Tennessee Bills

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, allows an LEA or public charter school to install, maintain, and use, subject to parental approval, a video camera surveillance system in the special education classrooms operated by the LEA or public charter school to continuously monitor students, teachers, and staff in the classroom while special education or related services are being provided. - Amends TCA Title 10 and Title 49.

Alcoholic Beverage Commission - As introduced, authorizes a retailer to deliver hemp derived cannabinoid products to a consumer, including by means of a licensed delivery service; reduces the wholesale tax on hemp derived cannabinoid products from 2 cents per milligram to 1 cent per milligram. - Amends TCA Title 57.

Children's Services, Dept. of - As introduced, changes the caseload requirement for case managers in the department from a monthly average of 20 active cases or 20 children monitored to a cap of no more than 12 active cases involving no more than 12 families or 20 children monitored; requires the department to resolve each active case within 12 months and a status review hearing to be held if the case is not resolved within 12 months. - Amends TCA Section 37-5-132.

Transportation, Dept. of - As introduced, requires each safety rest area that provides restrooms for the public to provide access to at least one family restroom. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3; Title 54 and Title 68, Chapter 120.

Holidays and Days of Special Observance - As introduced, enacts the "No Pride Flag or Month Act." - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 15; Title 20 and Title 49.

Sex Discrimination - As introduced, enacts the "Banning Bostock Act." - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 21.

Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, renames enhanced and concealed handgun carry permits as enhanced and concealed firearm carry permits and authorizes a permit holder to carry any firearms, rather than handguns, that the permit holder legally owns or possesses. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 7; Title 8; Title 10; Title 33; Title 36; Title 37; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 49; Title 50; Title 57; Title 67; Title 68 and Title 70.

Election Laws - As introduced, requires a voter to designate on the voter registration record a political party with which the voter is affiliated in order to vote in primary elections for such political party. - Amends TCA Title 2.

Veterans - As introduced, requires local governmental entities to invite honorably discharged veterans who apply for employment or promotion to interview; requires preference be given to such veteran if the minimum qualifications and the skills, abilities, competencies, and knowledge of the veteran and any another applicant being interviewed for the position are equal; requires state and local application forms to provide the option for an applicant to declare veteran status. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 51; Title 8, Chapter 30, Part 3 and Title 58, Chapter 2.

Opioids - As introduced, removes nonresidential substitution-based treatment centers for opiate addiction from the requirement of obtaining a certificate of need beginning July 1, 2026. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 11 and Chapter 985 of the Public Acts of 2024.

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.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, requires, instead of encourages, LEAs and public charter schools to incorporate training in evidence-based skills training on positive behavioral interventions and supports, conflict prevention, functional behavior assessments, de-escalation, and conflict management into its behavior intervention training program; requires at least two hours of such training each school year; allows the hours of training received to be applied toward in-service training requirements. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Election Laws - As introduced, enacts the "Tennessee Ballot Access Act." - Amends TCA Title 2.

Education - As introduced, requires local education agencies and public charter schools to notify the parent or legal guardian of each student enrolled in the LEA or public charter school of their right to opt their student out of receiving instruction on firearm safety; allows a school social worker licensed by the state board of education to provide certain preventative and developmental counseling services to students without first obtaining parental consent. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6 and Title 63.

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As introduced, prohibits professional employees and local boards of education from collaborative conferencing; prohibits a local board of education from allowing a professional employees' organization to use or access facilities when such use or access is otherwise prohibited by the local board's policies or procedures for community use. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Environment and Conservation, Department of - As introduced, extends from two years to 27 months the amount of time that the commissioner has to designate the boundaries of a scenic river area following the addition of a river segment to the state scenic rivers system. - Amends TCA Title 11, Chapter 13 and Title 68, Chapter 211.

Health Care - As introduced, authorizes electronic filing of the annual report by a sponsoring not-for-profit corporation providing healthcare services to low income individuals pursuant to the Memphis Plan Act of 1991, with the commissioner of commerce and insurance. - Amends TCA Title 56, Chapter 7.

School Vouchers - As introduced, allows a child with a medical condition that inhibits the child from attending school in person to receive an individualized education account to enroll in a home school program. - Amends TCA Title 49.

Alcoholic Beverage Commission - As introduced, authorizes a retailer to deliver hemp derived cannabinoid products to a consumer, including by means of a licensed delivery service; reduces the wholesale tax on hemp derived cannabinoid products from 2 cents per milligram to 1 cent per milligram. - Amends TCA Title 57.

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.

Taxes, Exemption and Credits - As introduced, establishes a sales tax holiday on food and food ingredients and on prepared food from July 1, 2026, through September 30, 2026, if purchased by a person at least 65 years of age. - Amends TCA Section 67-6-228 and Title 67, Chapter 6, Part 3.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, increases the penalty for criminal impersonation of a law enforcement officer from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony if the offense occurs while the defendant is committing or attempting to commit a crime of violence. - Amends TCA Title 38; Title 39 and Title 40.

