Tennessee Bills

Education - As enacted, creates an early educator workforce development resource task force. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 49.

Education - As enacted, makes various revisions to education law, including, but not limited to, requiring each public school to annually submit to the department of education a list of all local assessments administered to students, requiring the department to publish the percentage of students who attain proficiency for the English language arts portion of the TCAP, and establishing the assessment review board to annually review the TCAP tests administered to students in the most recent school year. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 49.

Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) - As enacted, requires the TISA review committee to study and include in its annual report recommendations for how this state may revise the ways in which it identifies economically disadvantaged students to ensure this state is accurately identifying the students in need of additional resources and recommendations for how this state may better support economically disadvantaged students through the TISA. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 1 and Title 49, Chapter 3.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, makes revisions to the offense of adulteration of food, liquids, or pharmaceuticals. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 40 and Title 57.

County Government - As enacted, applies the "Neighborhood Preservation Act" to Tipton County; authorizes Montgomery County and Tipton County to participate in the Tennessee Local Land Bank Program. - Amends TCA Title 5 and Title 13.

Fire Prevention and Investigation - As enacted, requires the commissioner of commerce and insurance to fulfill certain duties for the volunteer firefighter vehicle grant program, which is established to annually provide grants to select volunteer fire departments to assist with local match requirements for federal grants to purchase vehicles. - Amends TCA Title 68.

Campaigns and Campaign Finance - As enacted, clarifies that expenditures of campaign funds to enhance security for an officeholder's personal residence are not deemed for personal use and that such expenditures are limited to home security consultation, home security equipment, home security monitoring services, safe rooms, and the use of security guards at an officeholder's personal residence for non-campaign purposes; clarifies that such expenditures must not exceed $12,000 per calendar year and must be disclosed as "residential security." - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 10.

Election Laws - As enacted, authorizes the county election commission to designate restroom facilities in each building in which the election is held that are for the use of workers or volunteers working for a campaign with certain limitations on access. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 7.

Schools, Charter - As enacted, allows private postsecondary institutions, including those that are religiously affiliated, to operate a public charter school; allows such institutions to apply to the local board of education or directly to the Tennessee public charter school commission to open a public charter school and to give an enrollment preference to children of the institution's employees or members of its governing body in the same manner afforded to public institutions of higher education. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Education - As enacted, requires the department of education to implement a pilot program to evaluate whether administering fewer district- and state-mandated assessments results in students achieving greater academic success; adds an additional method by which a student who is not proficient in ELA, as determined by the student's achieving a performance level rating of “approaching” on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test may be promoted. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Alcoholic Beverage Commission - As enacted, imposes an additional 10% tax on a hemp-derived cannabinoid product's wholesale cost if the product is inhalable in cartridge form. - Amends TCA Title 57 and Title 67.

Tobacco, Tobacco Products - As enacted, expands the definition of "consumable material" to include natural and synthetic liquid nicotine solutions and liquid nicotine analogues for purposes of the taxation of vapor products containing such material; requires the alcoholic beverage commission to issue the fines for the offense of selling or offering for sale a vapor product for retail sale in this state to anyone under 21. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17; Title 43; Title 57 and Title 67, Chapter 4, Part 10.

Tourism - As enacted, requires revenue that is received by a municipality and that is used to fund a destination marketing entity engaged in tourism promotion on behalf of the municipality be released to the destination marketing entity no later than 120 days after the municipality approves its final budget. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 67.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, makes various changes relative to the offense of organized retail crime. - Amends TCA Title 18; Title 38, Chapter 6, Part 1 and Title 39.

Civil Emergencies - As enacted, creates the department of Tennessee emergency management assistance ("TEMA") to authorize the creation of local organizations for emergency management in the political subdivisions of the state, and to authorize cooperation with the federal government and the governments of other states. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 9; Title 13; Title 16; Title 39; Title 55; Title 58; Title 62; Title 65; Title 68 and Title 71.

Local Government, General - As enacted, requires a local government responsible for reviewing a development application, development plan, or a site inspection submitted by a developer for the purpose of developing real property in this state, within 60 business days of the submission, to approve the application, plan, or site inspection or add the submission to the next available agenda of either the planning commission or the governing body; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 7.

