Tennessee Senate Bills

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, expands the offense of aggravated criminal trespass to include trespassing that results in the disruption of a religious assembly, which is a Class A misdemeanor. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Public Funds and Financing - As introduced, requires that monies from the opioid abatement fund that are disbursed to nonprofit organizations for statewide, regional, or local opioid abatement and remediation purposes be disbursed as a combination of advance payment and reimbursement grants. - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 4, Part 13 and Title 33, Chapter 11.

Safety - As introduced, enacts the "Artificial Intelligence Public Safety and Child Protection Transparency Act." - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 10, Chapter 7; Title 47; Title 58 and Title 68.

General Assembly, Statement of Intent or Position - Affirms support for the State of Israel. -

Public Funds and Financing - As introduced, requires the board of claims to hear claims for compensation by persons wrongfully imprisoned whose charges are dismissed and sentences vacated; authorizes persons whose charges were dismissed and sentences vacated prior to enactment of this legislation to file a claim within one year; authorizes surviving spouse and children the right to file a claim with the board of claims on behalf of a person who was wrongfully imprisoned and died prior to filing a claim; grants surviving adult children the same right as surviving minor children to receive payments from an award. - Amends TCA Section 9-8-108.

Veterans - As introduced, removes the market value cap used for calculating property tax relief on the primary residence for disabled veterans who are eligible for property tax relief and requires the state to fully reimburse such veterans for local property taxes paid for a given tax year on that property. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 5, Part 7.

Motor Vehicles, Titling and Registration - As introduced, exempts from the sales and use tax the sale of a motor vehicle to an active-duty military service member who is a resident of this state and stationed out-of-state. - Amends TCA Section 67-6-303.

Public Officials - As introduced, requires that certain personally identifying information of elected state and local public officials be maintained confidentially with limited exceptions. - Amends TCA Title 2 and Title 10, Chapter 7.

Gaming - As enacted, creates a five-day window after the effective date of this act for nonprofit organizations seeking to operate an annual event for the annual event period beginning on July 1, 2026, and ending June 30, 2027, to submit its annual event application to the secretary of state. - Amends TCA Title 3, Chapter 17.

Education, Dept. of - As enacted, prohibits an individual from serving as a teacher or assistant teacher in a child care program for children who are four or younger unless the individual is at least 18. - Amends TCA Title 49 and Title 71, Chapter 3, Part 5.

Naming and Designating - As enacted, designates the residential burn building located on the campus of the Tennessee fire services and codes enforcement academy as the "Charles 'Charlie' J. Lewis Residential Burn Building." - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 24 and Title 68.

Opioids - As enacted, adds that a healthcare provider who subcontracts through the contracted healthcare vendor with the department of correction may prescribe a buprenorphine product for the treatment of opioid use disorder if other certain listed criteria are met. - Amends TCA Title 53 and Title 63.

Local Government, General - As introduced, requires proposed contingent fee contracts for legal services between a political subdivision of this state and a private-sector attorney to be approved by the attorney general and reporter prior to execution of the contract. - Amends TCA Title 7; Title 8 and Title 29.

Holidays and Days of Special Observance - As enacted, designates October 11 of each year to be observed as "General Pulaski Memorial Day." - Amends TCA Title 15, Chapter 2.

Podiatrists - As enacted, changes the scope of practice of a podiatrist from a person who examines, diagnoses, or treats, in addition to the ailments of the human foot and ankle, the soft tissue of the lower leg distal to the tibial tuberosity, instead of the soft tissue structures extending no higher than the distal tibial metaphyseal flair. - Amends TCA Title 63.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, creates the Class B misdemeanor offense of interfering with a religious institution if a person acts to intentionally obstruct, disturb, or interfere with the activities of the religious institution by making an utterance, gesture, or display in a manner that is offensive to the sensibilities of an ordinary person, either within the place where the meeting is held or so near it as to disturb the order and solemnity of the activities; defines "religious institution" as a church, temple, synagogue, mosque, or other place of worship. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

State Symbols - As enacted, designates and adopts cast iron cookware as the official frontier cookware of this state. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 3.

Taxes, Real Property - As introduced, requires a local governmental entity to hold a referendum to approve a property tax increase that exceeds specified thresholds. - Amends TCA Title 48 and Title 67, Chapter 5.

Game and Fish Laws - As enacted, clarifies that local governmental entities shall not regulate the manner and means of taking wildlife, including the discharge of a firearm while lawfully hunting, and that such taking is regulated pursuant to rules promulgated and proclamations issued by the fish and wildlife commission. - Amends TCA Section 39-17-1314; Section 70-1-206 and Section 70-4-107.

Agriculture, Dept. of - As introduced, bases indemnity payments for an animal that is destroyed to prevent the spread of disease on the fair market value of the animal, subject to available funds. - Amends TCA Title 44.

Transportation, Dept. of - As introduced, requires each safety rest area that provides restrooms for the public to provide access to at least one family restroom. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3; Title 54 and Title 68, Chapter 120.

District Attorneys - As introduced, requires TACIR to study and prepare a report on pay equity for assistant district attorneys general in this state. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 8, Chapter 7.

Public Records - As enacted, deletes expiration dates for certain public record exemptions. - Amends TCA Section 10-7-504.

Financial Institutions, Dept. of - As enacted, terminates the state credit union share insurance corporation that protects or guarantees shareholdings and deposits of member credit unions against loss; terminates the capital fund held by the corporation that consists of capital contributions and special assessments paid by member credit unions; makes other revisions pertaining to credit unions. - Amends TCA Title 45, Chapter 2; Title 45, Chapter 4 and Title 45, Chapter 7.

