Tennessee Bills

Boards and Commissions - As introduced, transfers oversight of the board of boiler rules and the elevator and amusement device safety board from the department of labor and workforce development to the department of commerce and insurance. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 62 and Title 68.

Education, Dept. of - As introduced, changes from July 31 to July 1 the date by which an LEA director of schools must send a report to the department if the LEA did not contract for or employ at least one school nurse for every 750 students. - Amends TCA Title 49 and Title 68.

Public Funds and Financing - As introduced, requires the state treasurer to allocate and deposit 10 percent of the investment income earned by the state pooled investment fund each fiscal year to the state highway fund. - Amends TCA Section 9-4-603.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, creates the Class B misdemeanor offense of interfering with a religious institution if a person acts to intentionally obstruct, disturb, or interfere with the activities of the religious institution by making an utterance, gesture, or display in a manner that is offensive to the sensibilities of an ordinary person, either within the place where the meeting is held or so near it as to disturb the order and solemnity of the activities; defines "religious institution" as a church, temple, synagogue, mosque, or other place of worship. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) - As introduced, creates a 3 percent weighted allocation for a student who resides in a school district with a membership between 1,001 and 1,250, both inclusive. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Agriculture, Dept. of - As introduced, bases indemnity payments for an animal that is destroyed to prevent the spread of disease on the fair market value of the animal, subject to available funds. - Amends TCA Title 44.

Public Funds and Financing - As introduced, requires that 10 percent of the payments paid to or retained by the state from the Tennessee valley authority in lieu of taxes be allocated to the wildlife resources fund and used for boating and wildlife resources purposes. - Amends TCA Title 11; Title 67; Title 69 and Title 70.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, requires a posted sign or notice intended to warn violators that trespassers by motor vehicle will be prosecuted to clearly define the area in which driving, parking, standing, or otherwise operating a motor vehicle is prohibited. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Safety - As introduced, requires a private residence elevator that is newly constructed and accepted on and after July 1, 2027, to register with the department of labor and workforce development within seven days of being placed into service; makes certain other changes relative to private residence elevators. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 121.

Scholarships and Financial Aid - As introduced, adds Western Governors University as an educational institution at which an active member of a federally recognized unit of the Tennessee national guard may receive tuition reimbursement through the Tennessee Support, Training, and Renewing Opportunity for National Guardsmen (STRONG) Act of 2017. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 4.

Health, Dept. of - As introduced, directs the department to create an outreach campaign regarding the ongoing research of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease; terminates the outreach campaign on July 1, 2027. - Amends TCA Title 68.

Taxes, Sales - As introduced, exempts the retail sale of fresh fruit and vegetables for human consumption from the food retail sales tax. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

General Assembly, Directed Studies - As introduced, establishes a nine-member Tennessee K-12 nutrition task force to evaluate the prevalence of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and other substances in public school meal programs and the impact of UPFs on student health, to report its findings by December 1, 2026, and to terminate January 31, 2027. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Lobbying, Lobbyists - As introduced, provides that a school board, municipal utility, utility district, and department, agency, or entity of county or municipal government that employs a contractor, subcontractor, or representative for purposes of lobbying is deemed to be an employer of a lobbyist. - Amends TCA Title 2; Title 3 and Title 8.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, expands the offense of aggravated criminal trespass to include trespassing that results in the disruption of a religious assembly, which is a Class A misdemeanor. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Taxes, Sales - As introduced, reduces the rate on the state sales tax on food and food ingredients from 4 percent to 2 percent of the sales price. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, changes the timing of when an LEA must file with the local education insurance committee any changes in health benefits offered under a local insurance plan from at least 30 days prior to the effective date of the changes to at least 40 days prior. - Amends TCA Title 8.

Taxes, Sales - As introduced, authorizes a qualified data center that applies for job tax credits to certify electronically that it has not, within the previous 12 months, been found to be in violation of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, or federal immigration laws. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

TennCare - As introduced, directs the first $150 million of tax revenue generated by the health maintenance organization tax on or after July 1, 2026, to be utilized to draw down federal funds to reimburse a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant who is entitled to receive TennCare reimbursement for a CPT code for evaluation and management, obstetrics and gynecology, or anesthesia. - Amends TCA Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Taxes - As introduced, enacts the "End the Grocery Tax Act." - Amends TCA Title 57 and Title 67.

Taxes, Sales - As introduced, expands sales tax exemptions on repair and refurbishment of aircraft and aircraft components, including equipment and parts used, performed by Tennessee-based aircraft repair companies from only large or transport category aircraft to include all aircraft, including helicopters, that will be removed outside the state following repair. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6, Part 3.

Courts - As introduced, effective September 1, 2030, divides counties into five, instead of seven, different classes by population for the purpose of determining the compensation of general sessions and juvenile judges; revises provisions setting minimum salary requirements for general sessions and juvenile judges; establishes a county litigation tax on each civil, criminal, juvenile, and traffic case initiated in a general sessions or juvenile court to defray general sessions and juvenile judges' salaries; makes other related revisions. - Amends TCA Title 16, Chapter 15, Part 50.

