Tennessee House Bills

Tort Liability and Reform - As enacted, clarifies that any governmental entity may purchase any of the insurance authorized under state law, without the necessity of public bidding, as required by any public or private act or charter restriction, if such insurance is purchased through a plan authorized and approved by any organization of cities, counties, or other governmental entities as contemplated by state law. - Amends TCA Title 12; Title 12, Chapter 3 and Title 29.

Local Education Agencies - As enacted, authorizes an LEA to adopt and implement a merit-based pay structure for educators to award additional compensation to high-performing educators and to incentivize educators to meet and exceed expectations. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Game and Fish Laws - As enacted, authorizes persons to wear daylight fluorescent pink as a substitute for daylight fluorescent orange when hunting big game during gun hunts; deletes statutory definition of daylight fluorescent orange. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 70.

Local Education Agencies - As enacted, authorizes LEAs to enroll LEAs' employees' children into the voluntary pre-kindergarten program if space is available after enrollment of at-risk children; authorizes LEAs to charge the employee tuition and fees for such enrollment. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6.

Agriculture, Dept. of - As enacted, creates the Tennessee agriculture and forestry hall of fame as the successor to, and a continuation of, the Tennessee agricultural hall of fame; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 43, Chapter 1, Part 6.

Bail, Bail Bonds - As enacted, makes various changes regarding global positioning monitoring and the pretrial release of certain defendants. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 55, Chapter 10.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, adds the offense of robbery to the definition of crime of violence. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13.

State Symbols - As enacted, designates Nashville hot chicken as an official state food. - Amends TCA Title 4.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, expands the definition of "racketeering activity" to include committing, conspiring to commit, aiding, attempting to aid, soliciting, coercing, facilitating, or intimidating another person to commit the criminal offense of animal fighting. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Health Care - As enacted, enacts the "Fertility Treatment and Contraceptive Protection Act." - Amends TCA Title 63 and Title 68.

Boats, Boating - As enacted, removes the monitoring requirement for boating safety examinations; replaces statutory fees for boating safety certificates and replacement cards with authorization for TWRA to set such fees. - Amends TCA Title 69, Chapter 9.

Medical Occupations - As enacted, enacts the "Tennessee Physician Workforce Information Act." - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 49; Title 63 and Title 68.

Public Health - As enacted, requires a medical laboratory supervisor to be readily available for consultations during all hours when tests are performed; prohibits a medical laboratory supervisor from being required to be on laboratory premises. - Amends TCA Title 68.

County Government - As enacted, authorizes a county that has adopted the County Sheriff's Civil Service Act of 1974 to rescind such adoption by a two-thirds vote of the county legislative body. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 8, Part 4.

Education - As enacted, requires the Tennessee higher education commission (THEC), to serve as the governing board of directors for the Tennessee student assistance corporation; requires THEC's review committee to aid in the development or revision of state financial aid; terminates the Tennessee teaching scholars program; terminates the minority teaching fellows program. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 49.

Education - As enacted, prohibits the department of education from excluding from the calculation of a school letter grade the data of any group of students within a school if the department collects, aggregates, and reports the data, and if the group of students has at least 20 valid test scores in math or English language arts for at least one grade band; and data for the college and career readiness indicator if the school has at least 20 students in a graduating cohort. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Charitable Solicitations - As enacted, revises notification requirements regarding the provision to the secretary of state of solicitation materials to be used by a professional solicitor on behalf of a nonprofit organization. - Amends TCA Title 48, Chapter 101, Part 5.

Education, Higher - As enacted, prohibits institutions of higher education from excluding a person from benefits, activities, and employment, or making decisions, based on a person's race, color, ethnicity, or national origin; requires such institutions to provide notice of such prohibitions; authorizes injunctive and declaratory relief for violations. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 7.

Tattoos and Piercings - As enacted, permits tattoo artists who have been licensed in this state for fewer than three years but licensed in another state for 10 years or more to receive a tattoo artist licensure in this state; requires the tattoo artist to provide the tattoo artist's signature on this state's tattoo apprenticeship completion application signifying that the apprentice tattoo artist has met the requirement of law. - Amends TCA Title 62 and Title 68.

Orders of Protection - As enacted, expands the courts in Shelby County that can hear a petition for an order of protection to include a criminal court when the criminal court is hearing a criminal matter involving a domestic abuse victim, sexual assault victim, or stalking victim; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 16; Title 18 and Title 36.

Military - As enacted, defines "working day" for purposes of determining the military leave and compensation available to state and local government employees who are members of any reserve component of the armed forces of the United States who are called to active military service. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 33.

Veterans - As enacted, enacts the "Safeguarding American Veteran Empowerment (SAVE) Act." - Amends TCA Title 47 and Title 58.

