Amends TCA Title 4; Title 38, Chapter 6 and Title 68, Chapter 102.

This bill transfers the fire investigations section within the fire prevention division of the department of commerce and insurance to the TBI and expresses the legislative intent that personnel, equipment, funding, duties, authority, and property that is part of such transfer be transferred no later than January 1, 2020. <br /> <br /> This bill requires the director of the TBI to develop and implement a transfer plan, which must include the procedures under which transferred employees will be incorporated into the bureau. <br /> <br /> This bill prohibits the initial transfer of any preferred service employee pursuant to the transfer from the department of commerce and insurance to the TBI from resulting in any impairment, interruption, or diminution of employee rights, salary, benefits, leave accumulation, or employment. This bill authorizes the commissioner of human resources to determine if there has been any impairment of rights, salary, benefits, leave accumulation, or employment as a result of the initial transfer. If the commissioner determines that rights have been impaired, this bill authorizes preferred service employees to seek redress through a request for declaratory order by the commissioner of human resources.<br /> <br /> Present law imposes a tax on fire insurance companies in the amount of three quarters of one percent on the net premium receipts. The proceeds of the tax are placed in the fire prevention fund for the maintenance of the division of fire prevention of the department of commerce and insurance. This bill adds that monies in the fire prevention fund must also be used for the maintenance of the TBI's fire investigations section. <br /> <br /> ON APRIL 22, 2019, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 174, AS AMENDED.<br /> <br /> AMENDMENT #1 adds the following provisions to this bill:<br /> <br /> (1) Requires the TBI to electronically transmit a summary stating the cause, origin, and the circumstances of each fire investigation to the state fire marshal and the local fire department in the jurisdiction where the fire occurred;<br /> (2) Lists the TBI as an "authorized agency" for the purposes of an insurance company giving notice to the state fire marshal and an authorized agency when the insurance company has reason to believe that a fire loss may be other than accidental cause. This amendment also redefines "relevant" information in regard to an authorized agency requesting information from the insurance company to include information that suggests future behavior tendencies of a person of interest, including a propensity for violence, that may assist an insurance company in determining a fact or motive of a person of interest, or both;<br /> (3) Specifies, in regard to the present law provision whereby an insurance company providing information to an authorized agency or agencies may request relevant information from such authorized agency, that the authorized agency may withhold information deemed sensitive to a non-arson criminal investigation with the approval of the supervising agent; and to specify that the TBI may withhold any investigative document that the bureau believes would compromise the integrity of a criminal investigation; and<br /> (4) Specifies that the present law provisions regarding cooperation of insurance companies and authorized agencies must not be construed to inhibit the investigative rights of any insurance company; and to specify that an authorized agency involved in an investigation must allow the reporting insurance company to concurrently conduct its own, independent investigation without obstruction, in accordance with the direction of and in the presence of the agency.<br /> <br />