AG asked for opinion on Shelby County fining first responders
Tennessee State Rep. John Gillespie, R-memphis, has asked the state attorney general for an opinion on whether it is lawful for Shelby County to fine or assess a penalty against first responders who live outside the county.
His question, he wrote in a letter to Attorney General Herbert Slatery III, comes after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill banning residency requirements for first responders across most of the state.
However, the proposed Shelby County ordinance that would impose such a fine on first responders has only passed the first of three required readings before the Shelby County Commission.
Because of the new state law, signed by Lee on March 24, the proposed ordinance in Shelby County will be replaced with a substantially altered version, said Commissioner Amber Mills, who chairs the commission’s law enforcement committee.
Since the state law covers police officers, firefighters and emergency medical service workers, the county’s ordinance will be rewritten to only apply to correctional officers, requiring them to pay the $2,500 fee to live outside the county, she said. Those police officers, firefighters and emergency medical workers exempted by state law will pay no such fee.
Josh Cross, deputy press secretary for the House Republican Caucus, told The Commercial Appeal that Gillespie was aware of the status of Shelby County’s proposed ordinance.
Shelby County previously passed an ordinance exempting certain public safety officials from having to live in the county, requiring them to pay a $2,500 fee, but that ordinance had a sunset clause, and only applied to those hired between April 1, 2020, and April 1, 2022.
“Is Shelby County authorized to fine or assess a penalty against a first responder only by virtue of the first responder’s status as a non-resident of Shelby County — either under a human resources ‘policy’ or by county ordinance?” Gillespie asked in his letter to Slatery.
The ordinance is expected to go before the County Commission for its second reading in committee next week.
Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.