County Government - As enacted, declares that the offices of sheriff, register, county clerk, assessor of property, and trustee are the constitutional officers of a county that has adopted a charter form of government; specifies the duties for each constitutional officer. - Amends TCA Title 5.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, extends the Tennessee Technological University, board of trustees, to June 30, 2030. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 49, Chapter 8.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, extends the Tennessee emergency management agency to June 30, 2029. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 58, Chapter 2.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, extends the Tennessee bureau of investigation to June 30, 2029. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 38, Chapter 6.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, extends the local government planning advisory committee to June 30, 2026. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 7.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, extends the department of mental health and substance abuse services to June 30, 2029. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 4, Chapter 3.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, extends the department of financial institutions to June 30, 2029. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 4, Chapter 3.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, extends the department of economic and community development to June 30, 2029. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 4, Chapter 3.

Nurses, Nursing - As enacted, requires the board of nursing to develop a survey to collect certain information from nurse practitioners who have been issued a certificate of fitness from the board; requires the board to submit a report regarding the survey to legislative committees. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 14; Title 29; Title 33; Title 37; Title 39; Title 53; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Environment and Conservation, Department of - As enacted, requires an agreement or contract entered into between the commissioner and a county health department for the department to implement subsurface sewage disposal requirements to include authority for the commissioner to issue a variance in certain circumstances. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 221, Part 4.

Education, Curriculum - As enacted, establishes that family life curriculum must include age-appropriate instruction and evidence regarding the positive personal and societal outcomes associated with the method by which a person completes the following in sequential order: obtains a high school diploma or high school equivalency credential; enters into the workforce or pursues a postsecondary degree or credential; enters into marriage; and has children. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 13.

Education - As enacted, requires a school support organization and a group or organization that collects and raises money, materials, property, or securities while representing itself to be a school support organization to annually provide a detailed report of the organization's receipts and expenditures while representing itself to be a school support organization to the department of education by July 1 each year, unless the school support organization is a booster club, parent teacher association, parent teacher organization, or parent teacher support association; requires the department to publish the reports on the department's website for at least three years from the date on which the report was submitted. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Drugs, Prescription - As enacted, requires a county medical examiner to test for, and obtain certain information concerning, the presence of any drugs in a decedent in certain situations; requires the health science center to conduct certain studies regarding drug interactions and submit quarterly reports to the general assembly. - Amends TCA Title 38; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68.

DUI Offenses - As enacted, requires the state treasurer to deem a person ordered by a court to use a functioning ignition interlock device to be indigent and unable to pay the costs of the device if the person receives funds from the supplemental nutrition assistance, temporary assistance for needy families, or state medicaid program; removes the requirement that a court determine whether a person asserting inability to pay for a functioning ignition interlock device is indigent; revises other provisions relative to the electronic monitoring indigency fund. - Amends TCA Section 55-10-419.

Secretary of State - As enacted, allows a litigation financier that is not a business entity or partnership to amend or withdraw its registration with the secretary of state by filing a form prescribed by the secretary of state, along with a filing fee of $20. - Amends TCA Title 47, Chapter 16.

Public Funds and Financing - As enacted, redefines "local government" to include a water, wastewater, or energy authority for purposes of the present law applicable to bonds and notes issued by local governments; makes other related revisions. - Amends TCA Section 9-21-133 and Title 9, Chapter 21, Part 4.

Schools, Charter - As enacted, establishes a process by which the governing body of an existing public charter school may replicate that public charter school in the same district by applying to the local board of education or directly to the Tennessee public charter school commission; allows, in certain circumstances, a public charter school sponsor to apply directly to the commission to open a new public charter school; makes various changes to the state agencies responsible for performing certain functions in the Tennessee Public Charter Schools Act of 2002. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 13.

Regional Authorities and Special Districts - As enacted, requires that interest income accruing on investments and deposits as a result of the Megasite Authority of West Tennessee's collection of rates to customers of a water system or wastewater system operated by the authority be credited to a separate account and carried forward into each subsequent fiscal year. - Amends TCA Section 64-9-107.

Education - As enacted, makes various changes to reporting requirements, school and district accountability, the accumulation of excess instructional time, remote instruction, the immunization status of students in state custody, the individualized education account program, public virtual school enrollment, and certain course access program requirements imposed on the department of education. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 50, Part 8; Title 49, Chapter 1, Part 6; Title 49, Chapter 1, Part 9; Title 49, Chapter 10, Part 14; Title 49, Chapter 16, Part 2; Title 49, Chapter 18, Part 1; Title 49, Chapter 2, Part 1; Title 49, Chapter 3, Part 1; Title 49, Chapter 3, Part 3; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 10; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 30; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 31; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 41; Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 50; Title 49, Chapter 1, Part 2 and Chapter 1005 of the Public Acts of 2024.

