(a) A program participant may request that a governmental entity use the address designated by the secretary of state as the program participant’s substitute address. Except as otherwise provided by this part, if the program participant requests that a governmental entity use the substitute address and provides evidence of certification as a program participant, the governmental entity shall accept the substitute address.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 40-38-606

  • Confidential address: means the actual address of a program participant's residence, school, institution of higher education, business, or place of employment, as specified on an application to be a program participant or on a notice of change of address filed under this part. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • 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.
  • Governmental entity: means the state, a political subdivision of the state, or any department, agency, board, commission, or other instrumentality of the state or a political subdivision of the state. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
  • Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • participant: means a person who is certified by the secretary of state as a program participant and who is an applicant, co-applicant, the child of an applicant or co-applicant, or a person with a disability for whom an applicant or co-applicant serves as a fiduciary. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Process: means judicial process and all orders, demands, notices, or other papers required or permitted by law to be served on a program participant. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
  • program: means the program created under this part to protect the confidentiality of the confidential address of a relocated victim of domestic abuse, stalking, human trafficking, rape, sexual battery, or any other sexual offense. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
  • secretary: means the secretary of state of Tennessee and any designee of the secretary. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
  • Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
  • 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
  • Substitute address: means an address designated by the secretary of state under the address confidentiality program that is used instead of a confidential address as set forth by this part. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) If a program participant’s employer, school, or institution of higher education is not a governmental entity, the program participant may request that the employer, school, or institution of higher education use the substitute address designated by the secretary of state as the program participant’s address.
(c) The program participant may also request that private businesses and other non-governmental entities use the substitute address designated by the secretary of state as the program participant’s address.
(d) Program participants shall not be required to provide their confidential address to any public school for purposes of enrollment for themselves or their minor children, but rather shall be permitted to provide the public school with evidence of certification as a program participant and the participant’s substitute address. Where residency must be verified in order to enroll a student in a public school, the individual responsible for verifying eligibility for enrollment shall submit a written request to the secretary of state, on a form prescribed by the secretary of state, whereby the secretary of state shall provide that individual with a statement as to whether the program participant, or the program participant’s minor child, is eligible for enrollment, based on the information known to the secretary of state.
(e) A program participant may be required to provide the program participant’s residence address for purposes of obtaining utility services. Notwithstanding any contrary law, and except as otherwise provided by this part, if a program participant provides a utility service provider with evidence of certification as a program participant, the utility service provider shall treat the program participant’s residence address and identifying information as confidential in accordance with the procedures established at § 10-7-504(a)(15). In such instances, the program participant may also request that the utility service provider use the substitute address.
(f) Except as otherwise provided in this part, it shall be the responsibility of the program participant to provide the program participant’s substitute mailing address to all governmental and private entities to ensure the confidentiality of the program participant’s confidential address.
(g) A participant shall be registered as a voter of the precinct in which the person is a resident.
(h)

(1) The office of the secretary of state shall place all first class mail, legal documents, and certified mail received by the secretary of state on behalf of a program participant into an envelope or package and mail that envelope or package to the program participant at the mailing address the program participant provided to the secretary of state for that purpose within three (3) business days of receipt. The secretary of state may contract with the United States postal service to establish special postal rates for the envelopes or packages used in mailing a program participant’s first class mail, legal documents, and certified mail under this section.
(2)

(A) Upon receiving service of process on behalf of a program participant, the office of the secretary of state shall immediately forward the process by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the program participant at the mailing address the program participant provided to the secretary of state for that purpose. Service of process upon the office of the secretary of state on behalf of a program participant shall constitute service upon the program participant under the Rules of Civil Procedure.
(B) The secretary of state may prescribe by rule the manner in which process may be served on the secretary of state as the agent of a program participant.
(C) Upon request by a person who intends to serve process on an individual, the secretary of state shall confirm whether the individual is a program participant but shall not disclose any other information concerning a program participant.
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