Tennessee Senate Bills

Financial Institutions, Dept. of - As introduced, increases, from 10 to 15 business days, the time that the commissioner has after receipt of an application for a certificate of authority or any accompanying documents for organization of a business authorized to conduct banking business that do not comply with requirements for the documents to return the certificate or documents to the incorporators with notice of the defect in the application. - Amends TCA Title 34; Title 45 and Title 47.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, requires an LEA or public charter school to install, maintain, and use, subject to parental request and approval, a video camera surveillance system in each special education classroom operated by the LEA or public charter school to continuously monitor students, teachers, and staff in special education classrooms while special education or related services are being provided to students. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Jails, Local Lock-ups - As introduced, exempts a prisoner of a county workhouse or jail who is released from custody on work release from wearing an electronic monitoring device if the prisoner was convicted of a non-violent crime and the sheriff has determined that the prisoner poses a low risk to the public and for escape. - Amends TCA Title 41, Chapter 2.

Game and Fish Laws - As introduced, extends from January 1 to 15, the deadline by which the wildlife resources agency must submit to legislative committees with subject matter jurisdiction over natural resources a written report containing the estimated acreage managed by the agency that has been closed to recreational hunting and fishing during the previous fiscal year and the reasons for the closures; the estimated acreage managed by the agency that was opened to recreational hunting and fishing to compensate for the acreage that was so closed; and the estimated acreage of new public hunting and fishing lands added. - Amends TCA Title 70.

Boats, Boating - As introduced, prohibits certain activities, such as fishing, near public boat launches, docks, boats, and marinas so as to interfere with the use of such facilities. - Amends TCA Title 67; Title 68, Chapter 102, Part 6; Title 69 and Title 70.

Taxes, Ad Valorem - As introduced, changes from March 1 of the second year following a tax year to March 1 of the tenth year following a tax year by which certain corrections to the property tax assessment for that tax year are to be initiated by an assessor or requested by a taxpayer. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 5.

Consumer Protection - As introduced, changes the definition of "definable group" for purposes of the Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act of 2024 to include a choral group rather than a glee club. - Amends TCA Title 47, Chapter 25, Part 11.

Abortion - As introduced, adds the chairs of the judiciary committee of the senate and the committee of the house of representatives with jurisdiction over criminal justice-related matters to whom the department of health shall submit a report of each abortion procedure and the disposition of the aborted fetus or aborted fetal tissue to no later than January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1 of each year. - Amends TCA Section 39-15-203.

Education - As introduced, prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, disability, religion, or marital status against a student or an employee in a public institution of education; requires public institutions of education to treat harassment or discrimination against students or employees, or resulting from institutional policies or programs on their campuses, motivated by or including antisemitic intent in an identical manner to discrimination motivated by race; requires Title VI coordinators to be designated to monitor antisemitic discrimination and harassment at K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Wine & Wineries - As introduced, requires the Tennessee wine and grape board to coordinate with wineries across this state in an effort to create a statewide wine trail. - Amends TCA Title 57.

Health, Dept. of - As introduced, directs the commissioner to conduct a study on creating new or streamlining existing pathways to careers as primary care providers in this state for individuals who have medical training as noncommissioned officers in the armed forces of the United States; requires the commissioner to conduct the study using existing department resources; requires the commissioner to deliver findings and recommendations from the study to the chief clerk of the senate, chief clerk of the house of representatives, and the legislative librarian no later than December 31, 2025. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 33; Title 63 and Title 68.

Solid Waste Disposal - As introduced, changes from March 31 to February 1, the date by which each region must submit its annual report to the commissioner of environment and conservation for the immediately preceding calendar year that includes data on collection, recycling, transportation, disposal, public costs, and other information deemed relevant to solid waste planning and management. - Amends TCA Title 68 and Title 69.

Tickets, Admission - As introduced, prohibits a third-party reseller from selling or offering for sale a speculative ticket; requires the division of consumer affairs in the attorney general's office to enforce the prohibition and assess a penalty of $5,000 per violation. - Amends TCA Title 47.

