Tennessee House Bills

Statutes of Limitations and Repose - As introduced, specifies that certain statutes of limitation in civil matters apply to the state and the state's political subdivisions. - Amends TCA Title 9; Title 28 and Title 29.

Public Records - As introduced, creates an offense for using or selling an individual's personal identifying information obtained from a governmental entity for commercial use, punishable as a Class B misdemeanor. -

Insurance, Health, Accident - As introduced, requires that a health plan, or an insurer offering a health plan, include coverage for clinical genetic testing for an inherited gene mutation for an individual with a personal or family history of cancer that is recommended by a healthcare professional, and evidence-based cancer imaging for an individual with an increased risk of cancer as recommended by National Comprehensive Cancer Network clinical practice guidelines. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 56 and Title 71.

Hospitals and Health Care Facilities - As introduced, enacts the "The Frank J. Lake III Act"; requires a long-term care ombudsman for an assisted-care living facility to notify all residents of such facility if the facility contacts the ombudsman; directs the health facilities commission to post a certain specified notice on the commission's website if an assisted-care living facility is placed on probation; makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 11.

Children - As introduced, establishes when a minor is engaged in the work of content creation; creates protections and requirements related to a minor engaged in the work of content creation. - Amends TCA Title 35; Title 37; Title 47 and Title 50.

Water - As introduced, prohibits the department of environment and conservation from prohibiting a utility that provides drinking water from pumping or otherwise withdrawing water from natural waters for purposes of providing drinking water, including as a prerequisite to renewal of the utility's permit, unless the prohibition is required to comply with federal law. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 68, Chapter 221 and Title 69.

Food and Food Products - As introduced, requires retail food stores and food service establishments to provide notice to consumers of whether fish is imported and whether it is farm-raised or wild fish. - Amends TCA Title 47, Chapter 18; Title 53 and Title 68.

Law Enforcement - As introduced, entitles qualified law enforcement officers upon retirement or separation from service from their employing law enforcement agency to continue to maintain annual POST-certification upon meeting certain requirements. - Amends TCA Title 38, Chapter 8.

Evidence - As introduced, prohibits a court from excluding evidence against a criminal defendant unless the evidence was obtained by deliberate, reckless, or grossly negligent conduct or recurring or systemic negligence that violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and refusal to suppress the evidence would contradict a clearly established holding of the United States supreme court; establishes an immediate interlocutory appeal to the Tennessee supreme court when a court grants a motion to suppress evidence. - Amends TCA Title 40.

Traffic Safety - As introduced, authorizes a law enforcement officer to seize and impound a motor vehicle in any county or municipality that has passed a resolution or ordinance authorizing the seizure and impoundment of a motor vehicle observed by law enforcement to have been used to commit the offense of drag racing or to flee after commission of the offense of drag racing subject to certain restrictions. - Amends TCA Title 6; Title 7; Title 16; Title 40 and Title 55, Chapter 10, Part 5.

Contracts - As introduced, requires that contracts entered into between a personal seat license (PSL) holder of 10 or more years and a professional sports franchise for the purchase of a subsequent PSL with an upgraded or improved seating classification include a provision that enables the PSL holder to purchase the subsequent PSL for the same price as the previous PSL; applies to all contracts for subsequent PSL purchases entered into for seating at stadiums in certain counties on or after the effective date of the act. - Amends TCA Title 7; Title 9; Title 16; Title 47 and Title 67.

Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, prohibits the possession, manufacture, transport, repair, or sale of a switch or auto sear device designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of converting a weapon to shoot automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger unless certain exceptions apply. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13.

Expunction - As introduced, lowers the period of time that must elapse after completion of the sentence imposed before a petitioner may have an eligible criminal offense expunged, for misdemeanors or Class E felonies, from five years to three years, and for Class D felonies, from 10 years to six years. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Election Laws - As introduced, requires all ballots cast in an election to have a secure watermark; requires the official tabulation count of a ballot scanner to be based on the text or machine mark portion of a ballot; makes certain other changes related to ballots and elections; creates programs for the scanning and auditing of ballots. - Amends TCA Title 2.

