Tennessee private-probation council warns one provider, fines another $1,000 for missed filings

The Tennessee Private Probation Services Council voted unanimously to accept its attorney’s legal report, issuing a letter of warning to one probation services provider for a first missed quarterly filing and assessing a $1,000 civil penalty against a different provider for a third missed filing.

Council attorney Michael Underhill presented the report and recommended the two measures to bring the providers back into compliance. “My recommendation would be a letter of warning,” Underhill said of the first matter. Of the second case, he told the council, “my recommendation... to assess the statutory maximum of $1,000 for this violation.”

Underhill told members the council’s enforcement authority is limited by a statutory cap on civil penalties: “we are capped at a thousand dollar civil penalty per violation,” he said. He added that, in one of the earlier enforcement actions, the council had assessed a $500 civil penalty and that provider had paid it.

The council adopted Underhill’s recommendations on a motion by Judge Joel Perry, seconded by Judge Brody Kane. A roll-call vote recorded five aye votes from Judge Brody Kane, Judge Jason Hudson, Judge Joel Perry, Stacy Kelly and Michael Wright; the motion passed.

The action was recorded as administrative enforcement of the council’s provider-reporting requirements. The attorney characterized both matters as failures to submit the quarterly provider fee and required paperwork on time; the first was characterized in the report as a first offense and the second as a third offense. The council did not direct additional investigatory steps at the meeting.

The council’s acceptance of the legal report closed the legal-business portion of the agenda; members moved on to other business after the vote.