Expunction - As enacted, reorganizes present statutes concerning expunction and specifies that facilitation, attempt, or solicitation of an offense that is presently eligible for expunction is also eligible for expunction. - Amends TCA Title 7; Title 16; Title 38; Title 40; Title 55 and Title 57.

Civil Procedure - As enacted, requires, in a child custody order, the court to include written findings of fact as to whether the limitations in present law relative to restrictions in temporary or permanent parenting plans apply; makes other changes relative to child court proceedings; clarifies, for purposes of domestic abuse law, that "abuse" includes acts inflicted directly by the offending party or indirectly through a third party, including, but not limited to, a family member, friend, significant other, or coworker, on behalf of the offending party. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 37.

Children - As enacted, allows a child care agency to lease or purchase underutilized property from local education agencies; classifies a child care family home as residential property for certain purposes, including zoning and building codes; permits a host-school's fire inspection and facilities to be sufficient for a child care agency's provisional license under the department of human services. - Amends TCA Title 13; Title 49; Title 68 and Title 71.

Health Care - As enacted, adds that the governor's appointee for the health facilities commission who is a representative of the assisted-care living facility industry may be appointed from lists of qualified persons submitted by interested groups, including the Tennessee Center for Assisted Living; requires the commission to submit certain reports to the general assembly. - Amends TCA Title 68.

Water - As enacted, clarifies that if a point-of-entry treatment device is installed in a facility solely to soften hard water and, because of the installation of such a device, the house, building, or complex of buildings meets the definition of a public water system under the Tennessee Safe Drinking Water Act of 1983, then the facility constitutes a consecutive system, and is required to monitor the influent and finished water for hardness, alkalinity, and pH on a quarterly basis, and sodium on an annual basis, and report the results to the department of environment and conservation within 15 days of the end of the reporting period. - Amends TCA Title 68.

Sewage - As enacted, establishes a deadline for consideration of certain subsurface sewage disposal system applications submitted by soil scientists. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 68, Chapter 221 and Title 69, Chapter 3.

Highways, Roads and Bridges - As enacted, lifts certain restrictions on temporary borrow pits used to source material for a road work construction project performed in a FEMA-certified county under a contract for construction work entered into with the state that is part of a state or local Hurricane Helene recovery effort. - Amends TCA Title 54, Chapter 1.

Local Education Agencies - As enacted, requires an LEA that receives credible information regarding a threat of violence or significantly disruptive behavior directed toward, or occurring on the grounds of, a public school in the LEA, and that reports the threat or disruptive behavior to a state or local law enforcement agency, to notify the parents and guardians of students enrolled in the public school of the same threat or disruptive behavior within 48 hours of the LEA making its report to law enforcement. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Education - As enacted, prohibits a local board of education or public charter school governing body from removing a material from a library collection for the sole reason that the material is religious. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Health Care - As enacted, enacts the "Medical Ethics Defense Act." - Amends TCA Title 63.

Education - As enacted, authorizes a state university board of trustees to conduct private meetings to discuss or deliberate on matters related to senior administration, personnel positions, and contracts, without taking action on such matters in a private meeting. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 14; Title 49, Chapter 4; Title 49, Chapter 50; Title 49, Chapter 7; Title 49, Chapter 8 and Title 49, Chapter 9.

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.

Medical Occupations - As enacted, makes various changes relative to marriage and family therapist licensure. - Amends TCA Title 33 and Title 63.

Tennessee Fish & Wildlife Commission - As enacted, authorizes the commission to regulate the operation of sport shooting ranges rather than firing ranges; authorizes the Tennessee wildlife resources agency to establish fees for the use of such ranges in operation prior to July 1, 1998. - Amends TCA Title 70.

Public Property - As enacted, clarifies exception to when a state entity must advertise for leasing space when the entity has requirements that are special and unique. - Amends TCA Section 12-2-114.

Consumer Protection - As enacted, revises one of the definitions of a "nonprofit organization" for purposes of the Tennessee Information Protection Act to mean a public utility organized or regulated, instead of only organized, under the laws of this state. - Amends TCA Title 47.

Interest Rates - As enacted, removes the weighted average yield of the accepted offers of the Federal National Mortgage Association's current free market system auction and the 30-year treasury yield as the two bases upon which the maximum effective rate of interest on home loans may be set by the commissioner of financial institutions, and replaces them with the average prime offer rate. - Amends TCA Title 45 and Title 47.

Agriculture - As enacted, enacts the "Tennessee Century Farms Act" for the purpose of recognizing the historical significance of family farms that have been in continuous operation in this state for over 100 years and to highlight their contribution to agriculture in and the economy of this state. - Amends TCA Title 43.

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.