The Tennessee office for refugees shall:

(1) Provide at least a written quarterly report to representatives of local governments to plan and coordinate the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees’ arrival, and appear before the local government to provide additional information at the request of the local government. Specifically, the local government may request reporting of information related to the factors of absorptive capacity as stated in § 4-38-102;
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 4-38-103

  • Absorptive capacity: is a determination made by a local government evaluating, for a host community within that jurisdiction:
    (A) The capacity of the community's social service and healthcare agencies to meet the existing needs of the community's current residents. See Tennessee Code 4-38-102
  • local governments: refers to either the city council, governing body of any county having a metropolitan form of government, or county legislative body which regulates any host community being considered for refugee resettlement activity. See Tennessee Code 4-38-102
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Tennessee office for refugees: means the state office which administers the refugee program for this state, or the entity or agency to whom the state has delegated such function and that has been designated and recognized by the federal government to administer such program. See Tennessee Code 4-38-102
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(2) Ensure that representatives of local resettlement agencies, local community service agencies, and other publicly-funded or tax-exempt agencies that serve refugees in this state shall upon request meet with representatives of local governments to plan and coordinate the appropriate placement of refugees in the host community in advance of the refugees’ arrival;
(3) Execute a letter of agreement with each agency providing refugee resettlement services in this state. The letter of agreement shall require the parties to mutually consult and prepare a plan for the initial placement of refugees in a host community and set forth the continuing process of consultation between the parties. The provisions of the letter of agreement shall be consistent with federal law regulating the resettlement of refugees;
(4) At least quarterly transmit to the department of finance and administration, the chairs of the state government committee of the house of representatives and state and local government committee of the senate, and the chair of the budget committee of either the city council or the county legislative body regulating the host community copies of:

(A) The letters of agreement;
(B) Any initial refugee placement plans prepared pursuant to letters of agreement; and
(C) Communications received and responded to pursuant to subdivision (5), including how or to the extent an issue regarding the concerns of host communities and representatives of local governments was resolved; and
(5) Ensure that residents of host communities and representatives of local governments are aware that any and all concerns regarding local refugee resettlement activities in any host community shall be filed with the Tennessee office for refugees and further that the Tennessee office for refugees shall respond timely in writing to all such communications.
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