Tennessee Senate Bills

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.

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.

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.

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.

Education - As introduced, increases, from 25,000 to 40,000, the maximum number of education freedom scholarships that may be awarded to eligible students in the 2026-2027 school year; directs the governor to elect for this state to participate in the federal education tax credit program created in The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act and to comply with any and all requirements to maintain the state's participation in the program in the future. - 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.

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.

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.

Secretary of State - As enacted, removes the filing fee that must be paid to the secretary of state to file articles of termination of corporation existence; increases the number of days after a person ceases solicitation activities after registration with the secretary of state, from 30 to 90, that the person has to notify the secretary of state; removes the requirement that a charitable organization that ceases solicitation activity and received in excess of $1 million in gross revenue during the most recently completed fiscal year include an audited financial statement and forms required to be filed by a charitable organization with the U.S. internal revenue service with the organization's notice to the secretary of state that the organization ceased solicitation activities. - Amends TCA Title 48.

Sentencing - As enacted, requires a sentencing court to order the sentences for two or more offenses involving more than one minor victim to run consecutively unless the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the facts of the case do not warrant the imposition of consecutive sentences and the imposition of consecutive sentences would not be in the best interest of justice. - Amends TCA Title 40.

Courts - As enacted, enacts the "Violent Criminal Court Act." - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 10; Title 16; Title 37; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41 and Title 55.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, creates the criminal offense of knowingly traveling, with intent to commit theft of another person's cash, from a commercial business or financial institution on the same path or route as another person without substantially deviating from that path or route while in possession of two or more criminal instruments. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Criminal Procedure - As enacted, prohibits a defendant charged with certain offenses from being released on the defendant's personal recognizance or upon execution of an unsecured bond. - Amends TCA Title 40.

State Government - As enacted, requires each governmental entity to revise any existing ordinance, resolution, rule, policy, and procedure that includes a reference to a natural person's sex or gender to state that those terms are defined as the immutable characteristics of the person's reproductive system that identify the person as male or female, as determined by anatomy and genetics testing at the time of birth; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 1; Title 3; Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 8.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, creates a criminal offense of knowingly violating a no contact order issued as part of a defendant's sentence or conditions of probation or parole following conviction for certain criminal offenses in which the alleged victim of the offense is a domestic abuse victim; punishes a violation as a Class A misdemeanor. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Pensions and Retirement Benefits - As enacted, enacts the "Tennessee Trump Account Program Act." - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 9 and Title 50.

Capitol - As enacted, creates a capitol hill protection zone around the state capitol grounds that includes the state capitol, capitol annexes, World War II Memorial Building that formerly housed the state library and archives, Supreme Court Building, William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower, War Memorial Building, Legislative Plaza, James K. Polk State Office Building, Rachel Jackson Building, Andrew Jackson Building, John Sevier State Office Building, Cordell Hull Building, and the grounds, roads, and sidewalks along either side of the roads immediately surrounding such buildings. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 38; Title 39 and Title 40.

Utilities, Utility Districts - As introduced, makes various changes to laws regarding utilities, including the procedure for consolidation of utilities and continuing education requirements for members of utility governing bodies. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 34; Title 7, Chapter 82; Title 9, Chapter 21 and Title 68, Chapter 221.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, provides that a person is criminally responsible for an offense committed by the conduct of another if, acting with intent to benefit in the proceeds or results of the offense, the person solicits, directs, aids, or attempts to aid another person to commit the offense. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 11; Title 39, Chapter 12; Title 39, Chapter 13; Title 39, Chapter 14; Title 40, Chapter 24; Title 40, Chapter 35 and Title 40, Chapter 39.

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, enacts the "Memphis Safe Task Force Accountability Act." - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 7 and Title 39.

Bail, Bail Bonds - As enacted, makes various changes related to entities seeking to secure the release of a defendant. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Salaries and Benefits - As enacted, enacts "The Chance Carlton Act." - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7, Chapter 51; Title 8 and Title 50.

Aircraft and Airports - As enacted, specifies that a joint board established by two municipalities and two counties pursuant to an interlocal agreement for the purpose of operating an airport is vested with all the powers, rights, duties, and privileges of a regional airport authority. - Amends TCA Title 42, Chapter 5.

Contracts - As enacted, requires a court to apply rebuttable presumptions when determining the reasonableness in time of a restrictive covenant sought to be enforced after the termination of an employment or business relationship; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 50; Title 63 and Title 68.

Physicians and Surgeons - As enacted, makes various changes relative to the authority of a physician or podiatrist to prescribe, dispense, or administer medication to the provider's own self or immediate family; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 39; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68.

Agriculture, Dept. of - As enacted, enacts the "Representative Johnny Shaw Tennessee Agricultural Innovation and Education Initiative." - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 43.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, enacts "Matthew Davenport's Law," which creates certain criminal offenses and testing requirements related to Kratom. - Amends TCA Title 33, Chapter 2; Title 38; Title 39; Title 50; Title 63 and Title 68.

Education - As enacted, expands the prescribed forms of epinephrine that an LEA or nonpublic school is authorized to administer when a student is believed to be experiencing a life-threatening allergic or anaphylactic reaction to any prescribed form of epinephrine, not just epinephrine auto-injectors. - Amends TCA Title 49 and Title 68, Chapter 140, Part 5.

Health Care - As introduced, requires gender clinics accepting funds from this state to perform gender transition procedures to also perform detransition procedures; requires insurance entities providing coverage of gender transition procedures to also cover detransition procedures; requires certain gender clinics and insurance entities to report information regarding detransition procedures to the department of health. - Amends TCA Title 1; Title 4; Title 33; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Children - As enacted, provides, in addition to present law, an alternative method for the voluntary surrender of parental rights if executed within the geographic boundaries of the state. - Amends TCA Title 36; Title 37 and Title 68.