Tennessee Senate Bills

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, enacts the "Crush Transnational Repression in Tennessee Act." - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 38 and Title 39.

State Government - As enacted, makes various changes to certain boards, authorities, and task forces, including, but not limited to, requiring all vacancies on the state capitol commission, the Tennessee local development authority, and the advisory task force on state reimbursement to be filled for the balance of the unexpired term. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 13; Title 16; Title 38; Title 43; Title 49; Title 50; Title 54; Title 58; Title 63; Title 64; Title 65; Title 68; Title 69; Title 70 and Title 71.

Education, Higher - As enacted, requires the board of regents, state university boards, and the board of trustees for the University of Tennessee system to adopt and implement policies that clearly distinguish between tenure decisions and disciplinary actions for faculty members. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 7; Title 49, Chapter 8 and Title 49, Chapter 9.

Election Laws - As enacted, authorizes the electronic portal to be created by the coordinator of elections prior to January 1, 2028, to access data from the systematic alien verification for entitlements (SAVE) program if the United States department of homeland security, United States citizenship and immigration services makes such data available via a secure web service. - Amends TCA Title 2.

Employees, Employers - As enacted, generally requires, beginning July 1, 2026, all state and local governmental employers to verify the work authorization status of each prospective employee through the federal E-Verify program prior to employment; authorizes the attorney general to enforce compliance with the requirement against local governments and subjects a noncompliant local government to the withholding of all funds of this state allocated to the local government via grant, contract, or statute, including, but not limited to, state-shared taxes. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 12 and Title 50.

Immigration - As enacted, creates the Class A misdemeanor of intentionally failing or refusing to depart when a final order of removal is outstanding; creates the Class A misdemeanor of intentionally entering, attempting to enter, or being found in this state after being denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed from the United States. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 41.

Game and Fish Laws - As enacted, repeals statutory requirements related to raccoon hunting, thereby permitting the Tennessee fish and wildlife commission to regulate such activities through proclamations and rules. - Amends TCA Title 70, Chapter 4.

DNA and Genetic Testing - As enacted, directs the department of health to test for the presence of sickle cell trait in each newborn and, if the test results are positive for sickle cell trait, to notify the parent or legal guardian of the newborn tested as soon as practicable. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 5.

Tort Liability and Reform - As enacted, enacts the "Tennessee Child Care Hosting Safe Harbor Act." - Amends TCA Title 29 and Title 71, Chapter 3.

Local Government, General - As enacted, makes changes to the process by which local governments may issue and sell grant anticipation notes; authorizes the comptroller to approve certain notes issued by a local government if the local government demonstrates that a natural disaster has caused economic distress. - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 13, Part 2 and Title 9, Chapter 21, Part 7.

Judicial Districts - As enacted, extends the date by which the advisory task force to review composition of judicial districts has to complete its findings and publish a proposed statewide judicial redistricting plan; extends the date by which the general assembly must reapportion the judicial districts in accordance with such plan. - Amends TCA Title 16, Chapter 2.

Sentencing - As enacted, adds aggravating circumstances for a jury to consider when determining the sentence of a defendant convicted of certain offenses. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Auditing - As enacted, clarifies that, as of November 1, 2026, a non-governmental entity receiving in-kind funding from the state or a political subdivision of the state pursuant to the federal Public Health Service Act is eligible to qualify as a 340B entity, only if the entity is also a recipient of one or more state or federal grant awards that are subject to audit, reporting, and oversight requirements under state and federal law; authorizes the comptroller of the treasury and any state agency or political subdivision providing in-kind funding to verify eligibility and enforce compliance. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 4; Title 9; Title 47, Chapter 18; Title 56 and Title 63.

Garnishments and Executions - As enacted, clarifies that the sheriff or other person authorized by law to serve garnishments is authorized to demand that the fee for performing service of a garnishment be paid in advance of such performance. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 21, Part 9.

Naming and Designating - As enacted, renames the Army National Guard Armory, located on U.S. Highway 321 in Maryville, the "CSM William O. Gregory National Guard Armory." - Amends TCA Title 58, Chapter 1.

Election Laws - As enacted, makes various changes to election laws, including, but not limited to, requiring certain reimbursements to county election commissions for primary elections to be processed in the same manner as expenses for the presidential preference primary, and eliminating authorization for certain state entities and officers to accept or expend grants, gifts, or funding from private persons, corporations, organizations, or political parties for conducting an election. - Amends TCA Title 2.

State Symbols - As enacted, designates Lake County as the "Eagle Capital of Tennessee." - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 3.

Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services, Dept. of - As enacted, clarifies that if marijuana is rescheduled or deleted as a controlled substance under federal law, the commissioner is prohibited from rescheduling or deleting marijuana under state law, unless the general assembly has established a regulatory framework for marijuana and authorized the commissioner to reschedule or delete marijuana as a controlled substance. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 9; Title 24; Title 29; Title 33; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41; Title 43; Title 45; Title 50; Title 53; Title 57; Title 63; Title 67; Title 68 and Title 71.

Vital Records - As enacted, enacts "April's Law of 2026," which authorizes a surviving parent, in addition to another next of kin, to formally disagree with the county medical examiner's determination that the manner of death for the parent's child was suicide and request reconsideration from the state chief medical examiner; allows the other parent of a child of the decedent to request a copy of the decedent's death certificate if the child is under 18. - Amends TCA Title 38 and Title 68.

Driver Licenses - As enacted, requires the department of correction to coordinate with the department of safety to provide a driver license to certain inmates who are discharged from imprisonment and who intend to reside in this state; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Section 41-51-301 and Title 55, Chapter 50, Part 3.

Child Labor - As enacted, adds regulations for content creation that involves certain minors. - Amends TCA Title 29; Title 39; Title 47 and Title 50.

Public Records - As enacted, requires each state governmental entity and official to maintain certain information relative to the operational enforcement of federal and state immigration laws as confidential, and provides that such information is not subject to public inspection. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 10; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41 and Chapter 253 of the Public Acts of 2021.

Law Enforcement - As enacted, requires a prosecuting agency that maintains a Brady list to adopt a policy that meets certain requirements. - Amends TCA Title 38, Chapter 8.

Taxes, Privilege - As enacted, clarifies that all privilege taxes on litigation that clerks of certain courts fail to collect and pay to the department of revenue are debts of the clerks; adds certain reporting requirements. - Amends TCA Title 40 and Title 67.

Memorials, Recognition - D.T. McCall & Sons -

Statutes of Limitations and Repose - As enacted, specifies that a party filing a counterclaim, third-party complaint, or cross-claim related to the design, planning, supervision, or construction of an improvement of real property is not subject to the four-year statute of repose. - Amends TCA Title 28.

Election Laws - As introduced, specifies that the reasonable period for candidates to remove signs, posters, or placards advocating their candidacy is two weeks after the election instead of three weeks. - Amends TCA Title 2.

Child Custody and Support - As enacted, requires a court to consider the extent to which a parenting schedule provides each parent a meaningful opportunity to participate in the child's life, consistent with the child's best interest, in addition to the other relevant factors, when making a child custody determination. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 37.

Children - As enacted, requires certain procedures, currently found in the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, to be applied by courts in child custody proceedings involving an Indian child. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 37.

Charitable Solicitations - As enacted, establishes a process to notify a charitable organization that it has been designated as a beneficiary in an instrument that provides for payment or transfer at death without probate; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 35 and Title 48.

Food and Food Products - As enacted, increases from 150 gallons to 835 gallons the annual threshold amount of honey at or above which a honey producer is subject to food manufacturing and inspection requirements. - Amends TCA Title 44, Chapter 15 and Title 53.

Energy - As enacted, creates the "Tennessee Energy Freedom Act." - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 60 and Title 68.

Child Custody and Support - As enacted, requires a court to include written findings of fact as to whether certain limitations in parenting plans apply in a child custody order, whether temporary or permanent. - Amends TCA Title 29; Title 36 and Title 37.

Sewage - As enacted, increases, from a Class C to Class B misdemeanor, the classification of offenses involving unlawful disposal of sewage if the person commits the offense while engaged in the business of removing accumulated wastes from subsurface sewage disposal systems; requires the revocation of a person's waste removal permit for a violation. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 68, Chapter 221.

Education - As enacted, authorizes an LEA or public charter school to continue a disciplinary investigation of a student who, during the investigation, withdraws from the LEA or public charter school; authorizes, if the student later reenrolls, the LEA or public charter school to discipline the student in accordance with the LEA's or public charter school's policy based on the results of the investigation. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Education, Higher - As enacted, prohibits, until July 1, 2033, public disclosure of certain commercial contracts entered into in furtherance of an intercollegiate athletics program; extends the prohibition on public disclosure of certain records containing information relating to game or player integrity beyond July 1, 2026; clarifies that protecting certain intercollegiate athletics program records from disclosure does not create any private right of action or basis for any injunctive or equitable relief, except for certain claims made by a business. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 7, Part 1.

Public Employees - As enacted, replaces certain members of the state insurance committee, the local education insurance committee, and the local government insurance committee. - Amends TCA Section 8-27-201; Section 8-27-301 and Section 8-27-701.

