Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR)

"Building Tennessee's Tomorrow," our annual report on Tennessee's public infrastructure needs, is now available. Tennessee needs at least $82.7 billion worth of public infrastructure improvements during the five-year period of July 2024 to June 2029—a $5 billion (6.5%) increase from the year before. This year’s inventory shows $20.9 billion in funding that has been identified for the $58.9 billion in needs for which funding information is available.

Transportation and Utilities infrastructure needs increased by $3.7 billion, and at $42.8 billion, these needs make up nearly half of the total inventory. Education needs increased by almost $1 billion from last year's report, and are the second greatest category at nearly $20 billion.

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Improving Tennessee's Continua of Care with Flexible Funding, Better Data, and Greater Collaboration across the State—this commission report is now available on our website.

Continua of Care (CoC) are local or regional bodies of public and private service organizations that work to address homelessness and coordinating services. There are 10 CoCs in Tennessee, each covering one or more counties. Public Chapter 445, Acts of 2025, directed the commission to study the CoCs in Tennessee, how they might be improved, and how they compare to those in other states.

Letting people remain homeless can cost a community more than it does to rehouse them, so preventing homelessness is better than trying to resolve it after the fact. CoCs face an enormous challenge with limited resources, and although Tennessee’s CoCs perform on par with other CoCs around the country, the commission's report includes recommendations for improvement through flexible funding, enhanced data sharing, and greater coordination among the CoCs and state agencies.

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A new commission report, Assessing Juvenile Detention Capacity in Tennessee, has been published to our website.

Public Chapter 418, Acts of 2025, directed the commission to study the availability of pre- and post-adjudication detention capacity in the state and whether there is need for additional housing, detention, and treatment facilities. For pre-adjudication capacity, the commission recommends that the state help fund a new juvenile detention center for West Tennessee, provided that a share of beds in the facility is reserved for temporary placements for juvenile offenders in DCS custody. For post-adjudication capacity, the commission finds that currently funded projects, when completed, will likely meet the state’s capacity needs.

The commission also recommends more oversight for the state's juvenile justice system and increased funding for the Juvenile Justice Reform grant program.

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The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) will meet on February 13, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. in House Hearing Room I of the Cordell Hull State Office Building in Nashville, Tennessee.

The commission's annual report on Tennessee's public infrastructure needs (PINI) will be presented for approval, as will our annual report on TVA payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs). Three additional reports will be presented for approval and two drafts will be presented for review and comment.

You can view all these reports and docket book materials on our website:

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Merry Christmas and happy holiday wishes from the commission and staff at TACIR!

The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) has released a final report analyzing district attorney staffing needs in municipal courts with concurrent jurisdiction. This study was prompted by Senate Bill 2054 and House Bill 2205, in the 113th General Assembly, which would have required cities operating these courts to fund at least one assistant DA position and given the DA sole discretion to determine the need for additional local funding.

State law requires district attorneys to prosecute state criminal violations in courts of concurrent jurisdiction when the city provides "sufficient personnel," but there has been debate as to what this means for city’s obligations. In a recent lawsuit over the interpretation of this law, the trial court and court of appeals held that cities did not have to provide funding for DA staff. The commission's report recommends that the state conduct a weighted caseload study to assess DA staffing needs resulting from courts of concurrent jurisdiction, and suggests that cities with concurrent jurisdiction courts that don’t currently provide funding for DA staff or collect court costs under Public Chapter 369, Acts of 2025, should consider per diem arrangements as an interim solution.

The full report is available on our website at

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Congratulations to Madison Thorn, who recently completed the LEAD Tennessee program—a statewide, yearlong leadership development initiative for current and emerging leaders in state government.

LEAD Tennessee focuses on leadership excellence, personal growth, and organizational impact, equipping participants with the tools to better serve Tennesseans through collaboration, innovation, and accountability.

We’re proud of Madison for representing TACIR in this distinguished program and for her continued commitment to public service and professional growth.

Please join us in congratulating Madison!

In 2024, the commission directed staff to evaluate the feasibility and need for establishing additional crime labs throughout the state. This report—Reducing Tennessee’s Evidence Backlog by Expanding Forensic Crime Lab Capacity—is now available on our website.

The report finds that, if the state does not confront the constraint of limited lab space, efforts to further improve forensic evidence processing and public safety will be hindered. The commission recommends that the state increase crime lab capacity in each grand division, in line with TBI’s 2024 real estate strategic plan,
specifically by expanding the existing Jackson and Nashville labs, replacing the existing Knoxville lab with a larger lab with capacity for fi****ms testing, and adding a smaller, focused lab in Chattanooga for drug-related evidence and toxicology.

Read the report on our website

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The next TACIR Commission meeting is scheduled for 8:30 A.M. on Thursday, December 18. It will be held in House Hearing Room I of the Cordell Hull Building at 425 Rep. John Lewis Way North in Nashville. The commission will hear from two guest panels: one to discuss insurance coverage for speech therapy services, and the other to discuss long-term funding needs for highway and bridge infrastructure. Staff will also give updates on two ongoing projects, present two draft reports for review and comment, and present one final report for approval.

Materials for the meeting are available through this link https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/tacir/commission-meetings/2025-commission-meetings/december-2025.html and live-streaming will be available through our website.

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Please help us thank and congratulate our office manager, April Scivally, for 20 years of state service! 🎉

The next TACIR Commission meeting is scheduled for September 18, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It will be held in House Hearing Room III of the Cordell Hull Building at 425 Rep. John Lewis Way North in Nashville. Meeting materials and a link to view the meeting live stream are available on our website:

Commission Meetings Commission Meetings TACIR's next meeting is scheduled for June 15, at 1:00 p.m. and June 16, at 8:30 a.m., in House Hearing Room I of the Cordell Hull building in Nashville. Meeting material will be available online prior to the meeting.