State Universities - As introduced, expands the list of those who are prohibited from serving on a state university board to include those who hold the position of a member of a governing body for another institution of higher education, not just public institutions of higher education. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29; Title 49, Chapter 7; Title 49, Chapter 8 and Title 49, Chapter 9.

Education, Dept. of - As introduced, changes a department's reporting requirement, regarding local education agencies' and public charter schools' compliance with notice to an association that regulates interscholastic athletics of a student's placement in foster care who is seeking to participate in interscholastic athletics, from annually to upon the request of the education committee of the senate or the committee of the house of representatives having jurisdiction over education. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Agriculture, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the department to make its annual reports regarding operation of the Tennessee Agricultural Museum and the museum's board available in a publicly accessible location on the department's website within one month from the date the governor approves the reports. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 11; Title 43; Title 44; Title 53; Title 57; Title 62; Title 63; Title 66; Title 67; Title 68; Title 69 and Title 70.

Pest Control - As introduced, changes, from June 30 to July 15, the date on which a pesticide product's annual registration with the department of agriculture expires. - Amends TCA Title 29, Chapter 28; Title 43, Chapter 8; Title 53, Chapter 1; Title 53, Chapter 7; Title 62, Chapter 21 and Title 68, Chapter 212.

State Government - As introduced, enacts the "Government Serves the People Act." - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 8.

District Attorneys - As introduced, extends the time within which each district attorney general must submit a funding report to the district attorneys general conference from 90 days after the end of the fiscal year to 120 days after the end of the fiscal year. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 10 and Title 17.

General Assembly - As introduced, increases the monthly home office allowance for members of the general assembly from $1,250 per month to $2,250 per month. - Amends TCA Title 3, Chapter 1.

Zoning - As introduced, requires, on and after July 1, 2025, a deed of conveyance of real property to include the zoning classification of the property at the time the deed is recorded; prescribes a process by which a local zoning authority may notify a state department, agency, or officer of a local zoning violation by a business resulting in the revocation or suspension of a license, permit, or certificate of a business in violation of a local zoning ordinance, resolution, or law; prescribes the process for reinstatement or appeal, including the assessment of a reinstatement fee. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8, Chapter 13; Title 13, Chapter 7; Title 62; Title 66 and Title 68.

Health Care - As introduced, extends from March 1 to April 1, the date by which the department of health must submit to the governor, the speaker of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, and legislative committees with subject matter jurisdiction over health a report with de-identified aggregate claims data on every inpatient and outpatient discharge that includes coded drug poisonings as reported for the calendar year two years prior to the current year by licensed hospitals to the commissioner of health. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 37; Title 44; Title 47; Title 49; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68.

State Government - As introduced, requires the Tennessee advisory commission on intergovernmental relations (TACIR) to conduct a study and propose several steps to protect Tennessee's financial security and soundness and ensure state sovereignty and resiliency. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 9; Title 12; Title 45 and Title 47.

Labor - As introduced, permits state governmental entities and local health departments to submit annual reports to the general assembly electronically regarding compliance with the Eligibility Verification for Entitlements Act. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 50 and Title 57.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, specifies that the offense of reckless endangerment includes a person who recklessly discharges a firearm into the air while in a densely populated area; provides that a densely populated area may be proven by evidence of the population of the city or county, housing density in the immediate area of the offense, the number of persons present at the time of the offense, or any other evidence. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, creates the Class B misdemeanor of intentionally refusing a law enforcement officer's request to exit from a motor vehicle during a lawful traffic stop. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 16.

Health Care - As introduced, requires a person who collects blood donations for the purpose of providing blood for blood transfusions to require a blood donor to disclose if the donor has received a COVID-19 vaccination; permits a person in need of a blood transfusion in a nonemergent situation to request blood based on the blood donor's COVID-19 vaccination status. - Amends TCA Title 68.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, reduces from a Class C felony to a Class B misdemeanor the offense of criminal exposure of another to HIV; creates a Class C felony for the criminal exposure of another to HIV if a person transmitted HIV to another person. - Amends TCA Title 39.

