Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 10; Title 38 and Title 71.

This bill creates a Tennessee office of cooperative disability investigation, as discussed below. This bill creates a Tennessee office of cooperative disability investigation (division), which will be administratively attached to the department of finance and administration, may employ up to five staff persons, will be separate and distinct from any other bureau or agency in the state, and will report quarterly to the chairs of the health and welfare committees of the senate and of the house of representatives and the chairs of the government operations committee of the senate and of the house of representatives on the number of cases investigated, the results, and other relevant matters. The division will be comprised of state law enforcement officers, known as special agents, who will work solely with the United States social security administration - cooperative disability investigation unit. The division will investigate disability claims under the administration's Title II and Title XVI programs that state disability examiners believe are suspicious. This bill requires the division to enter into a memorandum of understanding between the United States social security administration (administration) and the division specifying that all fiscal responsibilities needed to fund and operate the division must be provided by the administration. This bill prohibits the use of state funds to fund or operate the division. If the United States social security administration fails to provide the funding needed to fund and operate the division at any time prior to October 1, 2024, then the division will cease to exist. This bill authorizes the division to: (1) Investigate the allegation of disability fraud by interviewing the applicant and third parties, and conducting surveillance on those parties; (2) Investigate civil and criminal fraud and abuse, and investigate any other violations of state criminal law; (3) Cooperate with other law enforcement agencies, and where a preliminary investigation of fraud and abuse by a provider establishes a sufficient basis to warrant a full investigation, refer matters to the appropriate enforcement authority for criminal prosecution; (4) Refer matters to the appropriate enforcement authorities for civil proceedings of funds which have been inappropriately paid by the disability program, including referral to the attorney general for civil recovery; and (5) Cooperate with other state agencies to investigate disability fraud and abuse. This bill empowers the division to: (1) Issue subpoenas and compel the attendance of witnesses to examine persons under oath; (2) Compel the production of books, accounts, papers, records, and documents relating to such investigation or legal proceedings, including current and former employment records; (3) Compare information reported to the administration and the bureau of TennCare by applicants or enrollees with data maintained by the credit bureaus; and (4) Examine the patient record of any applicant for disability benefits, including any and all services, goods, and pharmaceuticals dispensed regardless of payment source. Records accessed during an investigation must be protected in accordance with state and federal privacy laws. The division will be headed by a special agent in charge, who will also serve as an agent for investigative purposes. The staff of special agents must undergo a federal background investigation, conducted by the administration - office of inspector general. Under this bill, a special agent will be a considered a commissioned qualified criminal investigator for the purposes of the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004. This bill authorizes any special agent designated by the division to enforce this bill to: (1) Go armed while on active duty; (2) Carry firearms at all times, regardless of regular duty hours or assignments (this bill provides a written directive to carry, as required by state law); (3) Execute search warrants and do all acts incident thereto in the same manner as search warrants may be executed by sheriffs and other peace officers; (4) Make arrests for any state felony or misdemeanor violations; and (5) Make traffic stops in an emergency situation where the safety of the public is in jeopardy. This bill specifies that all records obtained for investigative purposes must be treated as confidential investigative records of the division and must not be open to public inspection. A person or entity will not be subject to any civil or criminal liability for providing the division with access to data as required by this bill, and a person or entity may not destroy existing data after having been put on notice that access to the data is required. This bill also requires: (1) Representatives from the cooperative disability investigations program to appear before the government operations committees of the senate and of the house of representatives by December 31, 2023, to report all aspects of the division's performance; and (2) The division to submit, no later than January 31, 2023, a final report on its overall operations to the health and welfare committees of the senate and the house of representatives and the government operations committees of the senate and the house of representatives and provide such committees with any other information related to the function of the division upon request. This bill will be repealed October 1, 2024. ON APRIL 29, 2021, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1538, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #2 administratively attaches the Tennessee office of cooperative disability investigation to the state of Tennessee office of inspector general, in addition to the department of finance and administration. This amendment clarifies that the United States social security administration - office of inspector general, will "approve any selection and appointment of personnel to the division" instead of "pass applicants to the division". This amendment also changes this bill's effective date from October 1, 2021, to July 1, 2021, and changes this bill's repeal date from October 1, 2024, to July 1, 2024.