Tennessee § 62-26-207 - Private investigator license — Applicants — Requirements — Apprentice status.

§ 62-26-207. Private investigator license — Applicants — Requirements — Apprentice status.

Each applicant for a private investigator license must: Be at least twenty-one (21) years of age; Be a citizen of the United States or a resident alien; Not have been declared by any court of competent jurisdiction incompetent by reason of mental defect or disease unless a court of competent jurisdiction has since declared the applicant competent; Not be suffering from habitual drunkenness or narcotics addiction or dependence; Be of good moral character; and Pass an examination to be administered at least twice annually by the commission, designed to measure knowledge and competence in the investigations field. The commission shall grant apprentice status, by correspondence, to an applicant for an individual investigator's license; provided, that the applicant is employed by an investigative company. The apprentice is enjoined from working without the direct supervision of a licensed investigator until such time as the apprentice's license application is fully processed. An apprenticeship may not commence until the sponsoring company has submitted a notice of intent to sponsor. The notice shall be by written endorsement to the application of the apprentice. An apprentice status shall be limited to six (6) months, and a person shall be able to apply for an apprentice status only once. Apprenticeship is intended to serve as a learning process. Sponsors shall assume a training status by providing direction and control of the apprentice. No sponsor may sponsor more than six (6) apprentices at one time. The sponsor shall certify completion of training or the termination of the apprentice within fifteen (15) days of such action. The report shall be in a form that may be required by the commission, but shall include as a minimum the following: The inclusive dates of the apprenticeship; A narrative explaining the primary duties, types of experiences gained and the scope of the training received; and An evaluation of the performance of the apprentice and a recommendation regarding future licensing. Acts 1990, ch. 780, § 8; 1991, ch. 457, §§ 6, 7; 1993, ch. 511, §§ 7, 25. Attorney General Opinions. The Eligibility Verification for Entitlements Act (EVEA) can be read in harmony with laws requiring licensure applicants to be U.S. citizens or U.S. citizens or resident aliens and therefore did not impliedly repeal those laws. State laws requiring licensure applicants to be U.S. citizens are preempted to the extent they conflict with a federal law that limits States’ authority to determine alien eligibility for state public benefits, including professional and commercial licenses. State laws requiring licensure applicants to be U.S. citizens also violate the Equal Protection Clause because they discriminate based on alienage and would not satisfy strict scrutiny. State laws requiring licensure applicants to be U.S. citizens or resident aliens are preempted to the extent they conflict with a federal law that limits States’ authority to determine alien eligibility for state public benefits, including professional and commercial licenses. Laws requiring licensure applicants to be U.S. citizens or resident aliens do not violate the Equal Protection Clause, however, because they discriminate only against unlawful aliens and lawful aliens who are not permanent residents. Those categories of aliens are not a suspect class, and the laws at issue would likely satisfy rational basis review. The Department of Commerce and Insurance is not required to enforce the requirements that an applicant for licensure, registration, or certification be a “citizen of the United States” or a “citizen of the United States or resident alien.” OAG 18-42, 2018 Tenn. AG LEXIS 42 (9/13/2018).