Salaries and Benefits - As enacted, expresses the public policy that the prevailing wage rate be paid to workers on non-state contracts for construction projects on public highways; makes other revisions to the Prevailing Wage Act for State Highway Construction Projects. - Amends TCA Title 12, Chapter 4, Part 4.

Education - As enacted, makes various revisions to education law, including, but not limited to, prohibiting parents from using funds deposited in a participating student's IEA to make contributions to an achieving a better life experience account for purposes of the "ABLE Act," and requiring the Title VI coordinator for a LEA or public charter school to investigate certain complaints of antisemitic discrimination and harassment reported to the LEA or public charter school before formally reporting the incidents and complaints to the Title VI coordinator designated by the department of education. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29; Title 5, Chapter 21; Title 8, Chapter 50, Part 8; Title 49, Chapter 10, Part 1; Title 49, Chapter 10, Part 14; Title 49, Chapter 11, Part 1; Title 49, Chapter 11, Part 8; Title 49, Chapter 13; Title 49, Chapter 15, Part 1; Title 49, Chapter 16, Part 2; Title 49, Chapter 17; Section 49-2-203; Title 49, Chapter 3, Part 1; Title 49, Chapter 5, Part 4; Title 49, Chapter 50, Part 10; Title 49, Chapter 50, Part 16; Title 49, Chapter 50, Part 18; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 10; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 15; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 22; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 23; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 30; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 34; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 42; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 81; Title 49, Chapter 1, Part 2; Title 49, Chapter 1, Part 3 and Section 68-204-110.

Health Care - As enacted, makes revisions to health law, including, but not limited to, revising certain reporting requirements, requiring a person licensed by the board of examiners in psychology to complete certain suicide prevention training, defining palliative care, and clarifying certain rulemaking authority of health boards and the commissioner of health. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 33; Title 36; Title 37; Title 48; Title 49; Title 52; Title 53; Title 55; Title 56; Title 62; Title 63 and Title 68.

Boards and Commissions - As enacted, revises law regulating professions under the department of commerce and insurance. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29, Part 2; Title 20, Chapter 9, Part 6; Title 55, Chapter 17, Part 1; Title 62, Chapter 13; Title 62, Chapter 18; Title 62, Chapter 2; Title 62, Chapter 20; Title 62, Chapter 27; Title 62, Chapter 35; Title 62, Chapter 4; Title 62, Chapter 6; Title 62, Chapter 76; Title 68, Chapter 102 and Title 68, Chapter 105.

TennCare - As enacted, extends the ground ambulance service annual assessment to June 30, 2027; changes the penalty imposed by the bureau on an ambulance provider for each day an assessment remains unpaid from $50 per calendar day to 5 percent of the principal amount owed per month for each month. - Amends TCA Title 71, Chapter 5, Part 15.

Public Utilities - As enacted, requires a utility to provide material that is required for construction of utility infrastructure for the customer's or approved contractor's use at the same price as the utility paid for the material, if such material is available only from the utility; authorizes a customer or approved contractor installing utility infrastructure to install street lights; prohibits a utility from requiring a customer or approved contractor from installing street lights; prohibits certain fees for inspections and review of plans and designs from exceeding a combined total of 10% of the proposed cost of the project. - Amends TCA Title 7; Title 13, Chapter 7; Title 65 and Title 68.

Law Enforcement - As enacted, requires TACIR to conduct a study of the salaries and other benefits paid to state and local law enforcement officers in this state; authorizes the commissioner of safety to establish a hazardous duty designation for members of the highway patrol that may be used to authorize additional compensation for designated members. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 9 and Title 38.

Tennessee Fish & Wildlife Commission - As enacted, establishes a statutory schedule of permit fees for the operation of off highway vehicles at North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area. - Amends TCA Title 70, Chapter 9.

Banks and Financial Institutions - As enacted, clarifies that the service of transmitting money from a location originating in this state to a location outside of the United States or its territories is a taxable service and that such a tax is generally levied on the amount of money transmitted; requires revenues generated from such a tax to be allocated to certain funds and purposes. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 38; Title 39; Title 45; Title 47; Title 49 and Title 67.

Open Meetings - As enacted, authorizes a governing body to conduct an executive session for the purpose of interviewing applicants for employment as director-level staff of the body without providing public notice of such session. - Amends TCA Title 8.

Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services, Dept. of - As enacted, enacts the "HOPE Treatment Act." - Amends TCA Title 9; Title 33; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68.

Orders of Protection - As enacted, allows a person to file a petition for a lifetime order of protection against a person who was convicted of certain offenses in another jurisdiction; provides that venue for such a petition is in the county where the respondent resides or, if the respondent is not a resident of this state, the county where the petitioner resides. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 39.

Gambling - As enacted, clarifies that gambling, the operation or possession of gambling devices, and the operation, conducting, or commercial promoting of online sweepstakes games and other forms of online or app-based gambling are unlawful and a violation of the "Tennessee Consumer Protection Act"; expands the authority of the sports wagering council to investigate illegal gambling and gaming activity; expands the investigative authority of the attorney general to investigate unlawful activity within the purview of the attorney general. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 4, Chapter 49; Title 8, Chapter 6, Part 4; Title 40, Chapter 2 and Title 47.

Public Utility Commission - As enacted, requires, for an electric utility providing services outside the corporate limits of the home municipality, expansion of the utility board to provide representation on the board for such outside locality. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 12; Title 13; Title 54; Title 64; Title 65; Title 68 and Title 69.

Victims' Rights - As enacted, authorizes a court clerk to increase the victims assistance assessment from $45 to $125, with the first $15 of each assessment being paid to the court clerk for processing and handling and the remaining amount being transmitted to the county in which the offense occurred for the exclusive use of the victims assistance program previously designated by the county legislative body. - Amends TCA Section 40-24-109.

Children - As enacted, establishes the children's digital protection fund within the state treasury. - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 4, Part 2.

Sewage - As enacted, clarifies that a utility system providing waste water service must provide a connection if certain criteria is met. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 35; Title 7, Chapter 82 and Title 68, Chapter 221.

Local Education Agencies - As enacted, requires LEAs and public charter schools to allow a private pay provider who is under contract with a parent or legal guardian of a student with autism spectrum disorder or developmental delays who is enrolled in the LEA or public charter school, access to the student during the school day to provide the student with private pay services in educational settings as long as the educational settings in which private pay services are provided do not conflict with the student's educational placement; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 49; Title 68 and Title 71.

Pharmacy, Pharmacists - As enacted, enacts the "Freedom, Access, and Integrity in Registered Pharmacy (FAIR Rx) Act." - Amends TCA Title 63.

District Attorneys - As enacted, eliminates the fraud and economic crimes fees and assessments in criminal prosecutions for counties that have enacted a $12.50 court cost to be used for supplemental funding for the district attorney general's office; requires existing funds in fraud and economic crimes prosecution fund to be remitted back to the county government of original assessment and collection. - Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 3.

Pensions and Retirement Benefits - As enacted, requires retirement credit established for a period of disability for a commissioned member of the department of safety or agent of the Tennessee bureau of investigation to be at no cost to that member; authorizes political subdivisions that pass a resolution to establish retirement credit for its employees to allow the credit for a period of disability for any member who is subject to mandatory retirements to be at no cost to such person. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 34, Part 6.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, creates a Class E felony offense when a person, for the purpose of deriving a pecuniary benefit, engages in conduct intended to influence the occurrence or nonoccurrence of an event while the person, or another acting in active concert with the person, is a party to a contract traded on a prediction-market by which the person will derive such pecuniary benefit directly from the settlement of that contract based on the occurrence or a nonoccurrence of the event. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Taxes, Real Property - As enacted, authorizes, until June 30, 2041, a county or municipality that levies a property tax to pay a property tax refund owed to a taxpayer through annual installments applied as credits against the taxpayer's future property taxes if certain criteria is met. - Amends TCA Title 67.

Fireworks - As enacted, expands the length of the existing Independence Day and New Year sales periods and adds new Memorial Day and Labor Day sales periods for seasonal retailers of fireworks for the 2026 retail period; increases the seasonal retailer permit fee from $100 to $150 for calendar year 2026; and authorizes the state fire marshal to promulgate rules to effectuate the act. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 104.

Dentists and Dentistry - As enacted, requires a dental hygienist to be working under the direct supervision of a dentist seeing a new patient before completing diagnostic radiographs; assessing and recording existing hard and soft tissue data; performing prophylaxis; and applying fluoride agents. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 63, Chapter 5.

