Tennessee Senate Bills

Children and Youth, Commission on - As enacted, creates the Tennessee juvenile justice review commission to review an appropriate sampling of juvenile justice cases and any critical incidents involving juveniles in order to provide the general assembly with findings and legislative recommendations. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 37.

Drugs, Prescription - As enacted, adds mandating the use of biosimilar drugs as a cost-saving measure the bureau of TennCare may implement; adds that a health carrier, health benefit plan, or utilization review organization may require a patient to try a biosimilar product prior to providing coverage for the equivalent branded prescription drug; requires the TennCare pharmacy advisory committee to consider as a factor the use of biosimilar drugs in the committee's recommendation to the bureau of TennCare on any drugs to be added to the state preferred drug list. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 53; Title 56; Title 68 and Title 71.

Opioids - As enacted, authorizes an insurer, for purposes of group insurance plans offered to state employees, to adopt or amend a state preferred drug list (PDL); requires the insurer to ensure that a non-opioid drug approved by the U.S. food and drug administration for the treatment or management of pain is not disadvantaged or discouraged with respect to coverage relative to an opioid or narcotic drug for the treatment or management of pain on the PDL. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 53; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Public Buildings - As enacted, expands public records exception to include residential information of local government employees. - Amends TCA Section 10-7-504.

Opioids - As enacted, clarifies that a physician licensed in this state is the only healthcare provider authorized to prescribe a buprenorphine product for a FDA-approved use in recovery or medication-assisted treatment; revises criteria for providers not licensed in this state to prescribe a buprenorphine product for the treatment of opioid use disorder. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 41; Title 53 and Title 63.

Appeal and Review - As enacted, authorizes criminal defendants who plead guilty, best interest, or no contest to also petition for a writ of error coram nobis based on evidence that was, through no fault of the defendant, unknown to the defendant at the time of the plea. - Amends TCA Title 40.

Bail, Bail Bonds - As enacted, specifies that venue for prosecution of the offense of knowingly violating a condition of release is generally the county in which the conduct constituting the violation of a condition of release occurred; clarifies that if one or more elements of the offense are committed in different counties, then the offense may be prosecuted in either county. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Election Laws - As enacted, defines "district," for purposes of municipal elections, to mean a district, region, precinct, sector, territory, ward, or other geographical area prescribed for the purposes of nominating and electing candidates. - Amends TCA Title 2 and Title 6, Chapter 53.

Juvenile Offenders - As enacted, requires suspension of a minor's driving privileges or ability to obtain a driver license for a period of one year as part of the disposition if a minor is adjudicated delinquent for an act that would constitute the offense of harassment by bullying or cyber-bullying. - Amends TCA Title 37; Title 39 and Title 55, Chapter 10, Part 7.

Henry County - Subject to local approval, authorizes the county commission to appoint a minimum of three and a maximum of seven members to the board of trustees for the Henry County Hospital District; reduces the frequency of regular meetings of the board of trustees from monthly to quarterly. - Amends Chapter 176 of the Private Acts of 1953; as amended.

Knox County - Subject to local approval, repeals the Tennessee Technology Development Authority Act. - Amends Chapter 148 of the Private Acts of 1983; as amended.

Henry County - Subject to local approval, repeals an obsolete private act regarding the acquisition and operation of a nursing home. - Repeals Chapter 158 of the Private Acts of 1961.

Bedford County - Subject to local approval, abolishes the Bedford County road board. - Repeals Chapter 30 of the Private Acts of 1975 and Chapter 39 of the Private Acts of 1989.

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As enacted, increases from 20 to 30, the maximum number of consecutive days a substitute teacher may substitute for a regular teacher on leave without having to possess a teaching license; requires the six weeks of paid parental leave for eligible employees to be taken either consecutively or non-consecutively based on certain criteria. - Amends TCA Section 8-50-814; Title 49, Chapter 6 and Title 49, Chapter 3, Part 3.

Driver Licenses - As enacted, prohibits the use of digital driver licenses and digital photo identification licenses for voter identification purposes; regulates the use, retention, and disclosure of data submitted by persons participating in the digital driver license system, including biometric identifiers; prohibits geolocation data from being collected for purposes of the digital driver license system; revises other provisions related to driver licenses. - Amends TCA Section 2-7-112 and Title 55, Chapter 50.

Parks, Natural Areas Preservation - As enacted, revises the descriptions of existing state natural areas and designates new natural areas. - Amends TCA Title 11, Chapter 14, Part 1.

Mining and Quarrying - As enacted, revises certain requirements to file liens for the reclamation of abandoned coal mining lands. - Amends TCA Title 59, Chapter 8, Part 3.

