Tennessee Bills

Public Officials - As introduced, authorizes recall elections for elected members of a local legislative body, city and county mayors, sheriffs, trustees, registers, clerks, assessors of property, and members of a school board. - Amends TCA Title 2; Title 8, Chapter 47 and Title 49, Chapter 2.

Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, enacts "Akilah's Law," which creates the offense of selling, offering to sell, delivering, or transferring a firearm to a person knowing the person has been a patient in a mental institution at any time within the previous five years. - Amends TCA Title 33 and Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13.

Bail, Bail Bonds - As introduced, makes various changes to criminal law, including requiring defendants accused of certain offenses to be subject to a global positioning monitoring system as condition of bail. - Amends TCA Title 10; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Chapter 969 of the Public Acts of 2024 and Chapter 1033 of the Public Acts of 2024.

Children - As introduced, authorizes a juvenile court to order a child who is accused of being delinquent or unruly and released prior to a hearing to wear a global positioning monitoring system device; if the court issues such an order, requires the entity operating the global positioning monitoring system to notify the probation officer or other entity ordered to take charge of the child if the child violates the instructions issued by the court upon release; requires students who are expelled for committing a zero tolerance offense for threatening mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity to undergo counseling and a mental health evaluation before returning to school. - Amends TCA Title 37; Title 39; Title 40, Chapter 11 and Title 49.

Sentencing - As introduced, requires a local community corrections advisory board to provide its annual report to the county legislative body on the progress of community corrections programs by February 1 of each year. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 16; Title 37; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 41.

State Government - As introduced, prohibits a person, political subdivision, or public official, in connection with a state emergency, from categorizing or proclaiming by order, rule, or regulation that a lawful occupation is non-essential, or otherwise proclaiming by order, rule, or regulation that a lawful occupation is prohibited from operating based on what the lawful occupation is; specifies that a person harmed by a violation of the prohibition may bring a civil action for actual damages or declaratory relief. - Amends TCA Title 58, Chapter 2.

Election Laws - As introduced, makes changes to the process for voting absentee under the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 6, Part 5.

Memorials, Congress - Urges the United States Department of Justice and the federal government to immediately comply with the law and release the remaining Jeffrey Epstein files in the interest of justice, transparency, and the protection of women and children. -

Constitutional Amendments - Proposes that a member of the house of representatives or the senate shall not serve more than 12 consecutive years in office; provides that the limitation on the term of office for a current member of the general assembly begins upon the expiration of the member's current term. -

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, requires the administrative office of the courts to report by October 1, 2025, to the speaker of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives the number of persons found guilty of the Class A misdemeanor of, as an employer, dismissing from employment an employee because of jury service by that employee, from January 1, 1990, until January 1, 2025. - Amends TCA Title 39.

Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, requires, subject to certain exemptions, that a sale or transfer of a firearm be done through a federally licensed gun dealer; creates a Class B misdemeanor offense for sales or transfers that are not conducted through a gun dealer. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 54; Title 38, Chapter 3, Part 1 and Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13.

Law Enforcement - As introduced, requires each law enforcement agency to develop and implement an alternative crisis response unit; requires the Tennessee peace officer standards and training commission to establish uniform training standards for alternative crisis response units in all law enforcement agencies. - Amends TCA Title 33 and Title 38.

Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, creates a criminal offense of storing or keeping a firearm in any place if the firearm is not secured in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device that is properly engaged so as to render the firearm inoperable by any person other than the owner or another lawfully authorized user; punishes a violation of the offense as a Class A misdemeanor. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13.

Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, prohibits the possession of an assault weapon; directs those in possession of an assault weapon before July 1, 2025, to apply for a certificate of possession; creates the Class E felony offense of purchasing, selling, possessing, or using a part, component, device, or attachment designed to accelerate the fire of a semiautomatic rifle and makes any semiautomatic rifle that includes an accelerated fire part, component, or device a prohibited weapon. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 54; Section 38-3-119 and Title 39, Chapter 17.

Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As introduced, requires the office of research and education accountability (OREA), in the office of the comptroller of the treasury, to study and make recommendations for the implementation of an incentive program for educators who have 15 or more years' experience in education; requires OREA to report its findings and recommendations for implementation of the incentive program by December 31, 2025. - Amends TCA Title 8 and Title 49.

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.