Education - As introduced, enacts the "School Safety and Mental Health Act." - 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.

State Government - As introduced, directs the state capitol commission to be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the monument to unborn children through funds appropriated to the commission. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 20; Title 29; Title 36; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41; Title 49; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, exempts an LEA or public charter school from having to assign a third-grade student who is not proficient in English language arts a tutor through the Tennessee accelerating literacy and learning corps if the state does not appropriate sufficient funds to allow each LEA and public charter school to provide the required tutoring; conditions the requirement that LEAs participate in the learning loss remediation and student acceleration program on the availability of state appropriations for the program. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Election Laws - As introduced, reduces the period for early voting from 15 days to seven days. - Amends TCA Title 2.

Education - As introduced, creates the task force for educational leadership to publish a comprehensive plan for the state to assume full responsibility for education programs currently administered by the United States department of education; requires the department of education to conduct an inventory of all existing federal education programs and grants administered by the state; requires the attorney general and reporter to conduct a review of all state statutes and rules that reference or incorporate federal education statutes or regulations for purposes of implementing the comprehensive plan. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8 and Title 49.

Election Laws - As introduced, repeals convenience voting; provides requirements for satellite voting locations during early voting. - Amends TCA Title 2.

School Vouchers - As introduced, changes the reporting date, from June 30 to June 15, by which each private school must provide the results of the tests that are required to be administered to recipients of an education freedom scholarship to the office of research and education accountability in the office of the comptroller of the treasury. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Children's Services, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the department to release certain information regarding providers that department contracts with to the public by January 1, 2027, and to publish monthly reports on its website on short-term or interim placements. - Amends TCA Title 37.

State Inmates - As introduced, requires the department of correction to keep a copy of each validated risk and needs assessment of each inmate under its supervision and control for the duration of the inmate's period of incarceration. - Amends TCA Title 41.

Safety, Dept. of - As introduced, directs the department to develop and design for a driver who has a developmental or intellectual disability a blue envelope and a driver who has a mental illness a green envelope that holds the driver's essential documents, including a driver license, vehicle registration, and contact card. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 38; Title 52 and Title 55.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, prohibits a person or entity from distributing an electoral deepfake within 90 days of an election that the person or entity knows or should have known is a deceptive and fraudulent depiction of a candidate or political party; creates civil penalties and outlines exceptions. - Amends TCA Title 2 and Title 39, Chapter 17.

Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services, Dept. of - As introduced, adds the legislative librarian to the list the department of mental health and substance abuse services must submit its quarterly report to on the implementation and impact of available suitable accommodations, including the number and length of any delayed admissions, in state owned or operated hospitals or treatment resources. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 33; Title 52; Title 63 and Title 68.

Children - As introduced, establishes that children have equal protection under the law and possess fundamental rights to safety, protection from harm, and consideration of their best interests as the paramount concern in all legal proceedings, governmental actions, and policy decisions affecting their welfare. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 37.

Highways, Roads and Bridges - As introduced, requires the department of transportation to study the development of a new bridge crossing the Mississippi River and connecting to Arkansas. - Amends TCA Title 54.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, allows certain searches of containers, packages, and certain enclosures used for storage by students or visitors to be conducted by a school employee who has been designated by the school principal to conduct such searches and who has completed an orientation and training program developed by the department of education. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6.

Election Laws - As introduced, requires each county election commission to check each applicant with the systematic alien verification for entitlements (SAVE) program database prior to placing a registrant on the voter rolls in order to ensure non-United States citizens are not registered to vote in the county; requires, at least once each quarter, the county election commission to check the county's entire voter registration list through the SAVE program database to ensure that non-United States citizens are not on the voter rolls in the county. - Amends TCA Title 2.

