Laws Taking Effect July 1, 2011

The General Assembly has a listing available on their website of new laws and changes to laws that take effect July 1 of this year. Much of the legislation that passes takes effect at the start of the new fiscal year, particularly if it relates to finance or taxation. Other bills may take effect immediately (i.e. when signed by the Governor) or, in rare cases, at some later date established specifically in the legislation.

Here is a link to those laws taking effect on Friday, July 1, 2011.

New Laws Effective July 1

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Governor Appoints State's First Procurement Officer

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced the appointment of Jessica Robertson as the state's first Chief Procurement Officer today. Robertson most recently served as Deputy Commissioner for the Indiana Department of Administration managing the operations for the state's procurement division. In this position, Robertson set policy for procurement and negotiated multi-million dollar contracts.

Tennessee Public Act 1098 of 2010 created a Tennessee state procurement commission, a procurement office, a chief procurement officer, a state protest committee and an advisory committee on procurement. The Act consolidates all procurement responsibility and allows negotiations and decisions to be handled by the procurement commission, procurement office and chief procurement officer. The procurement office will be managed by the Tennessee Department of General Services.

Robertson will begin as chief procurement officer on July 1. "Transforming the way Tennessee negotiates contracts will be an exciting new chapter for me," Robertson said. "I look forward to making Tennessee my new home while working to make a difference for the state's stakeholders."