Tennessee Bills

Real Property - As introduced, prohibits a homeowners' association from prohibiting a first responder from parking an emergency vehicle at the first responder's residence or on a roadway adjacent to the first responder's real property or from penalizing or threatening to penalize a first responder for parking an emergency vehicle at the first responder's residence or on a roadway adjacent to the first responder's real property. - Amends TCA Title 47 and Title 66.

Campaigns and Campaign Finance - As introduced, requires the registry of election finance to provide a nonexclusive list of the various categories of contributions that constitute in-kind contributions requiring disclosure to each member of the general assembly at the beginning of each yearly session and each candidate for state office within one week of the candidate certifying a treasurer with the registry. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 10.

State Government - As introduced, requires governor to cause proposed legislation that transfers functions between state departments be forwarded to the chairs of the government operations committees of both houses. - Amends TCA Title 4.

TennCare - As introduced, deletes an obsolete provision that required the comptroller of the treasury, in conjunction with any appropriate TennCare drug utilization review committees, to study the use of prescription drugs in nursing homes and the costs of those prescription drugs for residents of nursing homes; to examine prescription use overall; to focus on any practices that would improve the quality of resident care while reducing costs to the TennCare program; and to report by January 1, 2005, to the speaker of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 56 and Title 71.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, authorizes counties and cities to create by majority vote of the local legislative body the elected office of school superintendent. - Amends TCA Title 2 and Title 49.

Children - As introduced, adds to the definition of a dependent and neglected child a child whose parent or guardian is unable to provide care and control of the child due to circumstances beyond the parent's or guardian's control; requires this finding to be made by a court at an adjudicatory hearing. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 37.

Women - As introduced, requires the department of health to maintain a database of demographic information of women diagnosed with uterine fibroids; requires the department to publish on its website existing resources and educational materials on uterine fibroids to increase public awareness of uterine fibroids and treatment options. - Amends TCA Title 68.

Memorials, Death - Robert Earl Dudgeon -

Taxes, Sales - As introduced, urges the department of revenue to study the amount of revenue derived during the previous five fiscal years from the sales tax imposed on retail sales of non-prepared food, and from the general sales tax imposed on retail sales of prepared food; requires a report be submitted to the chairs of the finance, ways and means committees and the office of legislative budget analysis. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

Naming and Designating - As introduced, redesignates the Legislative Plaza and War Memorial Plaza, respectively, in front of the War Memorial Building as the "Winfield Dunn War Memorial Plaza." - Amends TCA Title 3, Chapter 1; Title 4 and Title 58, Chapter 4.

Motor Vehicles, Titling and Registration - As introduced, requires the validation or revalidation tab, sticker, or other device issued for a calendar year that is affixed to a registration plate must be a different color scheme than the color scheme of the validation or revalidation tab, sticker, or device issued for the previous calendar year. - Amends TCA Section 5-8-102 and Title 55, Chapter 4.

Alcoholic Beverages - As introduced, authorizes a retail alcohol licensee in a terminal building of a commercial air carrier airport to offer complimentary tastings for samples of the products it sells. - Amends TCA Title 57.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, creates an offense for a vape shop retailer, or a distributor, wholesaler, or importer, who sells or offers for sale a vapor product for retail sale in this state to sell Kratom and nitrous oxides. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 57, Chapter 7 and Title 67.

State Employees - As introduced, requires certain government employers to provide job-protected unpaid leave for a qualifying medical emergency to employees that meet certain criteria. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 49 and Title 50.

Water Pollution - As introduced, requires local approval of a tipping fee for application of sludge from water treatment plants onto agricultural lands, with proceeds earmarked for water treatment facilities, as a condition of such applications continuing in a locality; places a moratorium on certain permits in jurisdictions that do not provide such local approval. - Amends TCA Section 1-3-105; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 13, Chapter 7; Title 43; Title 68 and Title 69.

Real Property - As introduced, requires corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships that purchase or acquire residential rental property in this state to register the property with the secretary of state. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 13; Title 47; Title 48; Title 61 and Title 66.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, requires director of schools to report a student who was formally truant and now enrolled in a home school to juvenile court; establishes that unexcused absences accumulated by a transfer student at their former school or LEA during the school year in which they transfer follow the student to the receiving school or LEA to determine habitual truancy, to implement a progressive truancy plan, and to identify cases of educational neglect. - Amends TCA Title 37, Chapter 1, Part 1; Title 49, Chapter 1; Title 49, Chapter 2 and Title 49, Chapter 6.

Children - As introduced, adds to the definition of a dependent and neglected child a child whose parent or guardian is unable to provide care and control of the child due to circumstances beyond the parent's or guardian's control; requires this finding to be made by a court at an adjudicatory hearing. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 37.

