Tennessee Senate Bills

Gambling - As introduced, designates illegal gambling and related activities as a violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act; expands the authority of the sports wagering council to investigate illegal gambling and gaming activity; expands the investigative authority of the attorney general and reporter to investigate unlawful activity within the purview of the attorney general and reporter. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 4, Chapter 49; Title 8, Chapter 6, Part 4; Title 40, Chapter 2 and Title 47.

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.

Children's Services, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the commissioner to develop and implement a statewide, outcomes-based, county-level quality assurance program no later than July 1, 2027; directs the commissioner to send reports to the general assembly detailing the department's progress toward implementing the program at the end of each fiscal year quarter until the program is fully implemented. - Amends TCA Title 37, Chapter 5.

Taxes, Real Property - As enacted, establishes the process for property tax assessment and valuation of multi-unit rental housing that receives a federal, state, or local incentive based on low-income renter restrictions. - Amends TCA Title 7; Title 13; Title 48; Title 49; Title 67 and Title 68.

State Government - As enacted, designates the Rhododendron and the Fall-O-Dendron festivals of Roan Mountain as the official Rhododendron and the Fall-O-Dendron festivals in this state in recognition of the festivals' contributions to the preservation of the heritage, history, and beautiful landscapes of this state. - Amends TCA Title 3; Title 4; Title 8 and Title 9.

State Government - As enacted, terminates the James K. Polk Memorial Association and requires the Tennessee historical commission to enter into good faith negotiations for the purchase and transfer of the James K. Polk Home in Columbia. - Amends TCA Title 4.

Lottery, Corporation - As introduced, vacates and reconstitutes the board of directors of the Tennessee education lottery corporation; requires certain information maintained by the corporation to be subject to a public records request; terminates the lottery corporation on June 30, 2030. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 10 and Title 49.

Appropriations - As introduced, makes appropriations for the fiscal years beginning July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026. -

Lafayette - Subject to local approval, moves the date of elections from coinciding with the primary in May to coinciding with the general election in November; increases the compensation of the council members from $100 to $150 for each council meeting and from $50 to $75 for each committee meeting; increases the annual salary of the mayor from $45,000 to $75,000; authorizes the mayor, subject to confirmation of the city council, a superintendent of streets and a superintendent of sanitation. - Amends Chapter 325 of the Private Acts of 1945; as amended.

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.

Dentists and Dentistry - As introduced, authorizes copies of the annual report of the board of dentistry to be provided to interested parties in an electronic format. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 63, Chapter 5.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, increases the penalty for assaulting a first responder from a Class A misdemeanor with a mandatory fine of $5,000 and a mandatory minimum of 30 days incarceration to a Class E felony with a mandatory fine of $10,000 and a mandatory minimum of 60 days incarceration. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, authorizes certain sitting or retired judges to carry weapons in any location that a law enforcement officer is authorized to carry a weapon if the judge could otherwise qualify for an enhanced handgun carry permit. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 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.

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. -

Immigration - As introduced, adds local governments to the entities that must verify that each applicant for public benefits is a United States citizen or lawfully present in the United States; authorizes the attorney general and reporter to investigate violations of requirements for verification of citizenship or presence for public benefits; requires certain reporting related to such verification for benefits. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 1 and Title 4, Chapter 58.

Alcoholic Beverages - As introduced, prohibits a person from furnishing, dispensing, or giving away alcoholic beverages or beer to a person who is not 21 or older at a private party or private event; requires the owner or operator of an event at which alcoholic beverages are served to submit with the request for approval for the event proof satisfactory that the owner or operator has taken reasonable steps to ensure that alcoholic beverages are not served to persons who are not 21 or older in attendance at the event. - Amends TCA Title 7 and Title 57.

Tennessee Arts Commission - As enacted, reconstitutes the commission. - Amends TCA Title 4.

Criminal Procedure - As enacted, requires a defendant who is ordered to wear a transdermal monitoring device or alternative device, including other alternative alcohol or drug monitoring device, or global positioning monitoring device, as a condition of pretrial release, and who has not been determined by the court to be indigent, to pay all fees associated with the installation, monitoring, maintenance, and operation of the device. - Amends TCA Title 38; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 55.

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.

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

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, creates a Class A misdemeanor offense of intentionally moving, altering, destroying, or removing a monument the person knows, or reasonably should know, is a property corner monument, historic land surveying monument, or geodetic control monument. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 62, Chapter 18 and Title 66.

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

Municipal Government - As enacted, creates a process for continuing funding for a municipal LEA when the municipal legislative body and the governing body for the LEA cannot agree on a budget; provides a process for continuing funding of municipal operations when a municipal legislative body has not adopted a budget by the first day of a fiscal year. - Amends TCA Title 6, Chapter 56, Part 1 and Title 6, Chapter 56, Part 2.

Charlotte - Subject to local approval, revises various provisions of the charter of the City of Charlotte relating to its corporate powers; the city council; the city clerk; codification of ordinances; duties of mayor; city court, judge, and court clerk; and budgeting, centralized purchasing, and taxes. - Amends Chapter 154 of the Private Acts of 1955; as amended.

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.

Taxes - As introduced, adds to the definition of a "qualified public use facility" as used in the Local Tourism Development Zone Business Tax Act a mixed-use development containing a performance venue with a seating capacity of at least 2,500; authorizes a municipality or public authority that has financed a qualified public use facility within a tourism development zone and that qualifies for an allocation of sales tax revenue from within that zone under the Convention Center and Tourism Development Financing Act of 1998 and under other provisions of sales tax law to use the revenue for purposes authorized in the act or other law. - Amends TCA Title 7 and Title 67.

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.

Winchester - Subject to local approval, expands the board of public utilities' jurisdiction to wastewater treatment systems; requires the mayor to serve as a standing member of the board during the mayor's term; creates four-year terms for members; and makes various other changes. - Amends Chapter 34 of the Private Acts of 2019.

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As introduced, clarifies that an individual who has begun, but not completed, the amount of clinical practice required by the educator preparation provider in which the individual is enrolled may receive a temporary clinical permit if all other requirements for the permit are satisfied; allows such an individual who is issued a temporary clinical permit to meet the clinical practice requirements of the EPP in which the individual is enrolled by combining the amount of clinical practice the individual completed before being issued a temporary clinical permit with the amount of time the individual taught under the temporary clinical permit. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 5.