Health Care - As introduced, enacts the "Tennessee mRNA Pharmaceutical Sovereignty and Safety Act," which prohibits individuals, including professional providers of health care and veterinary medicine, from administering any vaccine or other injectable solution that contains an mRNA vaccine or vaccine material. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 37; Title 44; Title 47; Title 49; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68.

Driver Licenses - As introduced, authorizes the department of safety to issue a for-hire endorsement to operate a Class D vehicle to an applicant who would otherwise qualify for a for-hire endorsement but for the requirement of at least two years of unrestricted driving prior to the date of application if the applicant has completed a sentence of incarceration after conviction for an offense and currently has a restricted license for unpaid fines and court costs and is making payments in accordance with a payment plan. - Amends TCA Title 55.

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As introduced, creates a pathway for a person to obtain an alternative instructional leader license for purposes of serving as a principal, an assistant principal, or an instructional supervisor. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 5.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, requires directors of schools and directors of public charter schools to immediately notify all students, parents, educators, employees, and contractors of the local education agency or public charter school of the presence of an immigration officer on school grounds. - Amends Chapter __ of the Public Acts of 2025 (1st Ex. Sess. – SB 6002 / HB 6001); and TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8 and Title 49.

Weakley County - Subject to local approval, increases, from 15¢ to 20¢, the mineral severance tax in accordance with statutory guidelines. - Amends Chapter 270 of the Private Acts of 1982.

Motor Vehicles - As introduced, increases from 10 to 15 the number of days from the date of an order suspending or revoking a commercial driver license that a petition may be filed to appeal the decision. - Amends TCA Title 55.

Elder Abuse - As introduced, extends from 10 to 20 days, the time within which a court must schedule a hearing on a petition to freeze the funds of a criminal defendant charged with financial exploitation of an elderly or vulnerable adult involving the taking more than $5,000 of property while the criminal proceeding is pending for purposes of restitution to the victim. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 15.

Memorials, Recognition - Gift Horse, Jessica Maloan Vastagh -

Health, Dept. of - As introduced, authorizes the commissioner to develop and maintain an essential buffer stock of necessary medicines and healthcare supplies to be distributed during a natural or man-made disaster, mass casualty event, or public health emergency. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 53; Title 58; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Professions and Occupations - As introduced, enacts the "Tennessee Professionals' Freedom of Religion Act." - Amends TCA Title 4.

Consumer Protection - As introduced, prohibits electric utilities and high performance computing centers in this state from using transformers, parts, or equipment manufactured or sold by entities owned or controlled by foreign adversaries to support any part of their operations; requires such utilities and centers to report to the comptroller of the treasury; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 8; Title 47, Chapter 18; Title 65 and Title 68.

Economic and Community Development - As introduced, creates a condition of eligibility for certain economic development incentives that employers certify that they pay employees working on the development project for which the incentive was granted at least $21.99 an hour beginning July 1, 2026, with annual adjustments thereafter by the commissioner of economic and community development based on the MIT living wage calculator; allows for recovering from employers found to be in violation of such wage requirements the incentives already provided. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 50.

Pharmacy, Pharmacists - As introduced, prohibits a pharmacy benefits manager from certain listed actions, including modifying, restricting, or denying a medication ordered by a healthcare prescriber; requires that a request for a formulary exception or prior authorization be granted or denied by a pharmacy benefits manager within a specified amount of time or such request is deemed approved. - Amends TCA Title 53; Title 56; Title 63 and Title 71.

Insurance, Health, Accident - As introduced, prohibits a pharmacy benefits manager from reimbursing a contracted pharmacy for a prescription drug or device or a pharmacy service in an amount that is less than the greatest of certain listed amounts and makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 27; Title 56, Chapter 7 and Title 71, Chapter 5.

