Tennessee Senate Bills

Children - As enacted, adds the commissioner of mental health and substance abuse services, and one at large member with experience advocating for children, to the Tennessee second look commission; revises certain severe and aggravated child abuse offenses to include offenses involving strangulation; authorizes a court to order a child's custodian to submit certain documentation of compliance with preventative pediatric care consistent with the periodicity schedule of the American Academy of Pediatrics in certain situations; authorizes the department of children's services to initiate a visit to ascertain the wellbeing of a child if such documentation contains allegations of abuse or neglect. - Amends TCA Title 37; Title 38; Title 39 and Title 40.

Human Resources, Department of - As enacted, requires the department to annually publish on the department's website a report on the temporary assistance for needy families program's and the child care and development fund's balances and expenditures. - Amends TCA Title 71.

Local Education Agencies - As enacted, requires each LEA and public charter school to adopt an internet acceptable use policy; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Managed Care Organizations - As enacted, prohibits a managed care organization from including a provision in the managed care organization's contract with a qualified nursing facility to provide medicaid nursing facility services, that permit actual or constructive termination by the MCO without cause, for convenience, or termination without specifying the grounds for termination; requires the bureau of TennCare, in conjunction with the department of commerce and insurance, to review and approve all standard contract templates used by MCOs for facility contracting to ensure compliance. - Amends TCA Title 56; Title 68, Chapter 11 and Title 71, Chapter 5.

Immigration - As enacted, requires a memorandum of understanding entered between certain law enforcement agencies and federal officials concerning enforcement of federal immigration laws to include a requirement that the agency accept and honor any immigration detainer received from federal immigration authorities. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 38 and Title 41.

State Employees - As enacted, removes the requirement for waivers to be used only one course at a time for academic courses that full-time state employees are eligible to take without paying tuition charges, maintenance fees, student activity fees, registration fees, or online course fees; authorizes the waiver to be used for more than one course at a time. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 8.

Insurance Companies, Agents, Brokers, Policies - As enacted, generally requires a group policy in this state that provides hospital, surgical, or major medical expense insurance on an expense incurred basis to an employee or member to extend such policy coverage for a period of time when the employee or member has been terminated if certain criteria is met. - Amends TCA Title 56.

Motor Vehicles - As enacted, prohibits the motor vehicle commission from denying an application for a license, or revoking or suspending the license, of a manufacturer, distributor, distributor branch or factory branch or officer, agent or other representative because such person has failed to deliver motor vehicles within 60 days of a dealer's order due to an act of God, a work stoppage or delay due to a strike or other labor action, a lack of available manufacturing capacity, a freight embargo, or other cause or material issue over which the person has no control; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 55.

Water Authorities - As enacted, expands the areas served by the West Tennessee River Basin Authority to include Perry, Stewart, Houston, and Humphreys counties. - Amends TCA Title 64, Chapter 1, Part 11.

Athletic Trainers - As enacted, expands the scope of practice for athletic trainers by authorizing them to treat conditions that limit or prevent a person's participation in certain physical activities rather than just treating injuries that limit or prevent such participation; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 63, Chapter 24.

Death - As enacted, authorizes, as of January 1, 2027, a licensed paramedic to make an actual determination and pronouncement of death; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 29; Title 33; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Education - As enacted, allows student performance on the Classic Learning Test to be used alongside the ACT and SAT for various purposes; makes various changes to home school testing requirements and opportunities available to home school students. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Children - As enacted, clarifies that a child's parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian may, to the extent allowable by federal law, access and review all health and medical records of the child, including those records related to treatments available to unemancipated minors without parental consent; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 36; Title 37; Title 49; Title 63 and Title 68.

Interstate Compacts - As enacted, enacts the "Respiratory Care Interstate Compact Act." - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 63.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, creates a Class A misdemeanor offense when a person operates an unmanned aircraft within 400 feet of or above a ticketed entertainment event; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 10; Title 33; Title 36; Title 37; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41; Title 49; Title 50; Title 55 and Title 70.

