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The secretary of state may establish, by duly promulgated rules and regulations, the procedures and criteria for requiring and obtaining criminal background checks for officers, directors, trustees, and the principal salaried executive staff officer who will operate the annual event for a nonprofit organization. No background check shall be conducted on any such person unless the secretary finds good cause, based upon objective criteria, that the information contained in the annual event application, or supporting documentation, is ambiguous, false or insufficient; provided, that a background check may be required for good cause if based upon reliable information from a law enforcement agency. The secretary of state may utilize the Tennessee bureau of investigation or the federal bureau of investigation to conduct criminal background checks.
Procedures and payments of costs associated with criminal background checks shall be governed by §§ 38-6-103 and 38-6-109. The nonprofit organization that has filed an annual event application shall be responsible for payment of all criminal background checks required by this section. The secretary of state shall not pay for any criminal background check required by this section.
Criminal background checks may include fingerprint checks against state and federal criminal records maintained by the Tennessee bureau of investigation and the federal bureau of investigation.
The secretary of state shall be immune from suit for declining to approve the conducting of an annual event based upon criminal background information received pursuant to this section.
In the event that the secretary establishes procedures and criteria for requiring and obtaining criminal background checks, such checks shall not be performed upon officers, directors or trustees who receive no compensation for their duties associated with the nonprofit organization.
In the event that the secretary establishes procedures and criteria for requiring and obtaining criminal background checks, such provisions shall only apply to annual event applications for the operation of annual events to be conducted on and after July 1, 2005.