HOUSE BILL 46
By McCalmon
SENATE BILL 1071
By Johnson
SB1071
000476
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 9 and
Title 37, relative to child advocacy centers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 9-4-213, is amended by adding the
following new subdivisions:
(e) The department of children's services, or another department administering
state funds specially appropriated for child advocacy centers, shall:
(1) Ensure that a reimbursement payment owed to a child advocacy
center is paid within thirty (30) days of the date a request for reimbursement from
the child advocacy center; and
(2) For any reimbursement that is not completed within the thirty (30)
days required by subdivision (e)(1), pay to the child advocacy center an
additional amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the total reimbursement amount
owed as a late payment fee. The ten-percent payment must be paid from the
applicable department's budget without additional appropriation.
(f) On or before January 15, 2026, and no later than January 15 of each year
thereafter, the department of children's services shall submit to the clerk of the senate
and the clerk of the house of representatives a report on the timeliness of
reimbursements to child advocacy centers in this state during the previous calendar
year. The report must include, at a minimum, data on the amount of reimbursements to
child advocacy centers that failed to meet the thirty-day deadline required by subdivision
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(e)(1), expressed as both a raw number and a percentage of total reimbursements, and
the amount of late payment fees incurred pursuant to subdivision (e)(2).
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.