Drugs, Prescription - As enacted, requires the Tennessee opioid abatement council to allocate funds held in the opioid abatement fund in a certain manner. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 38 and Title 41.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, includes in the offense of criminal trespass intrusion on property, or any portion of property, without the consent of the owner, by driving, parking, or otherwise operating a motorized vehicle or bicycle. - Amends TCA Title 11; Title 29; Title 39; Title 40; Title 44; Title 45; Title 46; Title 59; Title 66; Title 68 and Title 70.

Appropriations - As enacted, authorizes direct and continuing appropriations by certain airport authorities for the issuance of debt that is not a liability of the state and the payment of debt service thereon. - Amends TCA Title 9.

Local Education Agencies - As enacted, requires an LEA to close a virtual school not meeting certain requirements for continued operation; requires the department of education to maintain and publish on the department's website a list of providers that operated or managed a virtual school that was closed for not meeting the requirements for continued operation; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Public Health - As enacted, provides that any certificate of public advantage in effect on June 30, 2028, automatically expires but any pricing restrictions in a certificate of advantage remain in effect until the fifth anniversary of the expiration date or the date that a new inpatient acute care hospital opens in the geographic service area, whichever is earlier; requires the attorney general to supervise any pricing restrictions still in effect, and the pricing restrictions may only be modified by the mutual written agreement of the attorney general and the entity subject to the restrictions; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 9; Title 49; Title 53; Title 55 and Title 68.

Abortion - As enacted, revises present law that authorizes the attorney general to bring an action to enforce compliance with the Tennessee Abortion-Inducing Drug Risk Protocol Act or intervene as a matter of right in a case in which the constitutionality of such act is challenged; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 18; Title 29, Chapter 39 and Title 63, Chapter 6, Part 11.

Education - As enacted, requires the state board of education to establish a qualified dyslexia interventionist endorsement to allow an educator to provide targeted instructional intervention, academic support, behavioral support, or related services to students demonstrating characteristics of dyslexia. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Education - As enacted, revises law concerning math education; requires the state board of education, in developing and adopting a uniform grading system for students in grades 9-12, to include in such system the high school course grades achieved by students in eighth grade; specifies that the uniform grading system for students in grades K-8 must include K-8 course work. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Physicians and Surgeons - As enacted, requires the board of medical examiners to issue a provisional foreign training license of two years, which may be extended for an additional one year, to an internationally trained physician who has successfully completed the examination described in current law upon finding sufficient evidence that the internationally trained physician has met certain listed criteria; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 63.

Education - As enacted, requires TACIR, with the assistance of relevant state agencies, to conduct a comprehensive study on public school administered early childhood education programs in this state. - Amends TCA Title 9 and Title 49.

Firearms and Ammunition - As enacted, states that if the possession of a handgun is restricted or prohibited at a county courthouse, then the sheriff of the county may provide secure storage lockers for those individuals who are lawfully carrying a firearm to store the firearm in separate secured, lockable storage units at or near a designated public entrance to the building or structure at no cost to the individual. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 7; Title 8, Chapter 8 and Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13.

Education - As enacted, revises education law, including, but not limited to, increasing, from 25,000 to 35,000, the maximum number of education freedom scholarships that may be awarded to eligible students. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, increases the penalty for patronizing prostitution from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class B or Class A felony under certain circumstances that are currently punished as trafficking for a commercial sex act. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 13.

Alcoholic Beverages - As enacted, changes present law concerning common ownership of entities involved in the alcoholic beverages industry. - Amends TCA Title 57.

Education, Higher - As enacted, caps at $10 million per fiscal year the total amount of funds in the lottery for education account that may be transferred to the Tennessee Promise scholarship special reserve account. - Amends TCA Section 49-4-708.

Education, Higher - As enacted, removes various dates by which various reports must be submitted by various entities; makes various changes to the Tennessee student assistance award; requires new and existing transfer pathways to be reviewed on a rotating basis; authorizes the Tennessee higher education commission to conduct private meetings for certain purposes; makes various other changes related to financial aid and higher education. - Amends TCA Title 43, Chapter 6, Part 5 and Title 49.

Animal Cruelty and Abuse - As enacted, adds starvation resulting in death of a livestock animal to the types of conduct that constitute the Class E felony of aggravated cruelty to a livestock animal, when done in a depraved and sadistic manner without justifiable or lawful purpose. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 14, Part 2.

