Celebrate Your County's Success at This Year's TCSA Fall Conference!

At this year's TCSA Fall Conference & Trade Show, we plan to recognize counties that have demonstrated excellence in governance, innovation in problem-solving, and best practices for delivering services.

To be considered for a County Success Story award, the project or achievement should demonstrate at least one of the following:

• an innovative solution to a county's problem
• a sustained pattern of excellence in government
• a best practice that increased efficiency in the delivery of county services or resulted in significant savings to taxpayers 
• a new approach or the use of new technology to deliver services or
• Improved cooperation or coordination between county offices or local governments, which resulted in enhanced delivery of services.

Nominations for county success stories, which will be awarded at TCSA's 2024 Fall Conference & Trade Show, will be accepted until October 16, 2024. We look forward to sharing about your county's successes! 

TCSA Fall Conference Registration 

Mark your calendars for October 23 - 25, 2024, and join us at Embassy Suites in Rutherford County (Murfreesboro), Tennessee, for an exceptional event filled with opportunities to network, learn, and innovate at the county government level.

Registration Details:

• Conference Registration: Ensure your spot by registering on the TCSA website. 
• You can also print a paper registration form and mail it to the TCSA office at 226 Anne Dallas Dudley Blvd, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219.  
  • Conference registration costs
    • TCSA County Officials: $375
    • Other conference registrants: $400
    • Spouses/Guests: $100
• On-site registration is available, but space is limited. We encourage early registration to guarantee your participation and proper name badge availability.

TCCA Ralph Puckett Award Nominations Are Now Available

At the 2024 Fall Conference and Trade Show, TCCA will announce its newest recipient of the Ralph Pucket Outstanding County Commissioner of the Year award. If you are aware of a commissioner in your (or another) county, please submit a short narrative of:
- The commissioner's name and county served

- Why does this commissioner deserve the award? (Specific program/project, excellent service to the community, cross-collaboration with another county department/agency)

 
Please be as specific as you'd like, and we look forward to hearing from you! You can submit your commissioner nomination to TCCA Director Charlie Curtiss, who will forward it to the awards committee.

Download Your 2024 COOP Items Before Attending Next Week!

The County Officials Orientation Program provides county officials, both newly elected and re-elected, with important information to help prepare you to assume office on September 1. Topics include county offices and authority, oaths and bonds, personnel issues, ethics, conflicts of interest, open meetings, and records.

If you plan to attend next week's program and wish to have physical copies, please download the program materials beforehand. No paper handouts will be available, so be sure to have them with you if needed! These documents are easily viewable on the COOP webpage of the CTAS website.

NACo: New Federal Measures Aim to Enhance Online Protection for Youth

On July 30, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (S. 2073), aiming to shield children from online dangers. This legislation combines two significant bills: the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) (S. 1409) and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) (S.1418). 

The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act would:

• Implement a "Duty of Care" Requirement: Platforms must prevent and mitigate harms such as bullying, violence, promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and illegal product advertisements.
• Enhance Safety Measures: Requires platforms to offer options for minors to protect their information, disable addictive features, opt-out of personalized algorithmic recommendations, limit interactions and features promoting prolonged use and default to the safest settings for minors.

What's Happening With AI Right Now?

Nearly a year after the first You Might Be Right episode on artificial intelligence, “How Will AI Impact Democracy?” our hosts, former Tennessee Governors Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam, revisit AI technology and how it is evolving. Is America doing what we need to do to be the global leader in the technology of tomorrow?

Three Months of Record Low Unemployment in Tennessee

For a third consecutive month, the statewide unemployment rate remained at an all-time low of 3%, according to new data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD). The state first marked the record low for seasonally adjusted unemployment in May, and it has held steady ever since.

Over the past year, Tennessee’s statewide unemployment rate dropped 0.2 of a percentage point, from 3.2% to 3%.

Employers across the state added...