Education, Higher - As introduced, requires the Tennessee higher education commission to develop a program to award full-time students enrolled in public institutions of higher education in this state a $250 grant for voluntarily obtaining testing for sexually transmitted diseases. - Amends TCA Title 10, Chapter 7 and Title 49.

Public Records - As introduced, creates an offense for using or selling an individual's personal identifying information obtained from a governmental entity for commercial use, punishable as a Class B misdemeanor. -

Alcoholic Beverages - As introduced, authorizes a retail alcohol licensee in a terminal building of a commercial air carrier airport to offer complimentary tastings for samples of the products it sells. - Amends TCA Title 57.

Education, Higher - As introduced, increases, from 30 to 45 days before the start of the academic term, the time by which a state government entity that establishes a scholarship using an educational investment plan must select the scholarship beneficiary and notify the board of trustees of the college savings trust fund program of the beneficiary. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 9; Title 10; Title 12; Title 49 and Title 50.

Health Care - As introduced, requires the annual report by the board of dentistry to be made by February 1 each year and sent to the general assembly, in addition to the governor. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Controlled Substances - As introduced, revises the definition of hemp to align with the federal definition as enacted in the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act of 2026. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 43 and Title 57.

Regional Authorities and Special Districts - As introduced, 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.

Nuisances - As introduced, prohibits any cause of action for nuisance, taking, or another claim against a racing facility or racetrack by the owner of a surrounding real property if the racing facility or racetrack was built before the owner of the surrounding real property purchased the real property or built in the area of the racing facility or racetrack, regardless of the date on which the cause of action is alleged to have arisen; prohibits a political subdivision from adopting or enforcing any ordinance, resolution, or regulation that would restrict, limit, or prohibit the operation of a racing facility or racetrack in a manner inconsistent. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 29.

Foster Care - As introduced, enacts the "Stable Homes for Foster Youth Act." - Amends TCA Title 37.

Health Care - As introduced, adds clinical informatics, lifestyle medicine, and medical virtualist to the list of words or abbreviations that a person may attach to a name to indicate or induce another person to believe that the person is engaged in the practice of medicine or osteopathic medicine. - Amends TCA Title 63, Chapter 6.

Lottery, Scholarships and Programs - As introduced, allows a private postsecondary institution that is a candidate for accreditation by a regional accrediting association and that has its primary campus domiciled in this state to serve as an institution at which a student may be enrolled for purposes of receiving financial aid funded using net proceeds of the state lottery. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 4, Part 9.

Tennessee Higher Education Commission - As introduced, requires the commission, in consultation with the department of finance and administration, to submit a report to the general assembly of the state appropriations made to each land grant institution in this state from 1987 to 2020, on a per pupil basis, by December 31, 2025. - Amends TCA Title 9 and Title 49.

Education - As introduced, deletes a pilot program, which was established to improve parent-teacher engagement in any grade from kindergarten through grade two in public schools, that expired in 2021. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Correction, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the department to develop and implement a performance-based contracting program for each contractor with which it contracts to operate prison facilities; requires the program to make the payment of an amount equal to 25 percent of the total funds appropriated to the contractor during a fiscal year conditional upon yearly performance improvements based upon a set of performance measures. - Amends TCA Title 41.

Taxes, Sales - As introduced, exempts from sales and use tax labor and service costs made as part of the sale of a taxable item of tangible personal property; exempts from sales and use tax repair and installation labor performed on tangible personal property. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, increases the penalty for assault against a firefighter, emergency services personnel, or other person who responds to calls for emergency assistance from a Class A misdemeanor with a mandatory minimum 30-day sentence and $5,000 fine to a Class E felony with a mandatory minimum 60-day sentence and $10,000 fine. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Health Care - As introduced, adds clinical informatics, lifestyle medicine, and medical virtualist to the list of words or abbreviations that a person may attach to a name to indicate or induce another person to believe that the person is engaged in the practice of medicine or osteopathic medicine. - Amends TCA Title 63, Chapter 6.

Evidence - As introduced, permits the introduction into evidence of a video recording of a child victim being interviewed by a forensic interviewer regarding sexual or physically violent contact with the child if the forensic interviewer is an employee of the department of children's services and meets certain requirements. - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 4, Part 2 and Title 24, Chapter 7, Part 1.

Sunset Laws - As introduced, extends the state energy policy council to June 30, 2027. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 68, Chapter 204.

Sunset Laws - As introduced, extends the local government planning advisory committee to June 30, 2027. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 7.

Education, Higher - As introduced, requires institutions of higher education to conduct various programs for intercollegiate athletes covering name, image, and likeness; authorizes institutions of higher education to collect talent fees; makes various other changes to intercollegiate athletes' name, image, and likeness authorizations and requirements. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29; Title 49, Chapter 7; Title 49, Chapter 8 and Title 49, Chapter 9.

