Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 3 > Chapter 14 > Part 1 - Office of Program Evaluation

• Access: means that a provider is capable of providing cable service or video service at the household address regardless of whether any customer has ordered service or whether the owner or landlord or other responsible person has granted access to the household. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Administrative judge: means an agency member, agency employee or employee or official of the office of the secretary of state, licensed to practice law and authorized by law to conduct contested case proceedings pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Agency: means each state board, commission, committee, department, officer, or any other unit of state government authorized or required by any statute or constitutional provision to make rules or to determine contested cases. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Agriculture: means :
  (i) The land, buildings and machinery used in the commercial production of farm products and nursery stock. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assembly building: means a building where a number of persons congregate for amusement, civic, educational, recreational, religious or social purposes. See Tennessee Code 7-62-101
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Base personnel policies: means the policies that are required to be adopted under this chapter and that are enumerated in §. See Tennessee Code 5-23-102
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the mayor and the aldermen. See Tennessee Code 6-1-101
• Board: means the board of trustees of an authority. See Tennessee Code 7-57-103
• Cable service: means :
  (A) The one-way transmission to subscribers of video programming or other programming service. See Tennessee Code 7-59-201
• Cable service provider: means a provider of cable service. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Cable system: means a facility consisting of a set of closed transmission paths and associated signal generation, reception, and control equipment that is designed to provide cable service that includes video programming and that is provided to multiple subscribers within a community. See Tennessee Code 7-59-201
• Cable system: has the meaning set forth in 47 U. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Code: means any published compilation of rules and regulations that has been prepared by technical trade associations or model code organizations regulating building construction, plumbing and gas installation, fire prevention, any portion of such rules, or any amendment of such rules. See Tennessee Code 5-20-101
• Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Collector: includes any person entrusted with the collection of public revenue. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Committee: means the county financial management committee. See Tennessee Code 5-21-102
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contested case: means a proceeding, including a declaratory proceeding, in which the legal rights, duties or privileges of a party are required by any statute or constitutional provision to be determined by an agency after an opportunity for a hearing. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County: means any county or any metropolitan form of government in this state having a population of two hundred thousand (200,000) or more, according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census, that by resolution has made the findings and determinations required by §. See Tennessee Code 7-60-103
• County employees: means employees of the county as defined under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act ( 29 U. See Tennessee Code 5-23-102
• County governing body: means that body in a particular county that is vested with the power to levy property taxes. See Tennessee Code 7-1-101
• County mayor: means and includes "county executive" unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Creating municipality: means any city or metropolitan government having a population of not less than two hundred thousand (200,000), according to the 1970 federal census or any subsequent federal census, or any county in which any such city shall be situated, that shall create an authority pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 7-57-103
• Days: means calendar days. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the finance department. See Tennessee Code 5-21-102
• Department: means the Tennessee public utility commission. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the director of the finance department. See Tennessee Code 5-21-102
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Entry regulation: means :
  (A) Any rule promulgated by a licensing authority for the purpose of regulating an occupational or professional group, including, but not limited to, any rule prescribing qualifications or requirements for a person's entry into, or continued participation in, any business, trade, profession, or occupation in this state. See Tennessee Code 4-5-501
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• farm products: means forage and sod crops. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Federal law: means the Mortgage Subsidy Bond Tax Act of 1980 (26 U. See Tennessee Code 7-60-103
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Franchise: means an initial authorization or renewal of an authorization issued by a franchising authority, whether such authorization is designated as a franchise, permit, license, resolution, contract, certificate, agreement, or otherwise, that authorizes the construction or operation of a cable system. See Tennessee Code 7-59-201
• Franchise: has the meaning set forth in 47 U. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Franchise area: means , with respect to a large telecommunications provider that is a holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority, the aggregate geographic area containing its basic local exchange wire-line telephone service areas within the state. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Franchise authority: means "franchising authority" as set forth in 47 U. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Franchising authority: means any governmental entity empowered by federal, state, or local law to grant a franchise. See Tennessee Code 7-59-201