Zoning - As introduced, removes requirement that a structure rebuilt on a site must conform to the zoning regulations existing at the time of the new construction. - Amends TCA Title 13, Chapter 7.

Assessors - As introduced, creates the Tennessee assessor of property certification board to review qualifications for the county office of assessor of property; creates new qualifications for such office. - Amends TCA Title 2; Title 4; Title 8, Chapter 18 and Title 67, Chapter 1.

Taxes, Sales - As introduced, enacts the "Healthy Tennessee Grocery Tax Reform of 2026." - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 6.

Memorials, Recognition - Nehemiah Alliance -

General Assembly, Statement of Intent or Position - Recognizes the first Thursday in May each year as the "National Day of Prayer." -

Memorials, Recognition - National Donate Life Month, April 2026 -

Ethics - As introduced, enacts the "Foreign Agent Registration Act." - Amends TCA Title 3, Chapter 6 and Title 4.

State Government - As introduced, enacts the "Critical Infrastructure Protection Act" and the "Protection of State Land from Foreign Adversaries Act." - Amends TCA Title 12, Chapter 3 and Title 66, Chapter 2.

Tort Liability and Reform - As introduced, expands the definition of a person for whom a wrongful death action may be brought to include an unborn child beginning at fertilization, rather than in utero; extends the period of time from two to three years after which a spouse is rebuttably presumed to have abandoned a deceased spouse for purposes of bringing a wrongful death claim. - Amends TCA Title 20 and Section 63-6-1102.

Law Enforcement - As introduced, requires a law enforcement officer who becomes aware that an order of protection has been entered against a person in the officer’s presence but has not been served on the person to take appropriate steps to facilitate service of the order of protection, including notifying the sheriff’s department of the person’s immediate location; requires the curriculum of the Tennessee peace officer standards and training commission to include instruction on such requirements. - Amends TCA Title 36, Chapter 3, Part 6; Title 38 and Title 40.

Industrial Development - As introduced, removes restriction prohibiting county officers from serving on industrial development corporation boards; adds county assessor of property and county trustee as members of such boards. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 53.

Mental Illness - As introduced, establishes a rebuttable presumption that a person poses an imminent substantial likelihood of serious harm and needs emergency detention and examination if the person was charged with one of certain criminal offenses and ordered by the criminal, circuit, or general sessions court to undergo an evaluation to determine whether the person is incompetent to stand trial or the person's mental capacity at the time of the commission of the crime; requires clear and convincing evidence to rebut the presumption. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 40 and Title 52.

Public Officials - As introduced, requires certain public officials and their spouses to divest certain assets or place such assets in a blind trust by a date certain. - Amends TCA Title 2; Title 3; Title 4; Title 8 and Title 48.

Bail, Bail Bonds - As introduced, requires a court or magistrate to impose global positioning monitoring as a condition of release for a defendant accused of certain offenses, unless the court or magistrate enters written findings that the defendant does not pose a threat to the victim or public safety; requires the administrative office of the courts to compile an annual report of the number of defendants subject to such an order. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 40 and Title 55.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, adds to the criminal offense of aggravated assault, an assault that involves brandishing a deadly weapon; defines brandish to mean waving or exhibiting a weapon in a manner that would be found by a reasonable person to indicate a threat to use the weapon. - Amends TCA Title 39.

General Assembly - As introduced, enacts the "Restoring State Sovereignty Through Nullification Act," which establishes processes by which the general assembly may nullify an unconstitutional federal statute, regulation, agency order, or executive order. - Amends TCA Title 3 and Title 4.

Boards and Commissions - As introduced, increases, from 90 to 95, the number of days that the board of directors for a municipal energy authority has to fill a board vacancy created by the death, resignation, or removal of any director and gain approval of the applicable governing body. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 9; Title 12; Title 13; Title 48; Title 50; Title 64; Title 65 and Title 67.

Correction, Dept. of - As introduced, prohibits governmental entities from preventing certain persons from entering correctional institutions used to house aliens for the purpose of conducting oversight. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 6; Title 4, Chapter 4; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 41.

Privacy, Confidentiality - As introduced, enacts the "Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act"; creates a Class B misdemeanor offense for officers, employees, or contractors of a state agency or local governmental entity that is required by law to be issued a warrant prior to obtaining personal information or sensitive data about an individual to knowingly purchase, license, or otherwise obtain the personal information or sensitive data from a controller in lieu of the warrant requirement. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 39 and Title 47.