Economic and Community Development - As introduced, enacts the "Employee Ownership, Empowerment, and Expansion Act" to support the growth and expansion of employee-owned businesses. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 9; Title 12, Chapter 3; Title 45; Title 50; Title 56, Chapter 1 and Title 67.

Consumer Protection - As introduced, prohibits healthcare providers from reporting a patient's medical debt to a consumer reporting agency; prohibits consumer reporting agencies from including on a consumer report a record of a medical debt. - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 8; Title 16; Title 18; Title 20; Title 21; Title 27; Title 28; Title 29; Title 45; Title 47; Title 63 and Title 68.

General Assembly, Statement of Intent or Position - Urges Mark Goins to resign as the Tennessee coordinator of elections. -

Campaigns and Campaign Finance - As introduced, authorizes the use of campaign funds for the payment of fines, fees, and penalties assessed for the violation of campaign finance or ethics laws. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 10.

Motor Vehicles - As introduced, authorizes a dealer applicant without an established place of business to be issued a motor vehicle dealer license if the applicant is a nonprofit religious organization that is organized or incorporated in this state, has its certificate of incorporation or authority in good standing with the secretary of state, and has an established program of receiving donations of motor vehicles that it donates to individuals and providing free vehicle repair services to individuals with demonstrated need of a motor vehicle or repair services necessary to the individual's effort to become a self-sufficient member of the workforce. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 17.

Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, deletes the criminal offenses of carrying a firearm or club with intent to go armed and carrying a weapon in a public park with the intent to go armed; prohibits a juvenile from carrying a firearm with intent to go armed except in certain circumstances. - Amends TCA Title 36; Title 37; Title 39; Title 49; Title 50 and Title 55.

Education - As introduced, enacts the "Tennessee School Safety Act of 2026"; requires a student who has been expelled on two or more separate occasions for the zero tolerance offense of threatening mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity to submit to a psychiatric examination conducted by a medical professional; prohibits the student from returning to school or a school-related activity until the medical professional finds that the student is no longer a threat to the school and can safely return to school. - Amends TCA Section 39-13-813 and Title 49, Chapter 6.

Motor Vehicles, Titling and Registration - As introduced, requires the validation or revalidation tab, sticker, or other device issued for a calendar year that is affixed to a registration plate must be a different color scheme than the color scheme of the validation or revalidation tab, sticker, or device issued for the previous calendar year. - Amends TCA Section 5-8-102 and Title 55, Chapter 4.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, increases the penalty for assault against a first responder from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony with a mandatory fine of $10,000 and a mandatory minimum sentence of 60 days. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 13.

Tort Liability and Reform - As introduced, creates a cause of action through which a victim can recover from a person, other than a professional bondsman or person with a bailable interest, who posts bail for a defendant and the defendant is subsequently convicted for a criminal offense that occurred while the defendant was on bail; allows the victim to recover for damage to property, injury, or death arising from the subsequent criminal offense. - Amends TCA Title 40.

Finance and Administration, Dept. of - As introduced, creates a law enforcement officer recruitment fund and grant program administered by the department for the purpose of assisting eligible law enforcement agencies in officer recruitment. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 9 and Title 38.

Criminal Procedure - As introduced, removes the requirement for a petitioner for restoration of citizenship or an applicant for a certificate of employability to pay the costs of the proceedings; makes other changes to the process for restoration of citizenship. - Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 29.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, creates an offense to knowingly inhale, ingest, use, or possess any compound, liquid, gas, or chemical that contains nitrous oxide. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 57, Chapter 7; Title 63 and Title 67, Chapter 4, Part 10.

Memorials, Recognition - Beverly Bell -

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, requires LEAs to publish the character education curriculum on the LEA's website. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Education, Curriculum - As introduced, clarifies that local education agencies and public charter schools shall instruct students about the formation of the governments of the United States and Tennessee using federal and state foundational documents at the appropriate grade level and consistent with social studies standards adopted by the state board. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Education, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the department to make the standardized form for reporting student allergies publicly available on its website. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Sunset Laws - As introduced, extends the state energy policy council to June 30, 2027. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 68, Chapter 204.

Sunset Laws - As introduced, extends the local government planning advisory committee to June 30, 2027. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 7.

Health Care - As introduced, changes from March 1 to February 1, the date by which a managed care organization that participates in the TennCare program must submit its annual report to the bureau of TennCare. - Amends TCA Title 71, Chapter 5, Part 1.

Parks, Natural Areas Preservation - As introduced, requires playgrounds at Booker T. Washington State Park and Harrison Bay State Park to be built no later than January 1, 2027; requires existing resources of the department of environment and conservation to be used to build the parks. - Amends TCA Title 11, Chapter 3.