Tennessee Bills

Local Government, General - As enacted, authorizes a local government to use any project delivery method that the local government determines most effectively meets the needs of the local government for the construction of qualified local projects, if the local government meets certain requirements. - Amends TCA Title 12, Chapter 3, Part 12.

Naming and Designating - As enacted, designates the annual winner of the Old Time Bluegrass and Fiddlers' Jamboree as the state champion fiddler in this state. - Amends TCA Title 3; Title 4 and Title 15.

Traffic Safety - As enacted, establishes process regarding traffic violations committed by autonomous vehicles, including mailing the notice of violation or citation to the registered owner of the vehicle. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 30 and Title 55, Chapter 8.

Registers of Deeds - As enacted, authorizes all bonds for the conveyance of real or personal estate to be registered only if the bond contains the signatures of all parties subject to the bond and the expiration date of the bond; authorizes all agreements for the conveyance of real property or contracts, memoranda, abstracts, or affidavits for the sale of real property, or similar documents by whatever similar or other name, to be registered if such documents contain the signature of the owner of the property or the owner's attorney-in-fact or court-appointed representative, the signature of the proposed purchaser, and the expiration date of the agreement. - Amends TCA Section 66-24-101.

Agriculture, Dept. of - As enacted, requires the department to promulgate rules to implement and administer a voluntary program for the promotion of meat and byproducts from livestock raised in Tennessee, which may be labeled with an appropriate statement that indicates the meat or byproduct is a Tennessee meat or byproduct. - Amends TCA Title 43; Title 44 and Title 53.

Tennessee Fish & Wildlife Commission - As enacted, authorizes the executive director of the wildlife resources agency to enter into agreements with local law enforcement agencies for the purpose of enforcing wildlife management laws and rules; creates a criminal offense for feeding black bears under certain circumstances. - Amends TCA Title 70.

Children's Services, Dept. of - As enacted, generally prohibits the department from requesting information regarding the number or type of firearms or ammunition or identifying information about such firearms or ammunition that a foster parent or prospective foster parent owns or possesses, or requesting a foster parent or prospective foster parent to display or provide access to a firearm or ammunition owned or possessed by the parent. - Amends TCA Title 37.

Consumer Protection - As enacted, requires a third-party booking site that includes information about ancillary hotel services available at a hotel to disclose that there are additional fees required to access the services and which services require payment of additional fees by the consumer if access to the services requires payment of such fees; establishes violations of the requirement as violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act of 1977; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 47, Chapter 18.

County Government - As enacted, prohibits the director of accounts and budgets for Overton County from being terminated or discharged without the approval of the county legislative body if such prohibition is approval by a 2/3 vote of the Overton County legislative body. - Amends TCA Title 5.

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As enacted, clarifies that tenure and the process for dismissing a nontenured, licensed employee by a director of schools does not apply to individuals who hold a temporary academic permit or temporary clinical permit. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, creates the Class C misdemeanor offense of knowingly using an unmanned aircraft over the grounds of a school. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 49.

Veterans Services, Dept. of - As enacted, requires the department to conduct a study that includes an evaluation of county veterans service office resources; the identification of underserved areas; operational capacity; local outreach efforts, community outreach events, partnerships, and other entities providing, or sources of, assistance for veterans at the local level; and the identification of potential funding mechanisms to support local veterans service offices; requires the department to compile a report of the study by December 31, 2026. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 25 and Title 58, Chapter 3.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, makes various changes to the law relative to fraudulent freight theft. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 16; Title 17; Title 18; Title 20; Title 22; Title 24; Title 25; Title 26; Title 27; Title 28; Title 37; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 43; Title 54 and Title 55.

Courts - As enacted, enacts the "Parental Rights Protection Act." - Amends TCA Title 36, Chapter 8 and Title 40, Chapter 11.