Criminal Procedure - As introduced, allows a misdemeanor offender to petition to have the offender's criminal history records sealed after completion of all requirements of sentencing and at least five years without being convicted of a new offense; excludes domestic assault and driving under the influence from eligibility to be sealed. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Judicial Districts - As introduced, requires the advisory task force to review composition of judicial districts to submit its findings and recommendations by January 15, 2027, rather than January 1, 2027. - Amends TCA Title 16.

Veterans Services, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the department to submit a report on the total number of state and federal benefits, and a synopsis of each benefit, available to a veteran and the veteran's surviving spouse to the speaker of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives on or before January 1, 2027. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 52; Title 68 and Title 71.

Ethics - As introduced, enacts the "Foreign Agent Registration Act." - Amends TCA Title 3, Chapter 6 and Title 4.

State Government - As introduced, enacts the "Critical Infrastructure Protection Act" and the "Protection of State Land from Foreign Adversaries Act." - Amends TCA Title 12, Chapter 3 and Title 66, Chapter 2.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, increases the amount of marijuana that may be possessed, from one-half ounce to five ounces, for it to be considered a small amount of marijuana and punishable as a Class A misdemeanor; revises penalty to make it punishable by a $500 fine for a first offense and a $1,000 fine for a second or subsequent offense. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17.

State Employees - As introduced, requires certain government employers to provide job-protected unpaid leave for a qualifying medical emergency to employees that meet certain criteria. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 49 and Title 50.

Pensions and Retirement Benefits - As introduced, enacts the "Supporting Troopers though Advanced Retirement (STAR) Act"; authorizes current state troopers to elect to participate in an alternative defined benefit retirement plan that offers enhanced benefits; authorizes state troopers participating in the alternative plan to elect to defer retirement and continue working full-time for up to eight years while their retirement benefits are deposited into an interest-bearing account until they elect to retire. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 7 and Title 8.

State Government - As introduced, enacts the "No Corporate Land Giveaways Act." - Amends TCA Title 3; Title 4; Title 8 and Title 12.

General Assembly - As introduced, requires a state governmental entity to disclose records and information to a member of the general assembly to enable the member to determine whether the laws of this state are being complied with and to determine whether the laws of this state need to be changed in accordance with certain procedures. - Amends TCA Title 3; Title 4 and Title 10, Chapter 7, Part 5.

General Assembly - As introduced, requires the speakers of the senate and house of representatives to determine an equivalent number of legislative conferences, or number of legislative conference days, for which a member of the senate or house of representatives is entitled to attend for purposes of receiving expense and mileage allowances. - Amends TCA Title 3, Chapter 1.

General Assembly - As introduced, beginning November 3, 2026, increases the monthly office expense allowance to $2,251; requires such allowance to be adjusted monthly based on the consumer price index. - Amends TCA Title 3.

Probation and Parole - As introduced, specifies that if the trial judge finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant has violated conditions of probation and suspension of sentence for a felony offense by engaging in conduct that constitutes a drug offense, then for the first instance of such a violation, the trial judge must order the defendant to attend a substance abuse treatment program and must not revoke the defendant's probation and suspension of sentence. - Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 35.

Law Enforcement - As introduced, requires a law enforcement agency that uses body cameras to adopt a written policy for the use of the cameras by its law enforcement officers; establishes certain requirements for the policies. - Amends TCA Title 38, Chapter 1.

Public Records - As introduced, requires the department of correction to disclose records and information to any member of the general assembly, upon written request, to enable the member to determine whether the laws of this state are being complied with regarding inmates in the department's custody. - Amends TCA Title 3; Title 4; Title 10, Chapter 7; Title 40 and Title 41.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, enacts "The Intercollegiate Student-Athlete Protection Act," which creates a criminal offense of student athlete harassment; punishes the first offense as a Class A misdemeanor and a second or subsequent offense as a Class E felony; and specifies that a student athlete who is the victim of student athlete harassment has a private right of action against a person convicted of the offense. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 49; Title 39 and Title 49.

Election Laws - As introduced, prohibits a person from qualifying as a candidate in a primary election for federal office who holds dual citizenship or is not a natural-born citizen of the United States. - Amends TCA Title 2.

General Assembly - As introduced, authorizes the chair of a committee of the general assembly to require an executive branch employee to take an oath prior to testifying before the committee subject to the penalty of perjury; authorizes the chair of a committee or the executive director of fiscal review to require any documentation submitted by such employee for the purpose of evaluating the merits of a legislative measure or generating a fiscal note to submit an affidavit with such documentation attesting to the accuracy of the information subject to the penalty of perjury. - Amends TCA Title 3; Title 4; Title 29; Title 39 and Title 40.

Taxes, Ad Valorem - As introduced, clarifies that a notification sent by email from the assessor to a taxpayer of a change in the classification or assessed valuation of the taxpayer's property is effective when electronically sent. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 5.