House panel advances change to how civil-rights complaints and conciliations are handled after transfer to AG's office

Chairman Faison opened the discussion on HB 2077, a bill to align the treatment of complaints and administrative rules for cases transferred from the Tennessee Human Rights Commission to the attorney general's civil rights enforcement division.

Steven Griffin, deputy attorney general and director of the civil rights enforcement division, told the committee the duties of the former Human Rights Commission were transferred to the AG's office last year and are now housed within CRED. "The duties and responsibilities of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission were transferred to the attorney general's office last year pursuant to the legislation adopted by this body," Griffin said. He said the office receives "over a 100 complaints per month" since July 1 and that every complaint is reviewed by an attorney.

Griffin told lawmakers the division currently has four attorneys and has taken on three employees from the former commission; the office is still building staff and internal procedures to process jurisdictional review, investigations and monitoring. On the question of administrative rules, Griffin said the office does not maintain formal administrative rules like the former commission did but uses internal procedures to satisfy statutory requirements.

Representative Clemons and other members pressed whether repealing transferred rules would leave gaps in how complaints are handled. Griffin said the statutes and the AG's internal procedures govern the process and that some rules applicable to commission hearings were inapposite after the transfer. He also said there was a brief refiling period for pending complaints, which produced an early uptick in filings.

Committee members also questioned changes to conciliation confidentiality. Griffin said HB 2077 would remove an existing prohibition that kept conciliation agreements confidential; because section 303 requires attorney general approval of conciliation agreements and the AG is signing off on settlements, the division believes those agreements are properly public records. "This removes the requirement that conciliations be kept confidential, so there would be the opportunity to make conciliation agreements public," Griffin said, adding that public availability could have a deterrent and educational effect.

The committee voted to move HB 2077 out to the calendar and rules (recorded tally: 10 ayes, 0 nays, 3 present not voting). The bill now proceeds according to committee rules.