Sentencing - As introduced, states that there is a rebuttable presumption that a defendant convicted of aggravated assault is not a favorable candidate for probation if the offense involved the use or display of a firearm during the commission of the offense. - Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 35.

District Attorneys - As introduced, requires TACIR to study and prepare a report on pay equity for assistant district attorneys general in this state. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 8, Chapter 7.

Health Care - As introduced, revises requirement for the department of commerce and insurance to report on coverage for mental health, alcoholism, and drug dependency. - Amends TCA Title 56.

Taxes, Exemption and Credits - As introduced, exempts from the sales and use tax the purchase of a motor vehicle that is registered in this state by a qualifying member of the Tennessee national guard; applies the sales tax exemption only to the first $15,000 of the sales price and only to one vehicle sold to such individual within a five-year period. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6, Part 3.

Health Care - As introduced, redefines a licensed professional counselor as a limited practice professional counselor; redefines a licensed professional counselor with a designation as a mental health service provider as a licensed professional counselor; terminates the issuance of limited practice professional counselor licenses on July 1, 2028. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 33; Title 36; Title 49; Title 52; Title 56; Title 63 and Title 68.

Taxes, Exemption and Credits - As introduced, authorizes an excise tax credit for brewers that donate spent grain byproducts for agricultural use. - Amends TCA Title 43; Title 57 and Title 67.

Taxes - As introduced, repeals the professional privilege tax for tax years that begin on and after June 1, 2026. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 4, Part 17.

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As introduced, allows the state board of education to waive the educator licensure requirement for an individual who does not hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year institution, but who has at least five years of teaching experience at a church-related school or private school approved to operate in this state, if the individual meets certain requirements. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Disability and Aging, Dept. Of - As introduced, creates a licensure process for prescribed pediatric extended care programs; requires TennCare to submit a waiver to the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services seeking approval to provide coverage and benefits for those who receive services from a prescribed pediatric extended care program. - Amends TCA Title 52; Title 56 and Title 71.

General Assembly - As introduced, decreases from 50 to 25 miles a member's principal residence is from the capitol for purposes of the member receiving the hotel portion of per diem; prohibits such members from receiving a daily mileage allowance. - Amends TCA Section 3-1-106.

Taxes, Real Property - As introduced, eliminates liability for rollback taxes on agricultural, forest, or open space land with a greenbelt classification when the land is sold; requires that a buyer of property with a greenbelt classification submit a new application to renew the property's greenbelt classification. - Amends TCA Section 11-14-307; Section 11-14-406; Section 11-7-109; Title 66; Section 67-4-409; Title 67, Chapter 5, Part 10 and Section 67-5-2402.

Taxes, Sales - As introduced, exempts from the state sales and use tax the retail sale of food and food ingredients. - Amends TCA Title 57, Chapter 3 and Title 67.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, creates a Class C felony of reckless endangerment involving community terrorism, which is committed against a population within a geographic territory by members of a criminal gang or within 1,000 feet of a school or park; requires the sentencing court to revoke or prohibit the issuance of a driver license to individuals convicted of such offense for a five-year period following conviction. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 13 and Title 40, Chapter 35.

Education - As introduced, requires local education agencies and public charter schools to provide all high school students, instead of only high school seniors, the opportunity to take a nationally recognized career readiness assessment; requires the board of regents to establish a framework for institutions governed by the board to provide transcribable credit to students who earned a credential on a nationally recognized career readiness assessment in high school that may be applied toward the student's attainment of a postsecondary degree. - Amends TCA Title 49.

TennCare - As introduced, increases from 67.5 percent to 110 percent the rate of reimbursement of the federal medicare program's allowable charges for participating providers the bureau shall reimburse an ambulance service provider; deletes the Ground Ambulance Service Provider Assessment Act. - Amends TCA Title 68 and Title 71.

Human Services, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the department to apply for federal grants and other federal funds available to the state through the federal summer electronic benefits transfer (SEBT) for children program during any year in which the program is offered, for the purpose of providing nutrition assistance through SEBT during the summer months for each eligible child. - Amends TCA Title 49 and Title 71.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, requires boards of education that contract for transportation services with persons owning equipment to provide school transportation facilities to all students who live more than 1.5 miles by the nearest accessible route from the school to which they are assigned by the board of education and in which they are enrolled. - Amends TCA Title 49; Title 55, Chapter 4; Title 55, Chapter 50 and Title 55, Chapter 8.

Motor Vehicles, Titling and Registration - As introduced, exempts from the sales and use tax the sale of a motor vehicle to an active-duty military service member who is a resident of this state and stationed out-of-state. - Amends TCA Section 67-6-303.

Taxes, Exemption and Credits - As introduced, exempts from the state sales and use tax the retail sale of food and food ingredients that are voucher-eligible under the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

School Transportation - As introduced, lowers the minimum age, from 25 to 23, that is necessary to receive an initial school bus endorsement; authorizes local boards of education and public charter school governing bodies to adopt policies prescribing the qualifications of school bus drivers in the interest of the safety and health of school pupils. - Amends TCA Section 5-8-102; Title 49 and Title 55.

