Frequently Asked Questions for this Division

Once receiving a private act from the General Assembly, our office will mail a certified copy to the local governing body the act applies to. This will also include instructions on how to notify the Secretary of State of the outcome once voted on by the local government.

Private Acts can also be found on our Acts and Resolutions homepage.

After bills are passed by the General Assembly, they are signed by both Speakers and the Governor. Our office is tasked with chaptering and posting these online.

Once a bill is received by our office, it may take a day or so to get it posted online. Acts and resolutions from the most recent General Assembly, as well as previous sessions, can be found here.

You can view the status of a bill by visiting the General Assembly’s website here.

We think it’s great you are interested in serving on one of Tennessee’s many boards and commissions!

To inquire about serving on a specific board, please reach out to the appointing authority of that board.

If you are unsure of the appointing authority, you can search our Boards and Commissions page here. Some boards have multiple appointing authorities, by clicking on a specific member’s name, you can see who is responsible for appointing a person to that particular position.

While the Secretary of State’s office posts Executive Orders, we are unable to answer questions pertaining to their content.

For questions concerning information in an Executive Order, please contact the Governor’s office.

Oaths taken by the governor, a judge of the supreme court, a judge of the circuit court, a chancellor, the secretary of state, the comptroller of the treasury, the state treasurer, a district attorney general, or any other officer whose duties are not limited to one county are filed in the office of the Secretary of State. (T.C.A. § 8-18-108)

Oaths of office taken by judges of courts of general sessions, sheriffs, constables, and other officers whose general duties are confined to a single county, as well as retired supreme court justices and retired inferior court or general sessions judges are filed with the county clerk. (T.C.A. § 8-18-109).
Contact information for county clerks can be found on the Administrative Office of the Courts website at www.tncourts.gov

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to filing notices and rules and we are here to help answer your questions! Our Rulemaking Guidelines packet can be a helpful resource to obtain general information about the filing process.

If you have any additional questions, you can email the Publications Division at [email protected].

While the Secretary of State’s office is responsible for receiving and posting agency rules and regulations, we are not qualified to answer questions pertaining to rule content.

You can visit the Effective Rules table here. General contact information can be found at the bottom of each Authority’s rules page.

Notices of Rulemaking Hearing must be filed at least 52 days prior to the hearing.

The T.C.A. requires a notice to be posted 45 days prior to a hearing. In addition to the 45 days, our office is allotted 7 days to process your agency’s notice prior to posting it online.

Feel free to reference our Rulemaking Guidelines. You can also email the Publications Division at [email protected].

Lesson plans are available here and are broken down by grade level.

For additional resources, you can visit the Tennessee State Library & Archives Education Outreach page.

Tennessee Blue Books are subject to availability to out-of-state residents and may not be readily available upon initial release.

Please note if you live out-of-state and fill out a request form online, your request may be delayed to ensure availability to Tennessee citizens. Since the Tennessee Blue Book is released in the spring, we recommend waiting until the end of the year to inquire about availability.

If you are interested in a Tennessee Blue Book, go to https://sos.tn.gov/bluebook-request.

The Tennessee Blue Book is published every two years. The 2021–2022 Tennessee Blue Book will be released in Spring 2022.

The Tennessee Blue Book is a great resource for teachers and students alike.

Digital versions of the Tennessee Blue Book can be found here.

There is also a Student Edition site targeted towards Tennessee history www.tnsoshistory.com/
 

A History of Tennessee – Student Edition can be found at www.tnsoshistory.com.

No, Tennessee Blue Books are free to Tennessee residents