Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 20.

Present law authorizes the clerks and masters of the chancery courts, the county clerks and the clerks of the probate, criminal, circuit and special courts, county trustees, registers of deeds, and sheriffs to employ such deputies and assistants as may be necessary to the proper conducting of such persons' offices. This bill revises and adds to the present law provisions governing petitions for such deputies and assistants, as follows: (1) Under present law, if there is a dispute regarding the hiring or salary of such a deputy or assistant, the hearing on a petition must be held "promptly" after the county mayor responds to the petition (which is required to be within five days of service of the petition). This bill revises the time within which the hearing must be held from "promptly" to "within 90 days"; (2) This bill limits the use of discovery. Under this bill, discovery for petitions will be limited to materials and proof available to officials at the time of the budget and materials and proof used by the budget committee, county commission, or mayor to rebut or decline the award of salary increase. This bill prohibits the use of depositions unless a petition showing good cause is filed and accepted by the court. Any discovery or petition for additional discovery must be submitted within 15 days of filing; and (3) This bill limits attorney's fees for petitions. Under this bill, attorney's fees for petitions will be capped at $15,000. The court may award additional fees only if a petition showing good cause is filed with and accepted by the court. ON MARCH 29, 2021, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENTS #1 AND 2, AND PASSED SENATE BILL 282, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 clarifies that, with respect to the time for a hearing on a petition as described in (1) of the Bill Summary, the 90-day period within which the hearing must be held begins following the county mayor answering the petition. AMENDMENT #2 authorizes use of discovery as described in (2) of the Bill Summary to include additional discovery if a petition showing good cause is filed with and accepted by the court. ON APRIL 25, 2022, THE HOUSE SUBSTITUTED SENATE BILL 282 FOR HOUSE BILL 1386, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2, AND PASSED SENATE BILL 282, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #2 rewrites this bill and: (1) Provides that if a judge or chancellor serving the judicial district in which a petition is filed, in accordance with the above-described present law provisions, recuses himself or herself from presiding over an action, the judge or chancellor must immediately follow the procedures and policies established by the Tennessee administrative office of the courts or Rules of the Supreme Court of the State of Tennessee governing the recusal of a judge or chancellor; (2) Specifies that the general assembly intends the present law provisions described above in the bill summary, as amended, to provide an expedited process for resolving salary disputes in order to provide county officials quick relief and to protect taxpayers from unnecessary costs when gridlock occurs in the county budgeting process and a salary dispute is adjudicated under the provisions; (3) Revises the present law procedures for an action in a proceeding to be as follows: (A) If a county official listed above in the bill summary files a petition, the official must name the county mayor as the party defendant in the petition; (B) Petitions must receive docket priority over all other cases other than those involving the welfare of a child and must be resolved within 120 days of the petition filing date, which may be extended for up to an additional 120 days in the discretion of the court or for good cause shown by the parties; (C) The court must hold a hearing on the petition and the answer thereto, for purposes of developing the facts and issues in question, and may hear proof for or against the petition. The court may allow or disallow the application, either in whole or in part, and may approve the entire number of deputies or assistants applied for or a lesser number, and may approve the salaries set out in the application or reduced salaries, as the facts justify; (D) After passing a county's budget pursuant to applicable budgeting laws, the applicable county commission, both as a body and as individual commissioners, do not have a further role in the budgeting process and do not have standing under the present law provisions; (E) A county official who files a petition and the county mayor must engage in mediation within 30 days of filing the petition. The judge or chancellor presiding over the petition may award sanctions against a party who fails to negotiate in good faith in accordance with this amendment; (F) A copy of the petition must be served on the county mayor or the county mayor's agent as permitted by applicable law, who must file an answer to the petition within five days from the date of service of the petition, either admitting the allegations of the petition or denying the same, or making such answer as the county mayor deems advisable under the circumstances; and (G) The court must schedule a mandatory preliminary conference within 20 days after the answer is filed, or if a judge or chancellor is recused from the case, the court must schedule the preliminary conference within 20 days after the transfer of the case to another court or to another judge or chancellor, as applicable. This amendment sets out in detail requirements for the preliminary hearing, discovery, scheduling orders, and litigation plans, including presumptions regarding the reasonableness of discovery and litigation plans. Present law provides that the cost of all cases must be paid out of the fees of the office collected by such officers, and they and each of them are allowed a credit for the same in settlement with the county trustee. This amendment adds that an award of attorney's fees must be consistent with and awarded pursuant to Rule 8 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of the State of Tennessee, Rules of Professional Conduct 1.5, or the corresponding subsequent rule of the Tennessee supreme court. The court must determine the reasonableness of attorney's fees for all parties, and in making that determination, the court must consider the factors in Rule 8 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of the State of Tennessee, Rules of Professional Conduct 1.5.