Courts, Municipal - As enacted, prohibits a municipality from remediating a property maintenance violation if the cost may negatively impact the municipality's financial position, or if the cost is budgetarily prohibitive; specifies that, in addition to assessing remediation costs against a property owner in the form of a lien, a municipality may recover remediation costs through all other legal means. - Amends TCA Title 6; Title 7; Title 13; Title 16, Chapter 18 and Title 29, Chapter 3.

Consumer Protection - As enacted, authorizes a small business that believes an online search engine has blacklisted the small business to contact the online search engine and request a response concerning the action; authorizes a small business affected by an online search engine's failure to comply with the response requirement to bring a civil action. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 29; Title 47 and Title 65.

Local Education Agencies - As enacted, requires that, in situations where an order of protection is issued to protect a student who is enrolled in a public school from another student in the same school, the school principal and, when reasonably practicable and appropriate, the building-level school safety team with input from the parent or legal guardian of the student who is named as the petitioner in the order of protection, to develop and implement a student safety plan that includes certain protocols; requires such parent or legal guardian to notify the school within 48 hours of any changes to the order of protection. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 49.

Insurance Companies, Agents, Brokers, Policies - As enacted, increases from $100,000 to $250,000 the retained risk limit for a single risk covered by a policy of insurance issued by a county mutual insurance company. - Amends TCA Title 56, Chapter 22.

Real Property - As enacted, enacts the "Sen. Frank Niceley National Security and Economic Protection Act." - Amends TCA Title 66, Chapter 2, Part 3.

Highways, Roads and Bridges - As enacted, makes various revisions to law relative to the naming of certain roads and bridges. - Amends TCA Title 54.

Special License Plates - As enacted, makes various revisions to law relative to license plates, including, but not limited to, creating new specialty earmarked license plates and cultural license plates, granting extensions to certain license plates, and making other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 4.

Flags - As enacted, authorizes a county mayor and the chief executive officer of a municipality to order the flags flown on county or municipal property to be lowered to half-staff to honor the death of a prominent citizen of that county or municipality. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6 and Title 7.

Courts, Juvenile - As enacted, expands the disposition allowed when a person under 21 is found to have unlawfully purchased, possessed, accepted receipt of, or presented fraudulent proof of age to purchase tobacco, smoking hemp, a vapor product, or a smokeless nicotine product to include requiring community service work, the successful completion of a prescribed court program, or placing the person on an informal adjustment for a period of 90 days for a first violation, and, for a second or subsequent violation, placing the person on probation for up to six months in addition to requiring community service and the successful completion of a prescribed court program focusing on the dangers of tobacco and vapor products. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 15.

Public Records - As enacted, generally makes the addresses on a nominating petition for the office of judge, chancellor, district attorney general, and public defender confidential; clarifies that such addresses may be made open to public inspection upon the request of a candidate or law enforcement authority in anticipation of, or as part of, a contest of candidacy or contest of election. - Amends TCA Title 2 and Title 10, Chapter 7.

Taxes, Severance - As enacted, extends from 30 to 90 days, the time following the end of a county's fiscal year within which a county must submit an annual report to the commissioner of transportation and the chairs of the house and senate transportation committees regarding mineral severance tax revenue the county deposits into its county road fund; removes the comptroller of the treasury as a recipient of the report; subjects the report to audit by the comptroller. - Amends TCA Section 67-7-207.

Flags - As enacted, requires any flag flown over the state capitol building to be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset in observance of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day each December 7. - Amends TCA Section 4-1-406.

Motor Vehicles - As enacted, authorizes, effective January 1, 2027, temporary placards to be issued to a female who has a pregnancy certified to be high risk by her physician. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 21.

Ashland City - Subject to local approval, requires the position of mayor to be voted on by electors from the town at large; requires the position of councilman to be voted on by electors in their ward; requires elections to be nonpartisan; makes various other changes. - Amends Chapter 121 of the Private Acts of 2004; as amended.