Immigration - As enacted, adds local governments to the entities that must verify that each applicant for public benefits is a United States citizen or lawfully present in the United States; authorizes certain investigations of violations of requirements for verification of citizenship or presence for public benefits; requires certain reporting related to such verification for benefits; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 1 and Title 4, Chapter 58.

Courts - As enacted, removes a conviction for domestic assault from the definition of a violent offender for purposes of drug treatment courts; changes the definition of a violent offender for purposes of drug treatment courts from an offender with a conviction for an offense involving certain acts to an offender with a conviction for a felony offense involving certain acts within the previous 10 years. - Amends TCA Title 16, Chapter 22.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, increases the penalty for assaulting a first responder from a Class A misdemeanor with a mandatory fine of $5,000 and a mandatory minimum of 30 days incarceration to a Class E felony with a mandatory fine of $10,000 and a mandatory minimum of 60 days incarceration. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

General Assembly, Studies - As enacted, directs the Tennessee advisory commission on intergovernmental relations (TACIR) to perform a study of this state's emergency communications system. -

Unemployment Compensation - As enacted, removes a requirement that work be deemed suitable for a claimant if certain criteria are met and a claimant's gross weekly wages equal or exceed certain threshold percentages of the claimant's weekly wage for insured work for the quarter of the base period when the claimant's wages were greatest. - Amends TCA Section 50-7-303.

Children's Services, Dept. of - As enacted, requires a child placed in the custody of the department to remain in custody so long as necessary to complete treatment or services, which must be evidence-based and provided by a qualified provider; makes other changes to child custody law; creates a juvenile commitment review task force to examine system issues and service gaps for certain children committed to the custody of the department. - Amends TCA Title 37, Chapter 1, Part 1.

Local Government, General - As enacted, enacts the "Essential Governmental Employee Housing Act of 2026"; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 9; Title 12 and Title 67.

Firearms and Ammunition - As enacted, lowers the standard for the use of deadly force to protect property. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Open Meetings - As enacted, authorizes emergency communications district boards of directors to participate in board meetings electronically under the open meetings law. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 86, Part 3 and Title 8, Chapter 44, Part 1.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, enacts the "Grace Anne Sparks Coercive Suicide Prevention Law of 2026." - Amends TCA Title 39.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, creates a Class A misdemeanor offense of intentionally moving, altering, destroying, or removing a monument the person knows, or reasonably should know, is a property corner monument, historic land surveying monument, or geodetic control monument. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 62, Chapter 18 and Title 66.

Recycling - As enacted, establishes the office of cooperative marketing for recyclables and the recycling market development and diversion advisory council. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 68, Chapter 211.

Real Estate Agents and Brokers - As enacted, exempts an affiliate broker or broker licensed under the "Tennessee Real Estate Broker License Act" from the additional licensure and classroom hours in training programs requirements for a vacation lodging service firm's designated agent; requires that vacation lodging services be under the supervision of the principal broker of an affiliate broker, broker, or firm. - Amends TCA Title 62, Chapter 13.

Driver Licenses - As enacted, requires driver license station staff to inquire of applicants whether the applicant would like a driver license that complies with the federal REAL ID Act of 2005 or does not comply with such act; makes other related revisions. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 50.

Students - As enacted, creates a criminal offense for certain school employees who intentionally engage in bullying or cyberbullying of a student; clarifies that a teacher or school employee of a local education agency who is found to have committed an act of harassment, intimidation, bullying, or cyberbullying is subject to dismissal or suspension. - Amends TCA Title 37; Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 3; Title 40; Title 49 and Title 55, Chapter 10, Part 7.

Children - As enacted, revises various provisions governing surrendering custody of unwanted infants. - Amends TCA Title 36, Chapter 1, Part 1 and Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2.

Regional Authorities and Special Districts - As enacted, authorizes the Megasite Authority of West Tennessee and certain law enforcement agencies to enter into a written agreement authorizing sworn peace officers of the law enforcement agency to enforce certain traffic laws on one or more designated private megasite roadways identified in the agreement. - Amends TCA Title 54 and Title 64, Chapter 9.

Zoning - As enacted, authorizes certain counties to adopt a resolution prohibiting a municipality or regional zoning commission from exercising zoning authority outside of the boundaries of the municipality. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 13.

Regional Authorities and Special Districts - As enacted, revises various provisions of 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.