District Attorneys - As introduced, allows an assistant district attorney general to receive year-for-year service credit for prior law enforcement experience upon recommendation of the hiring district attorney general and subject to the approval of the executive director of the district attorneys general conference; defines prior law enforcement experience as full-time employment with a law enforcement agency as a POST-certified law enforcement officer; requires an employment record from the law enforcement agency to be used to establish the law enforcement experience. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 7.

Controlled Substances - As introduced, enacts the "Tennessee Cannabis Act." - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 29; Title 33; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41; Title 43; Title 45; Title 50; Title 53; Title 63; Title 67; Title 68 and Title 71.

State Employees - As introduced, authorizes an employee who has been employed full-time with this state for at least 12 months to receive up to 15 hours of paid leave for certain qualified volunteer work. - Amends TCA Title 8.

Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, creates the Class C misdemeanor offense of storing a firearm or firearm ammunition in a motor vehicle while the person is not in the motor vehicle unless the firearm or firearm ammunition is kept from ordinary observation and locked within the trunk, utility or glove box, or a locked container securely affixed to the motor vehicle; requires the owner of a firearm to report the loss or theft of the firearm to law enforcement within 24 hours of the discovery of the loss or theft. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13.

Remedies and Special Proceedings - As introduced, requires that the trial for an unlawful detainer action be held no later than 14 days from the date the plaintiff filed the unlawful detainer motion; limits the scope of a hearing for an unlawful detainer motion based on nonpayment of rent to facts and issues related to nonpayment of rent; makes other changes related to judicial proceedings for unlawful detainer. - Amends TCA Title 29 and Title 66.

Dentists and Dentistry - As introduced, clarifies that the board of dentistry must submit the board's annual report on or before January 1 of each year; adds the legislative librarian as a recipient of the report. - Amends TCA Title 63.

Tort Liability and Reform - As introduced, increases the amount of medical, hospital, or doctor bills that are presumed in a civil action to have been necessary and reasonable if the bills are itemized in the complaint or civil warrant with an attached copy of the bills attached as an exhibit to the complaint or civil warrant, from a total of $4,000 to a total of $25,000. - Amends TCA Title 20, Chapter 1; Title 24, Chapter 5; Title 55, Chapter 12 and Title 56, Chapter 7.

Education, Dept. of - As introduced, specifies that the office of early learning is required, by February 1, to provide an annual report to the governor and the general assembly on the status of pre-kindergarten programs, which must include, at a minimum, the number, location, and types of providers of pre-kindergarten classrooms and the number of at-risk children served. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Civil Procedure - As introduced, specifies that an unauthorized alien does not have standing to commence or appear as a plaintiff in certain civil actions. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 16; Title 20; Title 28 and Title 29.

Psychologists - As introduced, requires that test materials and test data from psychological or neuropsychological testing be kept secure to avoid compromising the validity of the testing; makes other changes related to security of psychological or neuropsychological test materials and test data. - Amends TCA Title 63, Chapter 11.

Zoning - As introduced, prohibits local governments or planning commissions from requiring more than one means of ingress and egress into a proposed subdivision unless the proposed subdivision has at least 70 residential dwellings. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 13.

Motor Vehicles - As introduced, increases, to the extent permissible under federal law, the maximum gross vehicle weight of a vehicle with an axle group of three axles that can be operated on the public highways of this state to 85,000 pounds. - Amends TCA Title 55.

Taxes, Ad Valorem - As introduced, requires 10 percent of the excess proceeds from a delinquent property tax sale to be used for tax relief for homeowners who are elderly low-income, disabled, or a disabled veteran or widow of a disabled veteran. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 5.

Taxes, Ad Valorem - As introduced, adds a 5 percent penalty on delinquent property taxes with the penalty to be used to provide tax relief for the homeowners who are elderly low-income, disabled, or a disabled veteran or widow of a disabled veteran. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 5.

Business Organizations - As introduced, changes, from January 1 to January 15, the beginning of the time frame during which a domestic professional corporation or foreign professional corporation authorized to transact business in this state must deliver for filing to each licensing authority having jurisdiction over a professional service described in the corporation's charter an annual statement of qualification. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 39; Title 47; Title 48; Title 62 and Title 63.

