Substituted for: House Bill No. 1614

AN ACT To amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 8-7-201, relative to pay plan for Criminal Investigators for District Attorneys General.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 8, Chapter 7, is amended by deleting Section 8-7-201, subdivision (a), in its entirety and substituting instead the following:

(a)(1) All criminal investigators hired prior to July 1, 1994, shall be compensated according to the following schedule:

Entry level 34,128

after five (5) years 35,832

after ten (10) years 37,536

after fourteen (14) years 37,824

after sixteen (16) years 39,924

after eighteen (18) years 42,024

after twenty (20) years 44,124

(2) Investigators compensated in the salary schedule in subdivision (a)(1) shall be classified as simply criminal investigators until reaching the five (5) year level, senior criminal investigators after reaching the five (5) year level, and chief criminal investigators after reaching the ten (10) year level.

(3) On July 1, 1997, and each subsequent July 1, the salary levels for criminal investigators in subdivision (a)(1) shall be increased by such percentage amount as shall be fixed by the General Assembly in the General Appropriations Act. For the purpose of budget preparation, it shall be presumed that such percentage amount shall be the same as that received by other state employees.

(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivisions (a)(1) and (2), if a district attorney general having a vacant criminal investigator position appoints a licensed attorney to that position and designates that person to serve as an assistant district attorney general, the appointee may, on the recommendation of the hiring district attorney general and with the approval of the executive committee of the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference, be compensated as an assistant district attorney general as provided for in subdivisions (d) and (e).

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on July 1, 1997, the public welfare requiring it.