Education, Higher - As introduced, requires each public institution of higher education to classify a student who is the spouse of a service member who has not resided in this state for at least one year as an in-state student for tuition purposes if the service member's spouse resides in this state while enrolled in the institution; adds dependants of active-duty military personnel or veterans residing outside of this state to those who are eligible to receive the in-state tuition rate at a public institution of higher education; requires, instead of allows, the governing board of each such institution to provide the in-state tuition rate to military-affiliated individuals. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Taxes, Exemption and Credits - As introduced, exempts the retail sale of food and food ingredients from the sales and use tax when purchased by families with qualified dependents that meet certain household income requirements. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

Orders of Protection - As introduced, increases from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony the penalty for the criminal offense of violation of an order of protection if the order violated was a lifetime order of protection and the conviction that the lifetime order of protection was based on involved the use of force against a victim. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 39.

Firefighters - As introduced, requires this state's employee assistance program, including components for mental health and wellness, to be available to all active members of a volunteer fire department and all active volunteer members of a combination fire department; makes various other changes. - Amends TCA Section 8-50-119 and Title 68, Chapter 102.

DUI Offenses - As introduced, adds a 30-day mandatory minimum period of incarceration for persons convicted of driving under the influence if, at the time of the offense, the person was within a marked school zone and a warning flasher or flashers were in operation. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 40 and Title 55, Chapter 10.

Taxes, Exemption and Credits - As introduced, exempts the retail sale of food and food ingredients from the sales and use tax when sold on the fifth day of any month. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

Immigration - As introduced, requires reporting by law enforcement agencies and local governmental entities and officials regarding persons not lawfully present in the United States; requires the department of finance and administration to report the annual cost incurred by this state for public schools, including public higher education institutions, prisons, hospitals, and social services agencies to provide benefits and services to persons not lawfully present in the United States. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 8 and Title 9.

Public Funds and Financing - As introduced, enacts the "Tennessee Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act." - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 4.

Highways, Roads and Bridges - As introduced, requires 95.3970 percent, instead of 100 percent, of sales and use tax revenue generated from the sale of new or used tires to be deposited in the highway fund; adds 95.3970 percent of sales and use tax revenue generated from the sale of new or used motor vehicles to be deposited in the highway fund; requires the remaining 4.6030 percent of such revenue to be allocated to the several incorporated municipalities; allocates single article sales tax collections on the retail sale of new or used motor vehicles to the highway fund. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 54; Title 55; Title 65 and Title 67.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, increases the penalties for a violation of the offense of introduction or possession of contraband into a penal institution from a Class C felony to a Class B felony for certain acts and certain types of contraband, from a Class D felony to a Class C felony for certain acts and certain types of contraband, and from a Class E felony to a Class D felony for certain acts involving a telecommunication device if the violation resulted in the death of another person. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As introduced, requires LEAs to classify school nurses as licensed personnel for salary purposes; requires an LEA to pay a school nurse the base salary established for licensed teachers for the respective school year in certain circumstances; requires an LEA to pay a school nurse more or less than the established base salary per school year if the nurse has more or less training and experience than that required for the base salary. - Amends TCA Title 49 and Title 68.

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As introduced, enacts the "Tennessee Civics Education Act," which requires persons seeking the first issuance of a practitioner teacher license or practitioner occupational teacher license to achieve a passing score on a United States civics test prepared by the department of education in order to obtain the license. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, prohibits the use of a telecommunication device, with intent to deprive the owner of property, to fraudulently obtain or exercise control over the property of another without the owner's effective consent, which is punishable as theft, but in no event less than a Class E felony. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Taxes, Exemption and Credits - As introduced, exempts certain school supplies and instructional materials from the sales and use tax if sold to a teacher employed by a local education agency or public charter school. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, increases the penalty for knowingly using an unmanned aircraft over any portion of a property that includes a correctional facility from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class C felony; authorizes a correctional facility employee to disable an unmanned aircraft that is operating over property that includes a correctional facility and states that the correctional facility and the correctional facility employee are not liable for damage to the unmanned aircraft as a result of being disabled. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Health, Dept. of - As introduced, authorizes the commissioner to utilize Title V funds, to the extent permitted by federal law, to establish a program to provide funds to women whose pregnancies have ended in stillbirth for the purposes of offsetting burial or disposition costs of the stillborn child's remains and educational scholarships for such women; authorizes the commissioner to seek any necessary federal waiver or authorization to create such program. - Amends TCA Title 49 and Title 68.

Taxes, Sales - As introduced, exempts from the state sales and use tax the retail sale of food and food ingredients. - Amends TCA Title 57, Chapter 3 and Title 67, Chapter 6.

Handgun Permits - As introduced, extends the fee waiver for a lifetime enhanced handgun carry permit to include a retired law enforcement officer who served for less than 10 years prior to retirement, was POST-certified, or had equivalent training, on the date the officer retired, and retired from service due to an injury received in the line of duty as a law enforcement officer. - Amends TCA Title 38 and Title 39.