Insurance, Health, Accident - As introduced, prohibits a pharmacy benefits manager from contracting with a state department, agency, or entity if the pharmacy benefits manager has been disciplined by the department of finance and administration or the department of commerce and insurance. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3; Title 8, Chapter 27; Title 56 and Title 71.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, adds insects to the offense of displaying, exhibiting, handling, or using a venomous or dangerous snake or reptile in a manner that endangers the life or health of another person. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Pensions and Retirement Benefits - As introduced, requires the board of trustees of TCRS to include in its annual report to the general assembly a certification of the amount of normal contributions, accumulated liability contributions, and cost of living contributions required from the employer to meet the funding needs of retirements for state judges and attorneys general participating in Groups 1, 3, and 4 of the consolidated retirement system. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 8.

Health Care - As introduced, exempts a nurse who provides home health services to four or less patients from hiring staff or maintaining an office in order to qualify for licensure as a home care organization by the health facilities commission; requires a nurse who does not hire staff or maintain an office to submit a request to the department of health for space at a location deemed appropriate by the department to securely store patient records. - Amends TCA Title 63 and Title 68.

Energy - As introduced, enacts the "Data Center, Artificial Intelligence, and Clean Transition Tariff Accountability Act." - Amends TCA Title 7 and Title 65.

Women - As introduced, requires the department of health to maintain a database of demographic information of women diagnosed with uterine fibroids; requires the department to publish on its website existing resources and educational materials on uterine fibroids to increase public awareness of uterine fibroids and treatment options. - Amends TCA Title 68.

Consumer Protection - As introduced, requires certain food retail establishments to use a nondigital presentation of price; prohibits a food retail establishment from using personalized algorithmic pricing; makes other changes related to food retail establishments. - Amends TCA Title 47 and Title 53.

Consumer Protection - As introduced, enacts "The Tennessee Safe Stores and Staffed Stores Act;" requires drug and food retail establishments using self-service checkout stations to maintain a minimum staffing ratio, limits self-service transactions to no more than 15 items, and prohibits the purchase of age-restricted or security-tagged merchandise at self-service checkout stations. - Amends TCA Title 47, Chapter 18 and Title 50.

Eminent Domain - As introduced, enacts the "Tennessee Just Compensation for Property Owners Act," which requires an airport authority that exercises eminent domain to acquire private property to pay enhanced damages and costs to the owner of the subject real property. - Amends TCA Title 29 and Title 42.

Education, Higher - As introduced, requires the governing board for each public institution of higher education to install and maintain a "Charlie Kirk Memorial Courtyard for Civil Debate" at the main campus of each public institution of higher education governed by the board. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 49.

Employees, Employers - As introduced, requires private-sector employers to compensate employees for accumulated paid leave upon separation from service from employment. - Amends TCA Title 8 and Title 50, Chapter 2.

State Employees - As introduced, enacts the "Parental Right to Participate in Schools Act," which entitles a state employee to up to 48 hours of annual paid or unpaid leave to attend school-related activities of a dependent child. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 50.

Education, Higher - As introduced, allows a public institution of higher education to suspend a faculty member, including tenured faculty members, without pay during the pendency of any investigation or hearings conducted to determine whether adequate cause for the faculty member's termination exists; requires the president or chief executive officer for a public institution of higher education who is selected or appointed by the institution's governing board on or after July 1, 2026, to be confirmed by the senate and house of representatives. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Insurance, Health, Accident - As introduced, prohibits an insurer from denying, conditioning the issuance or effectiveness of, or discriminating in the pricing of a medicare supplement policy if an applicant meets certain listed requirements, including a non-age eligible person who submits an application for enrollment in a medicare supplement policy with a different insurer within 60 days of such person's birthday and makes other related changes. - Amends TCA Title 56.

Health Care - As introduced, requires the board of medical examiners, board of nursing, and board of osteopathic examination to initiate a criminal background check for each applicant for a renewal of licensure. - Amends TCA Title 38 and Title 63.