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garbage and rubbish collection service: means and includes all operations of all manpower and equipment, whether employed or owned by the county or by some other entity, public or private, with which the county may choose to contract, for the gathering, removal and transporting of refuse produced by the area to be served. See Tennessee Code 5-19-102
• Garbage and rubbish disposal service: means and includes all composting or other processing plants, incinerators, sanitary landfills and all other sites or facilities for the receiving, processing and getting rid of collected refuse, whether publicly or privately owned or operated, or both. See Tennessee Code 5-19-102
• General services district: means a service district within a metropolitan government whose geographical limits are coextensive with the total area in which the government functions. See Tennessee Code 7-1-101
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: means the county legislative body, board of commissioners, county council, or other body in which the general legislative powers of a county are vested. See Tennessee Code 5-20-101
• Governing body: means the chief legislative body of any creating or participating municipality. See Tennessee Code 7-57-103
• Gross revenues: means :
  (A) With respect to a holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority, all revenues received from subscribers in the applicable municipality or unincorporated county area for providing cable or video services, and all revenues received from nonsubscribers in the applicable municipality or unincorporated county area for advertising services and as commissions from home shopping services, as allocated pursuant to subdivision (11)(B). See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Hearing officer: means an agency member, agency employee or employee or official of the office of the secretary of state, not licensed to practice law, and authorized by law to conduct a contested case proceeding pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Highway: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Home: means residential housing, including real property and improvements on real property, consisting of one (1) or more dwelling units, including, but not limited to, condominium units, owned by one (1) person or family of lower or moderate income that occupies or intends to occupy one (1) of such units. See Tennessee Code 7-60-103
• Home mortgage: means an interest-bearing loan to a person or family of lower or moderate income for the purpose of purchasing or improving a home, constituting a first lien on real property and evidenced by a promissory note and secured by a mortgage, deed of trust or other security instrument on such home, but does not include a loan primarily for the purpose of refinancing an existing loan. See Tennessee Code 7-60-103
• hospital authority: means a public body and a body corporate and public organized in accordance with this chapter for the purposes, with the powers, and subject to the restrictions set forth in this chapter. See Tennessee Code 7-57-103
• hospital project: means and includes any one (1) or more hospitals and related facilities, including, but not limited to, land and interests in land, facilities and equipment for the treatment of all classes of patients, laboratories, clinics, treatment centers, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, extended care facilities, dormitories, training facilities for medical students, doctors, nurses and all other medical or paramedical personnel, administration and office buildings, garages, parking lots and such other structures, facilities and improvements necessary or convenient to the development and maintenance of hospitals, and for the provision of health care. See Tennessee Code 7-57-103
• Household: means an apartment, a house, a mobile home, or any other structure or part of a structure intended for residential occupancy as separate living quarters. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Housing for lower and moderate income persons and families: means modest housing that is decent, safe, sanitary and adequate for the needs of the size of the family within sales price limits that do not exceed the sales price limits established and published by the Tennessee housing development agency for each county or metropolitan government having a population of two hundred thousand (200,000) or more by the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census. See Tennessee Code 7-60-103
• Incumbent cable service provider: means any cable service provider who provided cable service in a municipality or in an unincorporated area of a county on July 1, 2008, under a franchise whether or not the franchise had expired on July 1, 2008. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Large telecommunications provider: means a cable or video service provider using telecommunications facilities to provide cable or video service that, as of January 1, 2008, directly or through any subsidiary or affiliate, had more than one million (1,000,000) telecommunications access lines in this state. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lending institution: means any bank, trust company, savings bank, national banking association, federal national mortgage association approved mortgage banker, savings and loan association, building and loan association, credit union, mortgage banker or other financial institution or governmental agency that customarily provides service or otherwise aids in the financing of mortgages on residential housing in the state or any holding company for any of the lending institutions and that is located in the state. See Tennessee Code 7-60-103
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: includes the whole or part of any agency, permit, certificate, approval, registration, charter or similar form of permission required by law. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Licensing: includes the agency process respecting the grant, denial, renewal, revocation, suspension, withdrawal or amendment of a license. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Licensing authority: means any state regulatory board, commission, council, or committee in the executive branch of state government established by statute or rule that issues any license, certificate, registration, certification, permit, or other similar document for the purpose of entry into, or regulation of, any occupational or professional group. See Tennessee Code 4-5-501
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Livestock: means all equine as well as animals that are being raised primarily for use as food or fiber for human utilization or consumption including, but not limited to, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and poultry. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Metropolitan government: means the political entity created by consolidation of all, or substantially all, of the political and corporate functions of a county and a city or cities. See Tennessee Code 7-1-101
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• notes: means the bonds and notes respectively authorized to be issued by counties under this chapter. See Tennessee Code 7-60-103
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Officer: means the mayor, aldermen, city attorney and city judge. See Tennessee Code 6-1-101
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Order: means an agency action of particular applicability that determines the legal rights, duties, privileges, immunities or other legal interests of a specific person or persons. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Ordinance: means any ordinance adopted by governing bodies pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 7-57-103
• Other governing body: means only that body having the taxing authority. See Tennessee Code 5-16-101
• Other governing body: means only that body having the taxing authority. See Tennessee Code 5-19-102
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Participating municipality: means any city, town or county, which city, town or county, pursuant to a resolution of its governing body and an agreement with the creating municipality, shall have sold, leased, dedicated, donated or otherwise conveyed its hospitals to the authority for operation by the authority in order to make such hospital an operational part of its health care system. See Tennessee Code 7-57-103
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Party: means each person or agency named or admitted as a party, or properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, or public or private organization of any character, including another agency. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Persons and families of low and moderate income: means persons and families, regardless of race, creed, national origin, age or sex, deemed to require such assistance as is made available by this chapter with the income limits established for each county by the governing body of such county, except that the income limits cannot exceed the income limits set by the Tennessee housing development agency for its programs. See Tennessee Code 7-60-103
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Policy: means any statement, document, or guideline prepared or issued by any agency pursuant to its delegated authority that merely defines or explains the meaning of a statute or a rule. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public right-of-way: means the area on, along, below, or above a public roadway, highway, street, sidewalk, alley, bridge or waterway that is not private property. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Publication: means a posting of materials on the appropriate website by the secretary of state that have been submitted in accordance with this chapter or any other information for which the secretary of state is responsible. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Purposes of this chapter: means ameliorating the deterioration of counties by preserving and expanding employment opportunities in the construction and related industries and the tax base of counties by undertaking or assisting in the financing of home mortgages for persons and families of lower and moderate income. See Tennessee Code 7-60-103
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Resolution: means any resolution adopted by governing bodies pursuant to this chapter. See Tennessee Code 7-57-103
• Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Rule: includes the establishment of a fee and the amendment or repeal of a prior rule. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• Savings and loan association: includes a building and loan association, a federal or state savings and loan association, a federal savings bank, and any other financial institution, the accounts of which are insured by the [former] federal savings and loan insurance corporation (FSLIC) or any successor [repealed] of such corporation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• sex: means a person's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth and evidence of a person's biological sex. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Small business: means a business entity, including its affiliates, that employs fifty (50) or fewer full-time employees. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 7-57-103
• State: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 7-60-103
• 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
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Urban services district: means a service district within a metropolitan government in which are furnished by the metropolitan government municipal services additional to those provided in the general services district. See Tennessee Code 7-1-101
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• Video programming: means programming provided by, or generally considered comparable to programming provided by, a television broadcast station or cable system. See Tennessee Code 7-59-201
• Video programming: means programming provided by, or generally considered comparable to programming provided by a television broadcast station, as set forth in 47 U. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• Video service provider: means a provider of video service. See Tennessee Code 7-59-303
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105