Tennessee Bills

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 - Workers killed in the AES explosion -

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Remedies and Special Proceedings - As introduced, increases the amount of compensation an injured plaintiff in a civil action may receive for noneconomic damages from $750,000 to $1.5 million; increases the amount of compensation an injured plaintiff in a civil action may receive for noneconomic damages, if the injury or loss is catastrophic in nature, from $1 million to $2 million. - Amends TCA Section 29-39-102.

Election Laws - As introduced, requires all public institutions of higher education in this state to observe an academic holiday on each general election day. - Amends TCA Title 2; Title 49, Chapter 11; Title 49, Chapter 7; Title 49, Chapter 8 and Title 49, Chapter 9.

Damages - As introduced, states that the amount of damages awarded as noneconomic damages must not exceed $1 million in a health care liability action arising from obstetric or maternity negligence resulting in the death or permanent injury of a pregnant or postpartum woman. - Amends TCA Section 29-39-102.

Medical Occupations - As enacted, allows a physician assistant to delegate medication administration to a certified medical assistant; adds categories of medications to the list of medications that a certified medical assistant is authorized to administer or prepare, and makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 63; Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2 and Chapter 1042 of the Public Acts of 2024.

Highway Signs - As enacted, requires the department of transportation to install signs or markers displaying language or an appropriate symbol indicating to motorists that a rest area or welcome center has an adult-sized changing table; requires the department to publish on its website the locations of rest areas and welcome centers that have an adult-sized changing table. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3; Title 12 and Title 54.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, prohibits a juvenile adjudicated delinquent for conduct that, if committed by an adult, would constitute the offense of threatening to commit an act of mass violence from purchasing or possessing a firearm until the juvenile reaches 25; prohibits a person appropriately licensed by the federal government from selling a firearm to a person who is ineligible to possess a firearm pursuant to any court order or under any law of this state; increases penalties for sexual exploitation of a minor offenses. - Amends TCA Title 37 and Title 39.

District Attorneys - As introduced, revises the data that district attorneys general are required to include in the annual report submitted to various officials and the public; requires the clerk of every court having jurisdiction over misdemeanor and felony cases to provide the district attorneys general conference direct and unlimited access to the clerk's case management or reporting system for the purposes of complying with the district attorneys general conference's and district attorneys general's statutory reporting requirements. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 8.

State Government - As introduced, requires departments, agencies, and other state governmental entities to make information and records available, including by means of direct electronic access, to the staff of the general assembly's fiscal review committee; requires the department of finance and administration to provide the office of legislative budget analysis with access to applicable state budget formulation and management systems. - Amends TCA Title 3, Chapter 13; Title 3, Chapter 14 and Title 3, Chapter 7.

Real Property - As enacted, requires a homeowners' association that collects assessments for common expenses to obtain and maintain a blanket fidelity bond to insure the homeowners' association against losses resulting from theft or dishonesty committed by the officers, directors, or persons employed by the homeowners' association, or committed by any managing agent or employees of the managing agent. - Amends TCA Title 66.

School Transportation - As enacted, requires a local education agency that installs cameras on the exterior of school buses for the purpose of recording images of motor vehicles that fail to stop upon approaching a school bus to either enter into a memorandum of understanding with local law enforcement that includes the review of evidence from a camera and overall enforcement, or authorize school safety personnel to review evidence from a camera to determine whether a violation has occurred. - Amends TCA Section 55-8-151.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, makes it a class A misdemeanor for a virtual kiosk operator or other person to knowingly install or allow installation of, permit, place, or otherwise operate a virtual currency kiosk in this state. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 12; Title 13; Title 29; Title 39; Title 45; Title 47 and Title 67.

Remedies and Special Proceedings - As enacted, removes the right of a cause of action for any affected person who seeks declaratory and injunctive relief in any action brought regarding the legality or constitutionality of a state governmental action; authorizes such an action against a political subdivision of this state; does not limit any other cause of action or waiver of sovereign immunity to vindicate rights under the Tennessee Constitution or the United States Constitution. - Amends TCA Title 1, Chapter 3 and Title 49.

Transportation, Dept. of - As introduced, extends for one year the annual report the department must submit to committees of the general assembly regarding blocked highway-rail grade crossings data collected by the federal railroad administration. - Amends TCA Title 55 and Title 65.

Correction, Dept. of - As enacted, authorizes the department to adopt or amend a formulary for use in the correctional facilities operated by or on behalf of the department. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 41; Title 53; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, creates sunrise provisions for certain governmental entities created during the 2025 legislative session. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29; Title 8, Chapter 4, Part 6; Title 34, Chapter 3 and Title 40, Chapter 11, Part 3.

Education, Curriculum - As enacted, requires public schools and public charter schools to provide instruction in child trafficking awareness and prevention to students in grades kindergarten through 12 through health education, instead of being provided through a family life curriculum. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Campaigns and Campaign Finance - As enacted, authorizes the executive director of or an attorney employed by the bureau of ethics and campaign finance to conduct a training program for members of the bureau and Tennessee ethics commission. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 10, Part 2 and Title 3, Chapter 6, Part 1.

Comptroller, State - As enacted, deletes the reports the comptroller is required to submit to the general assembly regarding the provision of broadband services in historically unserved areas and the Tennessee Helping Heroes Scholarship Program; revises the information the comptroller is required to submit to the general assembly regarding the property tax relief program. - Amends TCA Section 7-59-316; Section 49-4-938 and Section 67-5-701.

Health Care - As enacted, prohibits certain healthcare providers from knowingly or willfully asking a minor, or a health insurance issuer, managed care organization, or entity providing reimbursement for healthcare services from requiring or requesting a healthcare provider or facility to ask, certain gender-related questions for any purpose; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 33; Title 47; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

State Symbols - As enacted, designates "Tennessee" by Drew Holcomb as an official state song. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 3.