TENNESSEE

• An administrative action is the taking of any recommendation, report or non- ministerial action, the making of any decision or taking any action to postpone any action or decision, action of the Governor in approving or vetoing any bill or resolution, the promulgation of a rule and regulation, or any action of a quasi-legislative nature, by an official in the executive branch. [...] In general, for fiscally sponsored projects that do not have their own legal entity and the fiscal sponsor engages all of the project’s independent contractors or employees, the lobbyist registration trigger must be analyzed together with all of the projects housed at the fiscal sponsor who are doing lobbying activities in the state. [...] Timing of registration In an advisory opinion, the Ethics Commission clarified that a registration obligation is triggered on the date the lobbyist and their employer enter into an agreement or arrangement to provide lobbying services, and not the date that lobbying activity actually occurs. [...] Note that the grantmaking does not trigger the registration of your organization, but if you are already registered, any portion of a grant that is specifically made for the purpose of influencing legislative or administrative action needs to be reported as an expense. [...] Testimony is not considered lobbying if the individual is testifying in an official Committee Testimony hearing of the committee, or if the testimony is limited to providing information or analysis requested by the committee or one of its members.