White Bluff - Subject to local approval, authorizes persons who reside outside the boundaries of White Bluff but within the boundaries of Dickson County, and who own real property located within the boundaries of White Bluff, to vote in all White Bluff municipal elections; non-resident real property owners must own at least one-half interest in such real property, and such real property must be at least 5,000 square feet. - Amends Chapter 257 of the Private Acts of 1923; as amended and rewritten.

Rutherford County - Subject to local approval, repeals and reconstitutes provisions establishing the Rutherford County Highway Commission and County Highway Road Superintendent. - Repeals Chapter 55 of the Private Acts of 1951; as amended.

Unicoi County - Subject to local approval, aligns the county's mineral severance tax with the tax amounts prescribed under state law. - Amends Chapter 213 of the Private Acts of 1982.

Martin - Subject to local approval, rewrites the city charter. - Amends Chapter 158 of the Private Acts of 1992; as amended.

Oakland - Subject to local approval, transfers authority to appoint and remove all directors and department heads, excluding the town recorder, from the board of mayor and aldermen to the town manager. - Amends Chapter 167 of the Private Acts of 1994; as amended.

Grand Junction - Subject to local approval, authorizes the board of mayor and aldermen to appoint a town administrator; specifies the duties of the town administrator; transfers certain duties of the mayor to the town administrator; changes the appointment of the city recorder from the mayor to the board of mayor and aldermen. - Amends Chapter 75 of the Private Acts of 1969; as amended.

Kingsport - Subject to local approval, makes various changes to the charter, including when a vice-mayor is chosen by the board; when warrants to collect delinquent taxes may be issued; removes a requirement that a tentative appropriation ordinance must be published in a newspaper; changes from the 1st of July to the 1st of September when elected board of education members assume office and when such members must choose a president. - Amends Chapter 76 of the Private Acts of 1917; as amended.

Williamson County - Subject to local approval, authorizes the board of the Williamson County hospital district to sell real property owned or operated by the hospital district and lease substantially all of the facilities owned or operated by the hospital district if approved by the Williamson County board of commissioners. - Amends Chapter 107 of the Private Acts of 1957; as amended.

Henry County - Subject to local approval, levies a severance tax on clay, titanium, and any other substance commonly recognized as a mineral not already taxed by this state; requires revenue from such tax to be used exclusively for the construction, maintenance, and repair of the county road system. -

Greenbrier - Subject to local approval, increases salary of aldermen from $120 per month to $300 per month, with no such increase to apply to an incumbent prior to the end of the term for which the elected official was selected; establishes purchasing limits in accordance with state law rather than by specific amounts in charter. - Amends Chapter 207 of the Private Acts of 1996; as amended and rewritten.

Athens - Subject to local approval, sets compensation of mayor and council members by ordinance rather than specific dollar amounts; does not alter compensation amounts of current mayor or council members. - Amends Chapter 455 of the Private Acts of 1953; as amended.

Springfield - Subject to local approval, authorizes relatives of city employees to be hired in departments other than that of the employee. - Amends Chapter 158 of the Private Acts of 1927; as amended and rewritten.

Cheatham County - Subject to local approval, requires the existing impact fee of $7,500 in Cheatham County, known as the Cheatham County Development Tax, to be allocated as follows: $3,500 to the county Education Debt Service Fund; $3,500 to the county Education Debt Service Fund reserved for school building construction and renovation; and $500 to the Highway and Public Works Fund. - Amends Chapter 28 of the Private Acts of 1997.

Cheatham County - Subject to local approval, increases from six to seven the number of school districts and school board members in Cheatham County. -

Shelbyville - Subject to local approval, removes the city manager as a member of the Shelbyville Power, Water and Sewerage System Board to be replaced by an additional city council member. - Amends Chapter 62 of the Private Acts of 2016; as amended.

Weakley County - Subject to local approval, clarifies that the county highway superintendent of the county highway department continue in such elected office pursuant to qualifications established under state law. - Amends the private acts of Weakley County.

Adamsville - Subject to local approval, revises provisions relating to the filling of a vacancy in the office of mayor or on the city commission. - Amends Chapter 32 of the Private Acts of 2009.

