The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced Tuesday it would call for an Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation into an employee who directed personnel to bypass houses with Trump campaign signs during the federal response to Hurricane Milton. According to The Hill, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell testified before Congress that the employee was fired for issuing the order, which she called “completely at odds with FEMA’s mission.” The fired employee told media on Monday that she has been framed and denied violating the Hatch Act, which restricts political activity by government employees. Earlier this month, Gov. Bill Lee announced plans to investigate whether Tennesseans were discriminated against during FEMA's relief efforts following damage in the state from Hurricane Helene.

The TBA will host its annual Construction Law Forum on Jan. 24, 2025, in Nashville with the theme "Let's Get Technical." The 2025 event will feature discussions on a range of construction law topics with attorneys Theresa Critchfield with TLC Law Office; Stephanie Durman and Ellery Richardson with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation; Thomas Hall with Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison; and Regan Steepleton with Evans Petree. More details about program topics will be announced soon. To register now visit the TBA’s website.

The Shelby County District Attorney General (DA) will appeal two recent decisions by a lower court judge to release multiple shooting suspects without bond. The DA’s office is challenging decisions by Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Bill Anderson, who allowed suspects involved in multiple shootings to be released on their own recognizance. Among them is a man who engaged in a nearly 12-hour standoff with police earlier this month, as well as three suspects charged in the shooting of a FedEx employee last month. According to the Daily Memphian, the appeal follows a series of headlines in recent months over bail decisions by Anderson, particularly in cases involving violent crimes.

The American Bar Association (ABA) has approved 56 law schools — more than a quarter of all ABA-accredited campuses — to use JD-Next, an alternative law school admissions program. Developed in 2019 by the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, the program recently was acquired by Aspen Publishing, Reuters reports. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. JD-Next participants take an eight-week online course that concludes with an exam. Earlier this month, the ABA created a new pathway for law schools to admit students without relying on traditional standardized tests, offering more flexibility in admissions. While JD-Next is currently offered four times a year and remains a small part of the law school admissions landscape, Aspen says it plans to expand the program's reach with more participants and law schools.

Former Tennessee State Sen. Katrina Robinson, who represented parts of Memphis, has been resentenced for misrepresentations made to the Health Resources and Services Administration, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee. Robinson was resentenced to time served and fined $48,600. Her original sentencing in 2022 was for time served and one year of supervised release. Robinson was founder and director of The Healthcare Institute, a for-profit organization that provided educational and training programs for jobs in the health care field. The institute received $2.2 million in federal grants between 2015 and 2019. In 2021, a jury found Robinson guilty of two counts of wire fraud in connection with transfers she made from the institute's operating account for personal expenditures.

The TBA Young Lawyers Division will hold an Essential Documents for Essential Workers (EDEW) clinic on Jan. 10 for Sumner County police officers from 9 a.m. to noon CST at the Sumner County Sheriff's Office, located at 117 W. Smith St., Gallatin 37066. Contact Grace Burnett to volunteer or for more information.

The link for the second installment of TBA's Indigent Representation Primer published on Friday did not work for some TBA Today readers. The post, which highlights background and data about Tennessee's Indigent Representation Program, including how courts determine and assign counsel for indigent defendants and vulnerable individuals, can be accessed here. The post also looks at a recent performance audit report of the Tennessee court system conducted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury, including an evaluation of the "effectiveness and efficiency" of the current system of indigent representation as well as other court programs. See past primer posts here.

The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) has filed comments with the Tennessee Supreme Court in response to an order soliciting comments on proposed changes to the Appellate, Civil, Criminal and Juvenile Rules of Procedure as well as the Tennessee Rules of Evidence. The TBA’s comment is limited to proposed changes in three rules: Rule 24 of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 47.02 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 26 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. Read the full comment.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti recently has taken action on a number of issues, including leading a group of 31 state attorneys general in urging congressional members to pass the “Kids Online Safety Act.” The bill is designed to protect children from online harm by giving parents easy access to safety settings, the ability to disable algorithms and improved processes for reporting dangerous content. Skrmetti also recently joined with 46 other state attorneys general to call on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to strengthen consumer protections against robocalls and texts. The group outlined a list of actions it would like to see made in the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database. Finally, the Office of the Attorney General issued a reminder of the VSAFE.gov website, which highlights fraud schemes targeted at veterans as well as tools for protecting against and reporting scams.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue has refunded $938 million to almost 47,000 businesses based on a change to the franchise tax law passed during the 113th General Assembly. The Nashville Post reports that the 2024 fiscal year budget had provided $1.6 billion for about 120,000 taxpayers to receive refunds due to the legislature's change to its tax on businesses, a modification that removed the provision for the tax based on the amount of property a business owned. Almost 59% of the money in the budget for the refunds has been given to approximately 39% of businesses that are eligible. The department is accepting refund claims until Dec. 2 for most taxpayers, but those in eight counties impacted by Hurricane Helene have until May 1, 2025.