Tennessee Bills

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.

General Assembly, Review Or Ratification of Rules - Ratifies the increase of the 911 surcharge rate to $1.86 as approved by the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board. -

Memorials, Public Service - Rhett Pratt -

Memorials, Recognition - Youth Builders of Greeneville, 80th anniversary -

Memorials, Recognition - Foster Grandparent Program of Greene County, 60th anniversary -

Memorials, Recognition - Greeneville Emergency and Rescue Squad, 75th anniversary -

Memorials, Recognition - Child Advocacy Center of the 3rd Judicial District, 25th anniversary -

Memorials, Public Service - Trent Heath -

Memorials, Sports - Station Camp High School wrestling team -

Memorials, Recognition - Rylan Kiser, Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kingsport Youth of the Year -

Memorials, Recognition - Station Camp JROTC Drill team -

Memorials, Death - Bobby Harold Lane -

Memorials, Death - John Richard Fox -

Memorials, Recognition - Dr. Chelsea T. Dowell -

Memorials, Retirement - Dean Victoria Niederhauser, University of Tennessee College of Nursing -

Memorials, Retirement - Mayor Billy Vogle -

Memorials, Personal Occasion - Pastor Robert Gardner, 62nd birthday -

Memorials, Recognition - J. I. Baldwin and Son Barbecue, 100th anniversary -

Memorials, Retirement - Martie Davis -

Memorials, Recognition - H.G. Hill Pleasant View -

Memorials, Retirement - Chief John Linsenbigler -

Memorials, Recognition - Jaden Yoder, 2026 Boys & Girls Club of Elizabethton/Carter County Youth of the Year -

Memorials, Recognition - Appalachian Fair, 100th anniversary -

Memorials, Recognition - Chansler Yarbrough, 2026 Boys & Girls Club of Jackson Youth of the Year -

Memorials, Recognition - Alayna Baes, 2026 Boys & Girls Club of Morristown Youth of the Year -

Memorials, Recognition - Chuck Winstead-Brown -

Memorials, Recognition - Lyra Bales, Governor's Volunteer Stars Award -

Memorials, Recognition - Kelly Bales, Governor's Volunteer Stars Award -

Memorials, Recognition - Julie Slagle -

Memorials, Retirement - Howard Thompson, Bradley County Commissioner -

Memorials, Retirement - Dewey V. Woody, Jr. -

Memorials, Death - Captain Phillip Shelton -

Memorials, Death - Johnny Ray Aikman -

Memorials, Professional Achievement - Dr. Charles Paul Conn -

Memorials, Interns - Gabriel Thomas -

Memorials, Interns - Bridget Harper-Diaz -

Memorials, Recognition - Dr. Christiane Buggs -

Memorials, Recognition - PENCIL -

Memorials, Interns - Mariana Perez Pita -

Memorials, Recognition - Aubri Whaley, Boys & Girls Clubs of Tennessee Youth of the Year -

Memorials, Recognition - JoRissah Wright, 2026 Boys & Girls Club of the Tennessee Valley Youth of the Year -

Memorials, Recognition - Bobby Taft -