TCA § 45-1-117 — Banking interests of employees of department — Criminal history records check

No officer or employee of the department, except as provided in this title, shall receive, directly or indirectly, any payment or gratuity from any institutions regulated by the department, or be indebted to any state institutions regulated by the department, or engage in the negotiation of loans for others with the institutions regulated by the department. This provision shall not prohibit any employee from being a depositor or a lessor of safe deposit boxes on the same terms as are available to the public generally nor being indebted to any institution regulated by the department: Upon a mortgage loan upon the residence of the mortgagor; Upon any evidence of indebtedness transferred to any institution regulated by the department in the regular course of business by a seller of consumer goods or services purchased by the employee; or Pursuant to any revolving credit arrangement offered to the employee upon the same terms as are available to the public generally. A violation of subdivision (a)(1) is a criminal offense. The commissioner, or any other employee of the department, shall not hold office or position in, have any indirect pecuniary interest in, or directly or indirectly own shares or securities issued by an institution supervised by the department, except that the commissioner may continue to own shares or securities issued by an institution that are owned on the date of the commissioner's appointment and all shares or security distributed by the institution and received by the commissioner on account of the shares or securities so owned. A violation of subdivision (b)(1) is a criminal offense. In the event of ownership of shares or securities by the commissioner, the commissioner shall disclose the ownership, amount and date of acquisition of the shares or securities in writing to the state treasurer immediately after the commissioner's appointment and shall not during the commissioner's term of office participate in any decision or take any action concerning an institution in which the commissioner owns the shares or securities other than actions or decisions generally applicable to institutions or classes of institutions. The prohibitions of this section do not apply to employees of the department who hold clerical or support staff positions as determined by the commissioner. Notwithstanding subsections (a)-(d), the commissioner has the authority by rule or by policy to determine what situations are material to the maintenance of regulatory independence and shall establish appropriate exceptions for those situations subject to this section where, by actions beyond the employee's control, there is no intent by the employee to circumvent this section. In so doing, the commissioner shall establish the circumstances under which covered department employees must be recused from official duties and has the authority to define the terms of this section. In establishing these standards, the commissioner shall consider the ethical standards established by other state or federal regulators. Nothing in this subsection (e) shall apply to the requirements otherwise imposed on the commissioner. As a condition of employment with the department, the commissioner is authorized to require an applicant to provide the department or a duly authorized state contractor with a fingerprint sample in a form acceptable to the commissioner, as well as consent to a criminal history records check. Any criminal history records check conducted under this subdivision (f)(1) shall be conducted by the Tennessee bureau of investigation or the federal bureau of investigation, or both, and the results of the check shall be forwarded to the commissioner. The department shall pay the reasonable costs incurred in conducting the criminal history records check. The commissioner shall by rule or by policy determine what classes of applicants shall submit to a fingerprint criminal history records check and what officers or employees of the department shall have access to the results of the criminal history records check. Subdivision (f)(1) shall not apply to applicants for clerical or support staff positions as determined by the commissioner. The department shall maintain the confidentiality of all criminal history records information received pursuant to this subsection (f).