According to the 2000 Census, Tennessee is the 14th fastest growing state in the union. Tennessee also has the 4th fastest rate of land development based on data from the 1997 National Resources Inventory. Recognizing these trends and conflicts at the local level, Tennessee's General Assembly created a framework for development of local growth policy in 1998 by enacting Public Chapter 1101, the Growth Policy Act, which has come to be known simply as "PC 1101."
PC 1101 required local officials within each of the ninety-two non-metropolitan counties to work together to shape growth policy through the development of 20-year growth plans. The Act did not impose a single, statewide solution. It did, however, include five statements of legislative intent:
The General Assembly assigned responsibility for monitoring the implementation of PC 1101 to the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR).