Tennessee Senate Bills

Education, Dept. of - As enacted, requires the department to implement a transition plan to close the achievement school district (ASD) and to release all schools currently assigned to the ASD before the start of the 2026-2027 school year; requires the department to establish a different intervention system for priority schools; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, makes various changes to present law concerning criminal justice. - Amends TCA Title 10, Chapter 7, Part 5; Title 36; Title 37; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 53.

Sewage - As enacted, prohibits a municipal sewer system or utility district that has operated a sewerage system outside of the corporate boundaries of the city or town for 25 years or more from ceasing operation of the sewerage system outside the corporate boundaries so long as the sewerage system maintains sufficient capacity; requires a utility system that provides wastewater service to provide a connection to the owner of real property for wastewater service when the utility system meets certain requirements. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 35; Title 7, Chapter 82 and Title 68, Chapter 221.

Correction, Dept. of - As enacted, provides that in a facility operated pursuant to a contract to provide correctional services, or in a facility operated pursuant to a contract with a county to hold state inmates and that county has entered into a contract with a contractor to provide correctional services, if the death rate of inmates at the facility is twice the death rate of an equivalent state-operated facility, then the department must reduce the population at such facility by 10%. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 12; Title 40 and Title 41.

Courts, Municipal - As enacted, increases from $1.00 to $2.00 the amount of funds from the court costs collected in municipal court cases that must be forwarded by the municipal court clerk to the state treasurer for deposit and credited to the account for the administrative office of the courts for the sole purpose of defraying the administrative director's expenses in providing training and continuing education courses for municipal court judges and municipal court clerks. - Amends TCA Title 16, Chapter 18 and Title 17, Chapter 3.

Human Rights - As enacted, enacts the "Dismantling DEI Departments Act." - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8 and Title 49, Chapter 7.

Motor Vehicles - As enacted, revises various provisions of the Modernization of Towing, Immobilization, and Oversight Normalization Act. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 39; Title 47; Title 48; Title 55; Title 56; Title 62; Title 66 and Title 67.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, extends the Tennessee technology development corporation to June 30, 2027. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 14, Part 2 and Title 4, Chapter 29.

Education, Dept. of - As enacted, requires the department to allocate the state share of the Tennessee investment in student achievement formula funds generated by student members of a public charter school in the prior school year directly to the public charter school instead of allocating such funds to the local education agency in which the public charter school is located. - Amends Chapter __ of the Public Acts of 2025 (1st Ex. Sess. – SB 6001 / HB 6004); and TCA Title 49, Chapter 13 and Title 49, Chapter 3.

Cooperatives - As enacted, specifies that the privilege tax exemption for subsidiaries of agricultural cooperatives applies without regard to whether the subsidiary was formed as a corporation, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other legal entity, association, or body vested with the power or function of a legal entity. - Amends TCA Title 43, Chapter 16, Part 1 and Section 67-4-102.

Morgan County - Subject to local approval, establishes that the County Attorney must be a licensed practicing attorney appointed or hired subject to the vote of the Morgan County Commission to serve a four-year term and does not need to be a resident of Morgan County to serve as County Attorney. - Amends Chapter 467 of the Private Acts of 1951; as amended.

Election Laws - As enacted, authorizes Hamblen County to participate in the convenience voting center pilot project. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 3, Part 3.

Pensions and Retirement Benefits - As enacted, authorizes, after July 1, 2025, a political subdivision to adopt a supplemental bridge benefit for members who are in positions covered by mandatory retirement provisions; makes related changes relative to supplemental bridge benefits. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 34; Title 8, Chapter 35 and Title 8, Chapter 36.

Housing - As enacted, requires certain property, projects, and joint ventures to meet certain requirements if a legislative body of a county or municipality adopts by resolution or ordinance an affordable housing program. - Amends TCA Title 47 and Title 67.

Motor Vehicles, Titling and Registration - As enacted, increases, from $5 to $7, the fee for the service of handling mail orders that renew a registration plate through the U.S. postal service; increases, from $2 to $3, the fee for the service of handling mail orders of decals. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 4, Part 1.

Education, Dept. of - As enacted, requires the department to conduct a landscape analysis of teacher evaluation practices in this state and other states; requires the department to convene a teacher evaluation advisory committee to review and evaluate current teacher evaluation practices in this state; requires the department and the state board to provide the education committee of the senate and committee of the house of representatives having jurisdiction over teacher evaluations a final report on the landscape analysis, teacher evaluation advisory committee's recommendations, and any department or state board recommendations by January 31, 2026. - Amends TCA Title 49.

County Government - As enacted, authorizes a county that has adopted the County Purchasing Law of 1957 to require a competitive bid process for insurance brokerage services. - Amends TCA Title 5 and Title 12, Chapter 3, Part 12.

Schools, Private - As enacted, prohibits the state board of education from requiring a private school that provides a fully online, self-paced educational program to comply with certain class size, school calendar, vaccination, and assessment requirements in order to operate in this state as an approved Category III nonpublic school. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Tobacco, Tobacco Products - As enacted, requires the department of revenue to maintain a directory on its website that lists all vapor products certified as authorized to be sold in this state; levies certain privilege taxes. - Amends TCA Title 10, Chapter 7, Part 5; Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 15; Title 47, Chapter 25; Title 67, Chapter 4, Part 10 and Title 67, Chapter 4, Part 26.

Industrial Development - As enacted, redefines "remediation site" to include a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity whose main purpose is to promote industrial development and new nuclear development upon dissolution of the existing nonprofit entity. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 53, Part 3.

Immigration - As enacted, requires the centralized immigration enforcement division within the department of safety to provide a report to the chief clerk of each house of the general assembly and the legislative librarian regarding illegal alien criminal activity in this state. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 8; Title 38 and Title 68.

TennCare - As enacted, extends the ground ambulance service annual assessment to June 30, 2026; makes other revisions to the Ground Ambulance Service Provider Assessment Act. - Amends TCA Title 71, Chapter 5, Part 15.

Education - As enacted, requires each public senior high school to provide official recruiting representatives of the armed forces of this state and the United States access to the high school at least once a month during student lunch periods for the purpose of informing students of educational and career opportunities available in the military and at least once every other month when school is in session to provide further information to students who have expressed interest; provides additional related access. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Historical Commission - As enacted, prohibits the commission, and any other state entity other than the state building commission engaged in the historic preservation of real property, from regulating the renovation, alteration, or demolition of improved public or private real property that is not listed on the Tennessee register of historic places, or taking any adverse action against the owner of such real property, if the real property meets certain criteria. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 8; Title 13 and Title 66.

Education, State Board of - As enacted, expands the state board's power to subpoena the appearance of persons or the production of items the chair of the state board, or the chair's designee, considers material or relevant to an accountability hearing for a local education agency operating a public school, or a public charter school, receiving a "D" or "F" letter grade. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 1; Title 49, Chapter 3 and Title 49, Chapter 5.

Sentencing - As enacted, provides that if the victim in an aggravated sexual battery was less than 18 or was mentally defective, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless, then such battery remains a Class B felony, and the defendant must be punished as a Range II offender; provides that the sentence imposed upon the defendant may, if appropriate, be within Range III but in no case lower than Range II. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 13, Part 5.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, adds organized retail crime and possession or employment of a firearm during the commission of or attempt to commit a dangerous felony to the definition of racketeering activity; clarifies that carjacking is a racketeering activity. - Amends TCA Title 39.

District Attorneys - As enacted, authorizes a district attorney general, on the consent of the district attorney general of any other judicial district, to specially appoint another district attorney general, or an assistant to that district attorney general, to conduct specific proceedings under title 8, chapter 47, regarding removal of officers, which the district attorney general is authorized by law to conduct in that district. - Amends TCA Title 8.

Taxes, Hotel Motel - As enacted, revises present law relative to the privilege tax upon the privilege of occupancy in a hotel levied by municipalities. - Amends TCA Title 7 and Title 67.

Election Laws - As enacted, revises present law relative to voting and county election commissions, such as requiring the commission to publish a notice of the location of the provisional counting board, prohibiting the commission from tabulating any marked ballots submitted via the internet, prohibiting voting machines from being connected to the internet, and making other changes. - Amends TCA Title 2.

Public Records - As enacted, requires the office of open records counsel to facilitate the convening of meetings of the advisory committee on open government, including selecting a date for the required annual meeting in the absence of co-chairs. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 4, Part 6.

Children - As enacted, clarifies that the economic disadvantage of a parent or guardian alone is not a ground for termination of parental rights; clarifies that, for purposes of laws relative to juvenile courts and proceedings, "neglect" does not exist solely on the basis of economic disadvantage. - Amends TCA Title 36; Title 37 and Title 39.

Criminal Procedure - As enacted, requires the clerk of every court having jurisdiction of criminal offenses to include a $12.50 charge in every cost bill, to be remitted to the county government to provide support services for the purpose of promoting public safety at the sole discretion of the district attorney general; takes effect upon two-thirds vote of the county legislative body; requires a district attorney general receiving funding to submit an annual report. - Amends TCA Title 40.

Child Custody and Support - As enacted, requires the court to consider any failure to pay child support, rather than failure for a period of three years or more, when making a child custody determination; clarifies that the court may preclude or limit any provisions of a parenting plan if the court finds that a parent has failed to pay child support. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 37.

Sports - As enacted, revises present law relative to an intercollegiate athlete's name, image, or likeness. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Children - As enacted, enacts the "Tennessee Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act." - Amends TCA Title 24; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 47.

Jails, Local Lock-ups - As enacted, requires, if a prisoner is released for paid employment, the cost of the electronic monitoring device to be deducted from the prisoner's wages by the sheriff and paid directly to the electronic monitoring device provider by the county or state, as applicable; requires, if a prisoner is released for unpaid work, the entity utilizing the prisoner for work to pay the costs of the electronic monitoring device. - Amends TCA Title 41.

Pensions and Retirement Benefits - As enacted, establishes that certain public officials, including members of the general assembly, who take office on or after July 1, 2025, have mandatory membership in the Tennessee consolidated retirement system (TCRS); allows a retiree to reannuitize retirement benefits in favor of a new spouse beneficiary following cancellation of a former spouse beneficiary due to divorce; makes other revisions to provisions governing the TCRS. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 25; Title 8, Chapter 34; Title 8, Chapter 35; Title 8, Chapter 36 and Title 8, Chapter 37.

Holidays and Days of Special Observance - As enacted, designates the month of June as "Celebration of Life" month, the month of July as "Celebration of Liberty" month, and the month of August as "Celebration of the Pursuit of Happiness" month in Tennessee. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 4.

Forfeiture of Assets - As enacted, removes the requirement for a claimant to post a bond when filing a claim to seized property. - Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 33.

Opioids - As enacted, adds Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc., Indivior Inc., Viatris Inc., and Purdue Pharma L.P. to the list of companies that may be released by the attorney general and reporter for pending or future claims regarding opioids. - Amends TCA Title 20 and Title 33.

Bail, Bail Bonds - As enacted, makes changes to the law relative to professional bondsmen and agents of insurance companies making appearance bonds of a criminal nature. - Amends TCA Title 40.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, removes a definition of "content harmful to minors" from the Protect Tennessee Minors Act. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17.

Tort Liability and Reform - As enacted, prohibits governmental entities or local boards of education from extending immunity granted to independent school bus contractors rather than independent school bus owners and operators for providing school-related transportation services; requires liability insurance coverage in a contract or agreement between a local board of education and an independent school bus contractor for such services to be in an amount sufficient to satisfy applicable law; permits evidence of such coverage to include a certificate of insurance from an insurance provider that lists the local board of education as an additional insured. - Amends TCA Title 29, Chapter 20.

Criminal Procedure - As enacted, revises the procedure for restoration of rights of citizenship. - Amends TCA Title 2; Title 4; Title 22; Title 36; Title 39 and Title 40.

Public Records - As enacted, authorizes the comptroller of the treasury to publish certain survey data that is otherwise deemed confidential. - Amends TCA Section 10-7-504.

Zoning - As enacted, makes certain changes to the powers and duties of county and municipal boards of zoning appeals. - Amends TCA Title 13, Chapter 7.

Medical Occupations - As enacted, authorizes a healthcare provider’s licensing board to issue a license subject to a private advocacy order that requires the applicant to participate in a peer assistance program approved by the board; designates private advocacy orders as confidential and not public records, as long as the provider does not fail to maintain participation in the peer assistance program and requires the initiation of disciplinary proceedings by the board. - Amends TCA Title 63.

Sullivan County - As enacted, requires the members of a utility district board of commissioners to serve without compensation for their services, except that, by resolution duly adopted by the board of commissioners, each commissioner may receive per diem payments for not more than 12 meetings of the board of commissioners in any calendar year, at rates not greater than $500 per meeting. - Amends TCA Title 2; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 12; Title 13; Title 66 and Title 67.

Fire Prevention and Investigation - As enacted, changes present law concerning the frequency of fire drills in educational occupancies. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 102.

Alcoholic Beverages - As enacted, establishes new premier type tourist resorts, urban park centers, and museums that can offer liquor by the drink; makes certain clarifications with regard to commercial airline travel clubs that can offer liquor by the drink. - Amends TCA Title 57.

Education, Curriculum - As enacted, makes various changes to the approval process and notice requirements for nonsectarian, nonreligious Bible courses; clarifies that public charter schools are authorized to provide nonsectarian, nonreligious Bible courses in the same manner as local education agencies. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6.

State Government - As enacted, prohibits the enforcement and recognition of requirements or mandates issued by the World Health Organization, United Nations, or World Economic Forum in this state or its political subdivisions. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 4.

Regional Authorities and Special Districts - As enacted, enacts the "Real Estate Infrastructure Development Act of 2025." - Amends TCA Title 7; Title 9; Title 12; Title 13; Title 66; Title 67 and Title 68.

Treasurer, State - As enacted, sets the maximum award of compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act of 1976 at 105% of the national average of the maximum compensation award provided by the 50 states within the United States, the District of Columbia, and the United States Virgin Islands, rounded up to the nearest $100; requires the state treasurer to publish on the department of treasury website the maximum compensation award for claims filed for crimes occurring on or after July 1, 2025. - Amends TCA Section 29-13-106.

District Attorneys - As enacted, expands the proceedings for which a district attorney general pro tem may be appointed to include certain civil proceedings; declares meetings of the district attorneys general conference to be open meetings except for meetings related to certain matters; specifies that the executive director of the district attorneys general conference must provide legal counsel and advice to district attorneys general and their staff and that the legal counsel and advice may be provided by attorneys employed with the district attorneys general conference. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 7, Part 1 and Title 8, Chapter 7, Part 3.

Tort Liability and Reform - As enacted, allows a charitable organization that provides housing to a person whom the charitable organization knows is unlawfully present in the United States to be held liable for a loss, damages, injury, or death resulting from a criminal offense committed by the person who is unlawfully present in the United States while the person is receiving housing services from the charitable organization if the charitable organization's conduct in providing housing constitutes negligence, gross negligence, or willful and wanton misconduct. - Amends TCA Title 29, Chapter 34.

Transportation, Dept. of - As enacted, requires the department to develop and implement a policy regarding the removal of personal property used for camping from the shoulder, berm, or right-of-way of highways under its jurisdiction or under a bridge or overpass under its jurisdiction; prohibits the department from commencing initial clean-up activities, vegetation removal, or site securing activities until the municipal or county government whose geographic boundaries include the camping removal site has ensured that no persons are occupying the site. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 13; Title 39; Title 54; Title 55 and Title 71.

Open Meetings - As enacted, expands the requirement that state and local governing bodies make an agenda available to the public prior to regular public meetings of the body to include the governing bodies of certain nonprofit organizations, including nonprofit community organizations that receive federal funding, nonprofit organizations that receive community grant funds from this state or certain funding from local governments, nonprofit organizations created for the benefit of local governments, and nonprofit organizations that provide the metropolitan government of Nashville/Davidson County with certain utility services; requires, rather than permits, such governing bodies that maintain a website to post the agenda to the website. - Amends TCA Section 8-44-110.

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