Computers and Electronic Processing - As enacted, generally prohibits a municipality or electric utility to pay or absorb the cost of electrical infrastructure incurred to serve a data center; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 13 and Title 65.

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As enacted, prohibits an educator from engaging in any sexually related behavior with certain students enrolled, graduated, or withdrawn from school; requires violations to be reported to the state board of education. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Drugs, Prescription - As enacted, authorizes a law enforcement officer to cause to be administered a blood or urine test on a person for the presence of a psychotropic drug if such officer has probable cause to believe that the person committed a mass shooting and the person consents to such test; clarifies that if the person is a minor, then a parent or legal guardian must consent; directs the health science center to study the drug interactions between any drugs found in the person's blood or urine. - Amends TCA Title 38; Title 40; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68.

Hospitals and Health Care Facilities - As enacted, increases from three to five the maximum number of nonrelated persons in a home for the aged to be considered a tier 1 home for the aged; increases from four to six the maximum number of nonrelated persons in a home for the aged to be considered a tier 2 home for the aged. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 11.

Sexual Offenders - As enacted, requires sexual offenders and violent sexual offenders to notify the owner or operator of any campground on which the offender intends to stay overnight of the offender's status as a sexual offender or violent sexual offender prior to beginning the stay; creates the offense of knowingly staying overnight at a campground without providing the required notice, which is punished as a Class E felony. - Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 39, Part 2.

Civil Emergencies - As enacted, requires a local emergency management agency to annually require all employees to receive training provided by TEMA on the "Mutual Aid and Emergency and Disaster Assistance Agreement Act of 2004," and the "Interlocal Cooperation Act"; encourages the chief executive of each police department, sheriff's department, fire department, public works department, highway department, municipal utility, or county or municipal finance office that is a participating government entity to designate employees to receive the training provided by TEMA. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 58, Chapter 2 and Title 58, Chapter 8.

Taxes, Real Property - As enacted, revises standards for the length of the redemption period for a property subject to a tax sale based on whether the period of delinquency is three years or less or is more than three years. - Amends TCA Section 67-5-2701.

Education, Curriculum - As enacted, requires each director of schools for an LEA and each director of a public charter school to annually ensure that students in grades K-12 enrolled in the LEA or public charter school observe the Fourth of July during the school year by receiving age- and grade-appropriate instruction on the founding of the United States, the separation of the original 13 colonies from Great Britain, the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the fundamental rights and freedoms enjoyed by American citizens. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 1; Title 49, Chapter 2; Title 49, Chapter 50 and Title 49, Chapter 6.

Immigration - As enacted, requires, until February 1, 2029, each court to cooperate with the U.S. department of homeland security and federal immigration authorities acting in the enforcement of federal immigration law; authorizes, until February 1, 2029, a judge who obstructs lawful operations by such department and such authorities acting in the enforcement of federal immigration law to be referred to the board of judicial conduct for proceedings; clarifies that any findings by the board that the judge committed judicial misconduct may be cause for removal. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 8; Title 16; Title 17 and Title 38.

Bail, Bail Bonds - As enacted, allows the court to temporarily revoke a defendant's bond and order the defendant held without bail for no more than 10 days pending a bail revocation hearing if the defendant violates a condition of release, is charged with an offense committed during the defendant's release, or engages in conduct that results in the obstruction of the orderly and expeditious progress of the trial. - Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 11.

Open Meetings - As enacted, authorizes local governmental bodies to conduct certain community meetings via electronic means of communication. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 8, Chapter 44.

Professions and Occupations - As enacted, specifies in various provisions that for a person to be eligible for a particular license, certificate, permit, or authorization, the person must be a citizen of the United States or a qualified alien. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 20; Title 23; Title 33; Title 37; Title 39; Title 42; Title 43; Title 44; Title 45; Title 46; Title 47; Title 49; Title 52; Title 53; Title 55; Title 56; Title 57; Title 59; Title 60; Title 62; Title 63; Title 67; Title 68; Title 69; Title 70; Title 71 and Chapter 463 of the Public Acts of 2025.

