Tennessee House Bills

Children - As introduced, revises various provisions governing surrendering custody of unwanted infants, including adding an ambulance station that has staff scheduled 24 hours a day to the list of facilities that must receive possession of a newborn infant left on the premises with an employee or member of the professional medical community if certain listed conditions are met. - Amends TCA Title 36, Chapter 1, Part 1 and Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2.

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

Bond Issues - As enacted, authorizes the state to issue and sell bonds. -

Hamblen County - Subject to local approval, abolishes the Hamblen County Road Commission, effective August 31, 2028. - Repeals Chapter 313 of the Private Acts of 1949; as amended.

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.

Education - As introduced, deletes an obsolete pilot program that awarded grant funds to five local education agencies to implement innovative and high-quality preschool programs in the 2023-2024 school year; deletes a Tennessee preschool task force that was created to develop a strategic plan for preschool education by June 1, 2024. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 49.

Pensions and Retirement Benefits - As introduced, 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 a police officer's credit for a period of disability to be at no cost to the officer. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 34, Part 6.

Fireworks - As introduced, increases from 10 calendar days to 10 business days, the deadline by which applications for permits for public fireworks displays must be made in writing in advance of the proposed display. - Amends TCA Title 68.

Obion County - Subject to local approval, clarifies that the county highway superintendent of the county highway department be appointed by the county commission pursuant to state law. - Amends the private acts of Obion County.

Recycling - As introduced, requires certain state departments to file annual reports on recycling to the general assembly no later than December 31 of each year. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 68, Chapter 211.

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

Local Government, General - As introduced, authorizes municipalities and metropolitan governments to adopt a tiered system of monetary penalties for repeated violations of the same municipal ordinance by the same person or entity within a 12-month period. - Amends TCA Title 6 and Title 7.

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.

Law Enforcement - As introduced, requires TACIR to conduct a study of the salaries and other benefits paid to state and local law enforcement officers in this state. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 9 and Title 38.

Hospitals and Health Care Facilities - As introduced, prohibits hospital emergency departments from denying an appropriate medical screening examination to a pregnant woman who presents at the emergency department reporting to be in active labor or experiencing an emergency medical condition; prohibits transferring the pregnant woman unless her condition has been stabilized; requires that a transfer be under certain conditions and only upon the recommendation of an examining physician or qualified medical professional; imposes penalties and licensing sanctions for violations. - Amends TCA Title 63 and Title 68.

Fireworks - As introduced, 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.

Taxes, Sales - As enacted, extends the deadline by which a county that borders at least three distressed rural counties must apply to be eligible to retain the sales and use tax generated from a commercial development district from December 31, 2026, to December 31, 2040; extends the deadline for the commissioner of finance and administration to approve a commercial development district from June 30, 2031, to June 30, 2041. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

Driver Licenses - As introduced, 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.

Sunset Laws - As enacted, extends the department of children's services to June 30, 2028; requires the department to report back to the government operations committee by December 31, 2026, to update the committee on its progress in addressing the findings and observations set forth in the December 2025 performance audit report. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 37, Chapter 5.

Victims' Rights - As introduced, increases the victims assistance assessment from $45 to $125, with the first $15 allocated to the court clerk and the remainder directed to county-designated victim assistance programs. - Amends TCA Section 40-24-109.

Courts - As enacted, enacts the "Recovery Court Renewal Act." - Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 32, Part 1.

Children - As introduced, urges the department of finance and administration, in consultation with the attorney general and reporter or other departments or agencies of state or local government, to study and submit a report to the general assembly on state funding sources derived from litigation or investigations in this state that are used to support the protection of children's mental health and safety online, including, but not limited to, any civil penalties recovered by the state in any actions brought pursuant to the Protecting Children from Social Media Act. - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 4, Part 2.

Civil Procedure - As enacted, clarifies that the same immunities from civil liability, adverse action, and disciplinary action, and duties, that apply to this state, state employees, public schools, LEAs, public school students, public school teachers, public school employees, public school contractors, public institutions of higher education, public higher education students, public higher education faculty, public higher education employees, and public higher education contractors with regard to the use of a pronoun consistent with an individual's sex applies when using an honorific that is consistent with an individual's sex. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 50; Title 49, Chapter 7, Part 24 and Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 51.

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

Alcoholic Beverages - As enacted, establishes new premier type tourist resorts, restaurants, community theaters, clubs, retirement centers, premises, and commercial passenger boat companies that can offer liquor by the drink; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 57.

Education - As introduced, changes the definition of economically disadvantaged for purposes of the weighted allocations generated for such students in the Tennessee investment in student achievement formula; requires the department of education to allocate additional funds to an LEA that experiences a reduction in the LEA's TISA allocation in certain circumstances; requires the department to seek an amendment to this state's Every Student Succeeds Act plan to change the definition of the economically disadvantaged student subgroup. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 1 and Title 49, Chapter 3.

Open Meetings - As introduced, 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.

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.

Sardis - Subject to local approval, removes archaic references to debtor's prisons, city marshal, the original members of the board of mayor and aldermen, and city recorder authority; sets salaries of board members by ordinance rather than by charter; authorizes the board to set meeting dates by ordinance rather than by charter, increases terms of the mayor and aldermen from two to four years; and removes certain residency requirements for legal qualified voters who live within the municipality. - Amends Chapter 833 of the Private Acts of 1949; as amended.

Schools, Charter - As introduced, 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.