Damages - As enacted, establishes a cause of action for persons to seek damages from persons who compensate others to participate in demonstrations when the paid demonstrators' conduct satisfies the elements of the criminal offense of rioting, or other similar offenses. - Amends TCA Title 29; Title 38 and Title 50.

Children's Services, Dept. of - As enacted, requires the department to make an initial screening, and potentially an assessment, upon receiving a report of harm that includes a report of harm alleging facts that involve a caregiver; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 37 and Title 71.

Education - As enacted, requires LEAs and public charter schools to recognize Victims of Communism Day to honor the people who have fallen victim to communist regimes by providing high school students enrolled in a world history and geography course with at least 45 minutes of instruction on such topic. - Amends TCA Title 15; Title 49, Chapter 1 and Title 49, Chapter 6.

Education, Dept. of - As introduced, changes from July 31 to July 1 the date by which an LEA director of schools must send a report to the department if the LEA did not contract for or employ at least one school nurse for every 750 students. - Amends TCA Title 49 and Title 68.

TennCare - As enacted, prohibits the division from providing coverage or reimbursement for a medical procedure performed on, or administered to, an individual if the performance or administration of the procedure is for the purpose of enabling the individual to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the individual's sex, or treat purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the individual's sex and asserted identity. - Amends TCA Title 71, Chapter 5.

Taxes, Privilege - As introduced, allocates 30 percent of the revenue from taxes on vapor products to counties in equal amounts to be used for youth nicotine prevention programs and services. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 4, Part 10.

Public Records - As enacted, entitles an individual who is not a citizen of this state to inspect or receive a copy of any law enforcement record or report pertaining solely to that individual. - Amends TCA Title 10, Chapter 7.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, requires a person convicted of second degree murder by knowingly killing another to be sentenced as no lower than a Range II offender. - Amends TCA Section 39-13-210 and Title 40.

Uniform Commercial Code - As enacted, incorporates amendments adopted to the Uniform Commercial Code by the Uniform Law Commission in 2018 and 2022. - Amends TCA Title 47.

Children's Services, Dept. of - As enacted, prohibits the department from requiring a relative caregiver, including relatives in the kinship foster care program, to provide a child with the child's own bedroom in determining whether to place the child in the custody of the relative caregiver. - Amends TCA Title 37.

Controlled Substances - As enacted, authorizes additional healthcare providers to directly administer buprenorphine mono or buprenorphine without the use of naloxone; adds that prescribing a buprenorphine product to nursing mother or prescribing an injectable mono product does not restrict certain healthcare providers from prescribing a buprenorphine product for the treatment of opioid use disorder without naloxone. - Amends TCA Title 53, Chapter 11.

Food and Food Products - As enacted, clarifies that a person 19 or older does not need a license or permit to sell bakery goods, homemade or otherwise; soft drinks; or other similar food commodities if the person is supporting a 501(c)(3) organization, and a component of such organization's mission is to provide temporary accommodations for children in relationship to their placement in the custody of the department of children's services. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 14.

Jails, Local Lock-ups - As enacted, authorizes a sheriff, jail administrator, or deputy jailer to refuse or delay acceptance into the jail of an arrestee if the arrestee has not received medical treatment for obvious serious physical injuries or conditions of an emergency nature; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 8; Title 29; Title 40 and Title 41.

Human Resources, Department of - As enacted, excludes a person or entity that operates a family child care home and obtains a United States department of defense certificate to operate from being subject to licensure as long as such family child care home provides child care services only to an eligible patron. - Amends TCA Title 71, Chapter 3.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, extends the Interstate Compact for Juveniles to June 30, 2034. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 37, Chapter 4, Part 1.

TennCare - As introduced, prohibits a healthcare provider who participates in the TennCare or CoverKids programs from refusing to provide healthcare services to an enrollee based solely upon the enrollee’s refusal to obtain a vaccine or immunization; prohibits the bureau from reimbursing a healthcare provider in violation of such prohibition; requires the director to adopt rules. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Education - As enacted, empowers a student who is an English language learner and who received language assistance services in the classroom during the school year to receive the same language assistance services while taking a Tennessee comprehensive assessment program test or an end-of-course assessment, as long as the receipt of language assistance services does not invalidate the assessment. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Memorials, Recognition - Arab American Heritage Month -

Memorials, Recognition - Do Something Tennessee Day, May 1, 2026 -

Memorials, Recognition - Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) Awareness Day, May 17 -

Memorials, Personal Occasion - John Patrick Hallet and Susan Marie Hallet, 45th wedding anniversary -

Memorials, Academic Achievement - Julia Long, Valedictorian, South Haven Christian School -

Memorials, Recognition - National Pencil Day -