form and approve or reject the form of the
petition, stating the reasons for rejection, within one (1) week of receiving the sheet.
(d) The petition form submitted must be accompanied by a written statement
containing the reasons for the desired recall as stated on the petition. The truth of
purported facts contained in the statement must be sworn to by at least one (1) of the
petitioners before a person authorized to administer oaths.
(e) The county election commission and the secretary of state shall serially
number all approved petitions continuously from year to year.
8-47-210.
The forms prescribed in this part are not mandatory, and if substantially followed,
the petition is sufficient, notwithstanding clerical and merely technical errors.
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8-47-211.
(a) Signed circulation sheets or sections of a petition for recall must be
submitted to the county election commission in the county in which the signatures were
obtained and to the secretary of state within three (3) months of the date the form of the
petition was approved under § 8-47-209(c).
(b) An affidavit, in substantially the following form, must be attached to each
circulation sheet or section submitted under subsection (a):
(Name of person circulating petition), being first sworn, deposes and
says: I circulated or assisted in circulating the petition to which this affidavit is
attached, and I believe that the signatures on the petition are genuine and are
the signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be and that the
signers knew the contents of the petition before signing the petition.
.................. (Signature)
Subscribed and sworn before me this .... day of ...., 20...
............ (Person authorized to take oaths)
Seal ................ (Title or notarial information)
8-47-212.
(a) The county election commission in each county in which a recall petition is
signed shall verify and compare the signatures of each person who has signed the
petition to ensure that the person is an elector in that county and, if satisfied that the
signatures are genuine, shall certify that fact to the secretary of state, in substantially the
following form:
To the Honorable ............, Secretary of State of the State of Tennessee:
I, ............, .............. (title) of ............ County, certify that I have compared the
signatures on ...... sheets (specifying number of sheets) of the petition for recall
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No. ...... (assigned serial number of petition) attached, in the manner prescribed
by law, and I believe ...... (number) signatures are valid for the purpose of the
petition. I further certify that the affidavit of the circulator of the ….. (sheet) …..
(section) of the petition is attached and that the residential and post office
address is completed for each valid signature.
Signed: ...... (Signature) (Date) ........
Seal............(Title)
(b) The certificate is prima facie evidence of the facts stated in the certificate,
and the secretary of state or county election commission receiving the recall petition may
consider and count only the signatures that are certified.
8-47-213.
Upon certification of a petition under this chapter, the secretary of state shall
immediately give written notice to the public officer named in the petition. The notice
must state that a recall petition has been filed and certified, must set forth the reasons
contained in the petition, and must notify the public officer that the officer has the right to
prepare and have printed on the ballot a statement containing not more than two
hundred (200) words giving reasons why the officer should not be recalled. A statement
of justification must not be printed on the ballot unless it is delivered to the secretary of
state within ten (10) days of the date notice is given.
8-47-214.
(a) If the public officer named in the petition for recall submits a resignation in
writing, it must be accepted and become effective seventy-two (72) hours after it is
offered. The vacancy created by the resignation must be filled as provided by law.
However, the public officer named in the petition for recall must not be appointed to fill
the vacancy.
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(b) If the public officer named in the petition for recall refuses to resign or does
not resign within five (5) days after receiving notice of the certified petition, an election
must be held. If the recall petition was certified more than sixty (60) days before a
general or primary election, the recall election must be held at the same time as the
general or primary election. If the recall petition was certified less than sixty (60) days
before a general or primary election, the recall election must be held at the next
succeeding general election.
8-47-215. The public notice of a recall election, to be filed in accordance with § 2-14-
105, must be in substantially the following form:
NOTICE OF RECALL ELECTIO N
Notice is hereby given pursuant to law that a recall election will be held on
.......... (Date) for the purpose of voting upon the recall of ............, who holds the
office of ..........
DATED at .........., .......... (Date)
8-47-216.
(a) The ballot at a recall election must set forth the statement contained in the
recall petition stating the reasons for demanding the recall of the public officer and the
public officer's statement of reasons why the officer should not be recalled. The
question of whether the officer should be recalled must be placed on the ballot in a form
similar to the following:
☐ FOR recalling ......., who holds the office of ........
☐ AGAINST recalling ......., who holds the office of ........
(b) The form of the ballot must be approved as provided in the election laws of
this state.
8-47-217.
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Expenses of a recall election must be paid in the same manner as the expenses
for any other election. The expenditure of such funds constitutes an emergency
expenditure of funds, and a political subdivision affected may fund the costs of such an
election through emergency funding procedures.
8-47-218.
The public officer named in the recall petition continues in office until the officer
resigns or the results of the recall election are officially declared. If a majority of those
voting on the question vote to remove the officer, the office becomes vacant and the
vacancy must be filled as provided by law. However, the public officer recalled must not
be appointed to fill the vacancy.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-2-213, is amended by deleting the
section.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.