Economic and Community Development, Dept. of - As introduced, requires that a broadband ready community’s ordinance or policy for reviewing applications must contain a provision that all applications related to the project be either approved or denied within 30 calendar days, rather than 30 business days, after the applications are submitted. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 13; Title 65 and Title 67.

Scholarships and Financial Aid - As introduced, extends from March 1 to March 30, the date by which not-for-profit corporations and associations that administer an educational cooperative plan or scholarship plan must file a statement of financial condition with the commissioner of commerce and insurance. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 4.

Education - As introduced, requires the department of education to submit an early grades reading report to legislative committees with jurisdiction over subject matter pertaining to education by December 31 of each year. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Election Laws - As introduced, makes changes to the forms of identification used to verify a person's identity for voting purposes. - Amends TCA Title 2.

Public Records - As introduced, authorizes records custodians to charge a fee to view records if the records requested reasonably require more than one hour of an employee's time to collect for inspection by the requestor; specifies that the hourly rate for inspection be set in proportion to the rate of pay of the employee who is collecting the records. - Amends TCA Title 10, Chapter 7.

Alcoholic Beverage Commission - As introduced, requires the commission to submit its biennial report on underage drinking, drunk driving, and other harmful uses of alcohol to the governor in addition to members of the general assembly. - Amends TCA Title 57.

Parks, Natural Areas Preservation - As introduced, removes the two-mile buffer between class II scenic rivers and new and expanded landfill sites. - Amends TCA Title 11, Chapter 13 and Title 68.

Public Employees - As introduced, provides a five-day grace period for assistant district attorneys general and criminal investigators to submit expense accounts. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 7.

Codes - As introduced, extends the period in which the fire marshal is required to provide a decision on an appeal regarding building or fire codes involving a county building located in a city when there is a conflict between city and county from 10 working days to 15 calendar days. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 102 and Title 68, Chapter 120.

Health Care - As introduced, extends from January 15 to March 1, the date by which the commissioner of health, in consultation with the department of finance and administration and any other state agency involved in the administration of the safety net program, must annually report to the general assembly on data relating to access to care and safety net adequacy related issues. - Amends TCA Title 49; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, requires the punishment for the offense of misuse of official information to include at least 30 hours of community service work to be determined by the court, in addition to any other punishment authorized by law. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 16, Part 4.

Environmental Preservation - As introduced, enacts the "Climate Resiliency Fund Act." - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 5; Title 9; Title 60; Title 67 and Title 68.

Soil Conservation - As introduced, enacts the "Healthy Soil Act." - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 43, Chapter 14.

Education - As introduced, enacts the "Student Comfort through Alternative Restorative Environments (CARE) Act"; requires local education agencies and public charter schools to allow students of a school in the LEA or public charter school where an act of mass violence occurs to voluntarily participate in remote instruction or a virtual education program for at least 31 calendar days. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 37 and Title 49.

Public Health - As introduced, requires the attorney general to report to the speaker of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives certain information regarding violations of the prohibition against using medical procedures to enable a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex or to treat purported discomfort or distress from discordance between the minor's sex and asserted identity. - Amends TCA Title 9; Title 14; Title 28; Title 29; Title 33; Title 34; Title 36; Title 37; Title 39; Title 40; Title 49; Title 50; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Redistricting, Legislative - As introduced, requires the comptroller of the treasury to report to the general assembly which counties, if any, redrew precinct lines to ensure no split precincts in legislative districts. - Amends TCA Section 2-16-103; Section 3-1-102 and Section 3-1-103.

Education, Higher - As introduced, increases, from 30 to 45, the number of days after which a municipal corporation must cease to prescribe and enforce traffic ordinances on the campus of a state institution after a state university and community college system or the board of trustees of the University of Tennessee requests the governing body of the municipal corporation to cease prescribing and enforcing such traffic ordinances on the campus of the state institution. - Amends TCA Title 49.