Agriculture, Dept. of - As enacted, establishes June 30 as the expiration date for certain licenses issued by the department. - Amends TCA Title 43, Chapter 1, Part 1; Section 43-10-118; Section 43-11-405; Section 43-8-104; Section 44-10-203; Section 44-11-105; Section 44-6-104; Section 47-26-1010; Section 53-1-204; Section 53-3-105; Section 53-3-106; Section 53-7-216 and Section 53-8-106.

Boards and Commissions - As enacted, prohibits the exclusion of persons from membership on state regulatory and health-related boards on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, and national origin; prohibits such boards from establishing or operating under race-based policies pertaining to their composition; removes requirement that appointing authorities strive to ensure certain boards and commissions are represented by members of racial minorities. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 21; Title 9; Title 62; Title 63 and Title 68.

Education - As enacted, prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, or religion against a student or an employee in a public institution of education; requires public institutions of education to treat harassment or discrimination against students or employees, or resulting from institutional policies or programs on their campuses, motivated by or including antisemitic intent in an identical manner to discrimination motivated by race; requires Title VI coordinators to be designated to monitor antisemitic discrimination and harassment at K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Hospitals and Health Care Facilities - As enacted, declares Perry County Community Hospital in Linden and Decatur County General Hospital in Parsons to be necessary providers for the purpose of critical access hospital designation eligibility in accordance with Section 1820 of the Social Security Act. - Amends TCA Title 68.

Funeral Directors and Embalmers - As enacted, authorizes a funeral director applicant who was not previously licensed in this state to substitute one year of apprenticeship with an associate degree from a college accredited by the American Board of Funeral Service Education or completion of a program of study in funeral service education. - Amends TCA Title 62, Chapter 5.

Traffic Safety - As enacted, defines "fully enclosed" as having side panels, a roll bar or roof, and a windshield with regard to crash helmet requirements not applying to autocycles that are fully enclosed. - Amends TCA Title 55.

Estates - As enacted, removes the cap on the amount of wages or other compensation owed a deceased employee at the time of the employee's death that an employer shall pay directly to the surviving spouse of the decedent or, if there is no surviving spouse, to the surviving children of the decedent as tenants in common. - Amends TCA Title 30 and Title 31.

Driver Licenses - As enacted, creates the Class B misdemeanor offense of operating a motor vehicle in this state with an invalid driver license; designates out-of-state driver licenses issued exclusively to illegal aliens as invalid driver licenses in this state. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 50.

Consumer Protection - As enacted, enacts the "Debt Resolution Services Act." - Amends TCA Title 47, Chapter 18.

Local Education Agencies - As enacted, requires LEAs to notify parents or guardians of a student at least 10 days before the student's individualized education program (IEP) meeting; requires LEAs to provide a copy of all evaluations and assessments of a student conducted for purposes of the student's IEP and, if created, a copy of a student's draft IEP, unless previously declined, to the student's parent or guardian at least 48 hours prior to a scheduled IEP team meeting. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 10 and Title 49, Chapter 6.

Statutes of Limitations and Repose - As enacted, extends the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of certain child sexual abuse felonies from 25 years from the child's eighteenth birthday to 30 years from the child's eighteenth birthday; extends the statute of limitations for a civil action based on child sexual abuse from 15 years from the child's eighteenth birthday to 30 years from the child's eighteenth birthday. - Amends TCA Title 28 and Title 40, Chapter 2.

Rogersville - Subject to local approval, authorizes holding of an advisory, nonbinding referenda. - Amends Chapter 519 of the Private Acts of 1911.

Naming and Designating - Tennessee Athletic Trainers Month, March -

Memorials, Interns - Jordan Riche -

Memorials, Recognition - Bob Kesling, 2025 Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee Hall of Fame inductee -

Memorials, Sports - Westview Lady Chargers girls' basketball team, Class 2A state champions -

Memorials, Sports - Greenfield Lady Yellowjackets basketball team, Class 1A state champions -

Memorials, Recognition - Chief Joe Williams -

Memorials, Recognition - George McDonald -

Memorials, Retirement - Ruth Kiser Cooke -

Memorials, Death - Albert Broward Blanton, Jr. -

General Assembly, Confirmation of Appointment - James S. "Steve" Jones, Fish and Wildlife Commission -

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As introduced, requires the office of research and education accountability (OREA), in the office of the comptroller of the treasury, to study and make recommendations for the implementation of an incentive program for educators who have 15 or more years' experience in education; requires OREA to report its findings and recommendations for implementation of the incentive program by December 31, 2025. - Amends TCA Title 8 and Title 49.

Education - As introduced, requires, if a local government adopts a budget that includes the required maintenance of effort for education funding but fails to appropriate or allocate the full amount budgeted to the LEA, the local government, in the following fiscal year, to appropriate and allocate the unfunded portion to the LEA; specifies that the maintenance of local funding effort required for a fiscal year following a fiscal year in which the local government failed to appropriate or allocate the full amount budgeted to the LEA must be determined based on the amount budgeted to the LEA for the previous fiscal year instead of the amount actually appropriated or allocated to the LEA by the local government. - Amends TCA Section 49-3-314.