DUI Offenses - As introduced, adds a 30-day mandatory minimum period of incarceration for persons convicted of driving under the influence if, at the time of the offense, the person was within a marked school zone and a warning flasher or flashers were in operation. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 40 and Title 55, Chapter 10.

State Universities - As introduced, requires all gubernatorial appointments to a state university board to be confirmed by joint resolution of the senate and house of representatives prior to commencing a term of office; requires the terms of all state university board members to commence on February 1. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Memorials, Interns - Teria Tibbs -

Memorials, Recognition - Old Church Building, 100th anniversary -

Memorials, Recognition - Nehemiah Alliance -

Memorials, Recognition - Calleigh Phillips, Tennessee 4-H Congress -

Memorials, Recognition - Beau Carroll, DJ Boutwell, JC Owens, and Jasper Weeks of Adamsville High School -

Memorials, Death - James Harding Pratt -

Memorials, Recognition - Adamsville High School band students, Mid-South Honor Band -

Memorials, Congress - Urges Congress to rename Dogwood Lane on federal property at Mountain Home VA the "Congressman Phil Roe Boulevard." -

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, creates a Class A misdemeanor for knowingly giving, selling, lending, delivering, or otherwise transferring a firearm to a person when the transferor knows or reasonably should know that the person receiving the firearm is prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm under state or federal law. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13.

Public Employees - As introduced, enacts the "Protecting Religious Liberty and Expression in Public Schools Act." - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 16; Title 20 and Title 49.

Registers of Deeds - As introduced, requires that a deed of conveyance of real property be prepared by an attorney licensed to practice in this state, a title insurance agent licensed in this state, the owner of the real property being transferred, or a person with legal authority to act on behalf of the owner of the real property being transferred; makes other changes related to deeds of conveyance. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 13; Title 23, Chapter 3; Title 66, Chapter 5, Part 1 and Title 66, Chapter 24.

Memorials, Recognition - Sattler Foundation, 10th anniversary -

Memorials, Recognition - Michael Patrick Leahy -

Memorials, Recognition - Novamet -

Memorials, Recognition - Home Builders Association of Greater Knoxville, 75th anniversary -

Memorials, Death - Robert Bliss Walker Harris -

Memorials, Professional Achievement - Tabitha Bates, 2026 Extraordinary Educator -

Memorials, Retirement - Samuel Milton Leslie, South Harriman Baptist Church music minister -

Memorials, Death - Anna Armstrong Coile Durham -

Memorials, Recognition - Women Veterans Appreciation Day -

Annexation - As introduced, specifies circumstances in which a referendum will not be required to effectuate annexation of territory; removes repealer provision for exceptions to the referendum requirement. - Amends TCA Section 6-51-104.

Taxes, Privilege - As introduced, authorizes municipalities to levy a tax on the privilege of engaging in the act of development within the boundaries of the municipality; requires such tax to be levied at the rate and under the terms, conditions, and limitations contained in present law that apply to counties. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 4, Part 29.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, allows certain school employees to conduct physical searches of students and searches of vehicles, containers, packages, lockers, or other enclosures used for storage by students or visitors in certain circumstances; narrows, from all threats of violence or significantly disruptive behavior at a public school that are reported to a state or local law enforcement agency to only those first determined by the LEA to be credible, the threats or behavior for which an LEA must notify parents and guardians within 48 hours. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6.

Sentencing - As introduced, requires a defendant to be sentenced to imprisonment for life as a repeat violent offender under certain circumstances. - Amends TCA Title 38; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 41.

General Assembly, Directed Studies - As introduced, establishes a nine-member Tennessee K-12 nutrition task force to evaluate the prevalence of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and other substances in public school meal programs and the impact of UPFs on student health, to report its findings by December 1, 2026, and to terminate January 31, 2027. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Water Authorities - As introduced, establishes that public water systems have a maximum allowable hardwater level of 180 mg/L, measured as calcium carbonate equivalents; creates compliance and reporting requirements; exempts measurements that exceed the limit due to seasonal runoff in certain circumstances. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 221, Part 7.

Education, Higher - As introduced, establishes the hunger-free campus grant program; provides grants to higher education institutions to address student hunger. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Memorials, Academic Achievement - Kaden Gritzmaker, Valedictorian, Fairley High School -

Memorials, Academic Achievement - Jamarcus Olden, Salutatorian, Fairley High School -

Memorials, Recognition - Wyatt Poole and Joseph Tosh, JAGTN's State Career Development Conference -

Insurance, Health, Accident - As introduced, requires a pharmacy services administrative organization or similar entity that receives maximum allowable cost list or related information from a contracted pharmacy to destroy the shared information within five business days of receipt of a written request for destruction from the sharing pharmacy. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 56.

Insurance, Health, Accident - As introduced, prohibits an insurer, pharmacy benefits manager, or third-party administrator from changing or conditioning the terms of health plan coverage based on availability of financial or other product assistance for a prescription drug; establishes certain procedures for calculating an enrollee's contribution to an applicable cost sharing requirement. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 10; Title 53; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Energy - As introduced, enacts the "Bring Your Own Generation Act." - Amends TCA Section 39-17-1002; Section 67-6-102 and Title 68.

Business and Commerce - As introduced, creates the "Tennessee Data Center Impact Review Act." - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 10; Title 62; Title 65; Title 68 and Title 69.