Motor Vehicles - As enacted, adds certain language comprehension requirements for certain driver licenses; requires documentation as a U.S. citizen or lawfully permitted in the U.S. for certain vehicle registrations; requires documentation as a U.S. citizen for certain driving and related licenses. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 4; Title 55, Chapter 50 and Title 65, Chapter 15.

Hazardous Materials - As enacted, makes various changes to the "Tennessee Drycleaner's Environmental Response Act." - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 217, Part 1.

Law Enforcement Training Academy - As enacted, authorizes the commissioner of general services to commission the director or a staff member of a law enforcement training academy; authorizes the department of general services to operate a sale facility at a law enforcement training academy for purposes of funding its operations. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 11 and Title 38, Chapter 8, Part 2.

Commerce and Insurance, Dept. of - As enacted, requires a chancery court that has found that a person engaged in or is about to engage in an act or practice constituting a violation of the Tennessee Securities Act of 1980 to appoint the commissioner as the receiver or conservator for the defendant upon request by the commissioner; makes other changes related to matters regulated by the department. - Amends TCA Title 48, Chapter 1, Part 1 and Title 49, Chapter 4, Part 1.

Public Contracts - As enacted, requires a state department, agency, or official who contracts with a business to acquire property or services to make payments under the contract to the business within a certain time frame after receipt of the invoice; requires such state departments, agencies, and officials to annually report to the chairs of the appropriate standing committees of the senate and house of representatives the number and aggregate amount of late payments made for the preceding fiscal year and the amount of interest paid and outstanding on such late payments. - Amends TCA Title 12, Chapter 4.

Local Education Agencies - As enacted, requires an LEA that operates a public high school that meets certain criteria to permit certain high school students who are enrolled in private schools to participate in interscholastic athletics at the public high school. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Correctional Programs - As enacted, requires each correctional officer at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center to utilize a body camera that is recording at all times while the officer is on duty at the facility and is in contact with or may reasonably anticipate contact or interaction with an inmate; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 10 and Title 41.

Correction, Dept. of - As enacted, requires a county incurring expenses pursuant to a criminal prosecution to provide an invoice of the expenses imposed on the county to the department; requires, within 60 days of receiving an invoice, the department to pay the amount of the invoiced expenses permitted by law to the county. - Amends TCA Title 40 and Title 41.

Real Property - As enacted, prohibits a unit owners' association or homeowners' association from prohibiting a lot owner from installing an electric vehicle charging station for the lot owner's personal use on property owned by the lot owners; makes other changes related to electric vehicle charging stations. - Amends TCA Title 48 and Title 66.

Codes - As enacted, expands present law's requirements for when a person engages a third-party inspector to complete locally required building inspections, as authorized in present law's statewide building construction safety standards. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 68.

Health Care - As enacted, enacts the "Caring for Caregivers Act." - Amends TCA Title 9; Title 33; Title 52; Title 67 and Title 68.

Real Property - As enacted, authorizes a tax increment agency to enter into a taxpayer agreement relative to a plan area after obtaining a written statement executed by each holder of an existing, previously recorded mortgage or deed of trust on the property securing indebtedness and in which each holder consents to the taxpayer agreement and indicates that the assessment does not constitute an event of default under the existing mortgage or deed of trust. - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 23 and Title 67, Chapter 5.

Election Laws - As enacted, authorizes, if a candidate changes treasurers and notifies the registry of election finance of the change, the candidate to continue to use print communication that includes the identification of the former treasurer until the print communication is exhausted. - Amends TCA Title 2.

Motor Vehicles, Titling and Registration - As enacted, exempts a military service member who is stationed out of state on military orders from paying the additional registration fee imposed on all-electric vehicles. - Amends TCA Section 55-4-116 and Section 55-6-107.

Domestic Violence - As enacted, makes various changes to the present law pertaining to the persistent domestic violence offender registry. - Amends TCA Title 18; Section 38-6-103; Title 39 and Title 40.

Military - As enacted, recognizes the United States space force as a distinct branch of the United States armed forces by adding the space force to definitions and provisions related to the military. - Amends TCA Title 2; Title 6; Title 8; Title 36; Title 39; Title 40; Title 49; Title 55; Title 58; Title 62; Title 63 and Title 66.