Memorials, Recognition - Joseph Sikora -

Education - As introduced, enacts the "Family Right to Educational Emancipation (FREE) Act," which creates a new category of independent home schools that are not subject to the data collection, reporting, or assessment requirements applicable to existing independent home school programs and that exempts such home school students and parents from compulsory school attendance requirements; prohibits the department of safety from conditioning the issuance of a driver license or learner's permit on a school-aged applicant's attendance record or enrollment status. - Amends TCA Title 37; Title 49; Title 50 and Title 55.

Memorials, Interns - Abagael Hicks -

Memorials, Recognition - 100th anniversary of the Education Act of Tennessee -

Local Government, General - As introduced, requires county and city attorneys to consult with and advise elected county and city officials, the officials' deputies, and the officials' employees as to the proper application and enforcement of federal and state laws that are pertinent to carrying out the duties of the officials' respective offices. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 12 and Title 13.

Education, Dept. of - As introduced, changes the date, from October 15 to October 1, by which the department must notify local education agencies (LEAs) of all state and federal grants available to assist the LEA in expanding mental health services and resources in schools. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Traffic Safety - As enacted, authorizes counties to delegate authority to the chief administrative officer of the county highway department to set lower speed limits on county roads if the department employs an engineer who is capable of completing required engineering and traffic investigations. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 8.

Charitable Institutions - As enacted, establishes a five-day period after the effective date of this act during which a nonprofit organization may apply to operate a charitable gaming event during the annual period beginning July 1, 2025, until June 30, 2026. - Amends TCA Title 3, Chapter 17.

Real Property - As enacted, requires a buyer engaged in wholesaling real property to disclose certain information related to the buyer's equitable interest in the real property to the seller and a subsequent purchaser. - Amends TCA Title 47 and Title 66.

Real Estate Agents and Brokers - As enacted, exempts a real estate broker licensee who was originally licensed prior to January 1, 2005, and does not supervise any affiliate brokers from the requirement to furnish certification of satisfactory completion of 16 classroom hours in real estate courses for reissuance of a license for a licensure period after the period in which the licensee completed the required 120 classroom hours in real estate. - Amends TCA Title 62, Chapter 13.

State Employees - As enacted, clarifies that full-time employees of the general assembly are eligible for a waiver of tuition and fees for purposes of continuing education for more than one course at a time if the employees work more hours each week than typically required of full-time employment for at least four weeks per year. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 50.

Taxes, Hotel Motel - As enacted, extends by six years the period in which Davidson County may charge an additional $0.50 privilege tax on the occupancy of a hotel room and in which such county may allocate the tax revenue for the purposes of direct promotion of tourism; extends by six years the terms of the committee members that oversee the fund in which the additional tax is deposited. - Amends TCA Section 7-4-202.

Cemeteries - As enacted, changes the way that the fair market value of an improvement care trust fund is calculated for certain purposes; clarifies that the fee that a cemetery company charges for the memorial care of a commodity installed in the cemetery cannot exceed the fee charged by the company for installation of the commodity; makes other changes related to cemeteries. - Amends TCA Title 46.

Tobacco, Tobacco Products - As enacted, specifies that a prospective purchaser of tobacco, smoking hemp, vapor products, or smokeless nicotine products must produce proof of age prior to the sale being made; increases from 30 to 50 years the apparent age above which a seller is not required to demand presentation of proof of age. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17 and Title 43, Chapter 27.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, creates the Class B misdemeanor offenses of criminal impersonation of a transportation network company driver and criminal impersonation of a private passenger-for-hire vehicle driver. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 51; Title 39 and Title 65, Chapter 15.

Insurance Companies, Agents, Brokers, Policies - As enacted, revises the criteria by which certain domestic insurance companies may invest or acquire an interest in foreign investment assets, real property, and certain money market funds. - Amends TCA Title 56, Chapter 3, Part 4.

Interest Rates - As enacted, increases, from 30 to 36 percent per annum, the maximum permitted effective rate of interest that may be contracted for by an industrial loan and thrift company on an unpaid balance where the amount financed is $100 or more; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 45, Chapter 5.

Infectious Diseases - As enacted, deletes all references to the world health organization; requires a pandemic to be declared by the federal centers for disease and prevention control, rather than the world health organization, with a subsequent declaration of a state of emergency by the governor for the governor to have exclusive jurisdiction to issue executive orders and directives related to the pandemic until the pandemic ceases to exist. - Amends TCA Title 7 and Title 68.

Death - As enacted, removes the limitation that a death must have been anticipated for a registered nurse to make the actual determination and pronouncement of death if a deceased was a patient or resident at a nursing home, hospital, or assisted-care living facility. - Amends TCA Title 68.