Roane County - Subject to local approval, repeals act that designated the chief executive officer of the county as the county executive. - Amends Chapter 1 of the Private Acts of 2007.

General Assembly - As enacted, revises and clarifies procedures of the joint committee on ways and means, including authorizing the committee to issue notice that a hearing will not be held or to hold a hearing to review the application or acceptance of federal aid in an amount that is less than $25 million. - Amends TCA Section 4-4-116 and Chapter 512 of the Public Acts of 2025.

Health, Dept. of - As enacted, authorizes the department to establish and administer an early childhood mental health home visiting program as a voluntary, evidence-based and home-based intervention to promote the mental health, developmental progress, and family stability of children from birth to five years of age and their families. - Amends TCA Title 33 and Title 68, Chapter 1.

Education, Higher - As enacted, divides the appointing authority for the nine voting members of the Tennessee higher education commission among the governor, the speaker of the senate, and the speaker of the house of representatives equally; establishes various tuition and fee limitations and requirements for public institutions of higher education. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 14; Title 49, Chapter 7; Title 49, Chapter 8 and Title 49, Chapter 9.

Insurance, Health, Accident - As enacted, enacts the "Stopping Health Insurers from Excluding Legal Decisions (SHIELD) Act." - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 56 and Title 71.

Audiologists and Speech Pathologists - As enacted, removes requirement that persons seeking licensure as speech language pathologists be members of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. - Amends TCA Title 63, Chapter 17.

Trenton - Subject to local approval, expands the responsibilities of the city recorder to include the administration of functions for necessary and proper municipal operations, and to make such reports of the finances of the city as required and called on by the Mayor and Board; expands the residency requirement for the chief of police by authorizing the chief to reside anywhere in the county rather than just the city. - Amends Chapter 14 of the Private Acts of 2011.

Humphreys County - Subject to local approval, creates the Humphreys County Water Authority. -

Mason - Subject to local approval, revises the charter of the Town of Mason to provide grounds for vacating certain offices, to prescribe the oath for office; to fix the time, place, and notice requirements for meetings of the board of mayor and aldermen, to establish the rules of procedure for meetings, to prescribe additional duties of the mayor and the board, to provide for the administration of government and personnel, to prescribe the duties of the town administrator and town attorney, to prescribe the budget process, and to make various other changes. - Amends Chapter 120 of the Private Acts of 1915; as amended and rewritten.

Tipton County - Subject to local approval, authorizes the legislative body of Tipton County to designate a division of the county's general sessions court as the environmental court to hear cases involving the alleged violation of any ordinance relating to health, housing, fire, land subdivision, building, or zoning. -

White Bluff - Subject to local approval, authorizes persons who reside outside the boundaries of White Bluff but within the boundaries of Dickson County, and who own real property located within the boundaries of White Bluff, to vote in all White Bluff municipal elections; non-resident real property owners must own at least one-half interest in such real property, and such real property must be at least 5,000 square feet. - Amends Chapter 257 of the Private Acts of 1923; as amended and rewritten.

Ashland City - Subject to local approval, requires the position of mayor to be voted on by electors from the town at large; requires the position of councilman to be voted on by electors in their ward; requires elections to be nonpartisan; makes various other changes. - Amends Chapter 121 of the Private Acts of 2004; as amended.

Unicoi County - Subject to local approval, aligns the county's mineral severance tax with the tax amounts prescribed under state law. - Amends Chapter 213 of the Private Acts of 1982.

Rutherford County - Subject to local approval, repeals and reconstitutes provisions establishing the Rutherford County Highway Commission and County Highway Road Superintendent. - Repeals Chapter 55 of the Private Acts of 1951; as amended.

Oakland - Subject to local approval, transfers authority to appoint and remove all directors and department heads, excluding the town recorder, from the board of mayor and aldermen to the town manager. - Amends Chapter 167 of the Private Acts of 1994; as amended.