Tennessee § 16-2-519 - Creation of assistant district attorney positions.

§ 16-2-519. Creation of assistant district attorney positions.

It is the declared policy of the general assembly to create assistant district attorney general (ADA) positions based upon the number of the ADA positions to population ratios being the primary consideration with secondary consideration being caseload when uniformly reported caseload statistics become available. The Tennessee district attorneys general conference is directed to make recommendations on this basis with the immediate objective being to achieve the following ratio: Urban and rural districts—One (1) ADA per twenty thousand (20,000) population, according to the 1990 federal census or any subsequent federal census. As used in this section, “urban districts” means the second, sixth, eleventh, twentieth and thirtieth judicial districts and “rural districts” means all other judicial districts. For the sole purpose of computing the one (1) assistant district attorney per twenty thousand (20,000) population, the district attorney general in any one (1) county judicial district having a population of less than fifty thousand (50,000) shall be counted as one-half (½) of an assistant district attorney. Until the various judicial districts have attained approximate equality in ADA to population ratios, other factors are assigned a lower priority than ADA to population ratios. When the ratio set out in this section has been achieved, other factors, including uniform caseload statistics, local funding and geographic conditions that create logistical problems in covering the judicial district, shall be considered in support of additional position requests. Acts 1994, ch. 937, § 1; 2019, ch. 420, § 8. Compiler's Notes. Acts 1994, ch. 937, § 32 provided that the provisions of that act, which enacted this section and amended § 16-2-506 , shall take effect only to the extent funding is provided specifically for its implementation in the General Appropriations Act. To the extent such funding is insufficient to fully implement the provisions of the act, the district attorneys general conference and the commissioner of finance and administration shall determine which provisions of the act shall be implemented. Section 32 further directed the code commission to codify only those provisions of the act deemed to be funded by the district attorneys general conference as provided above. For table of U.S.decennial populations of Tennessee counties, see Volume 13 and its supplement. Amendments. The 2019 amendment substituted “is” for “and the Tennessee judicial council are” in the second sentence of (a). Effective Dates. Acts 2019, ch. 420, § 27. May 21, 2019.