Medical Occupations - As introduced, extends from 30 business days to 60 business days the period of time an individual, applicant, licensee, certificate holder, or registrant has to file a petition in Davidson County chancery court following receipt of a notice from a health-related licensing authority that the authority is denying an application for or refusing to renew a license, certificate, or registration on the basis of a prior criminal conviction. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 40; Title 63 and Title 68.

Privacy, Confidentiality - As introduced, enacts the "Protecting Everyone from Excessive Police Surveillance (PEEPS) Act" for the purposes of protecting, maintaining, and accessing historical location data. - Amends TCA Title 10; Title 24 and Title 38.

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

Pharmacy, Pharmacists - As introduced, changes from April 15 to October 15, the date on which the bureau of TennCare is directed to annually report to the senate health and welfare committee and the health committee of the house of representatives regarding program costs and patient outcomes related to incorporating the pharmacist-provided medication therapy management pilot program each year the pilot program is supported. - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 53; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

Controlled Substances - As introduced, enacts the "Pot for Potholes Act"; establishes a regulatory structure for the cultivation, processing, and retail sale of marijuana and marijuana products in this state to be administered by the department of agriculture. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 29; Title 33; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41; Title 43; Title 45; Title 50; Title 53; Title 54; Title 63; Title 67; Title 68 and Title 71.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, defines "criminally negligent conduct,” as used in the offense of criminally negligent homicide, to include failing or refusing to render aid to another person who is unconscious or in need of medical care and the person failing to act knows or reasonably should know that the unconsciousness or need for medical care occurred after the consumption of any controlled substance. - Amends TCA Title 39.

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.

Safety, Dept. of - As introduced, enacts the “Oral-Fluid DUI Testing and Evidence-Based Enforcement Safeguards Act." - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 10, Part 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.

Juvenile Offenders - As introduced, deletes an obsolete statute requiring the administrative office of the courts, department of children's services, and the commission on children and youth to jointly submit a report on juvenile justice data collection by January 1, 2019. - Amends TCA Title 36; Title 37 and Title 39.

Criminal Procedure - As introduced, changes from April 1 to April 30, the date by which a county legislative body must submit to the judges of the general sessions criminal court of the county and the chairs of the legislative committees having jurisdiction over criminal matters a written report setting forth findings and the overall evaluation of the use of judicial commissioners. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Abortion - As introduced, states that the report a physician is required to submit to the commissioner of health after performing an abortion may be submitted electronically. - Amends TCA Title 36; Title 37; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41; Title 55; Title 62; Title 63 and Title 71.

Psychologists - As introduced, creates prescribing authority for certain psychologists if certain conditions and prerequisites are met. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68.

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.

Sentencing - As introduced, increases from one year to three years the amount of time a defendant receiving a split sentence of confinement and probation may be required to serve a portion of the sentence in continuous confinement in the local jail or workhouse; specifies that the state is responsible for all costs of incarceration after the first year. - Amends TCA Title 40 and Title 41.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, increases the penalty for vehicular homicide from a Class C felony to a Class B felony if the offense occurred as the proximate result of the driver's extreme and excessive rate of speed; defines "extreme and excessive rate of speed" as traveling at more than 20 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 55.

Schools, Charter - As introduced, prevents a public charter school that has had its charter agreement renewed on appeal by the Tennessee public charter school commission from mutually agreeing with the local board of education for the LEA in which the public charter school is located for the local board to serve as its authorizer; allows the commission to determine, between five and 10 years, the term of a charter agreement renewed by the commission instead of automatically assigning all charter agreements renewed by the commission a 10-year term. - Amends TCA Title 49.

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.

Sentencing - As introduced, establishes parole criteria for certain persons convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to imprisonment for life; specifies that if a person is convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to imprisonment for life, then the sentence must automatically expire after the person has served 40 years. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 13 and Title 40, Chapter 35.

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.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation - As introduced, enacts the "Federal Enforcement Accountability and Community Protection Act." - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 38 and Title 50.

Governor - As introduced, prohibits the governor from making a decision regarding the option to not enroll or to disenroll this state in the summer electronic transfer benefits program, unless authorized by the general assembly. - Amends TCA Title 71.

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.

Judicial Districts - As introduced, creates an additional criminal court in the thirtieth judicial district to be designated as part IX; requires the governor to appoint a criminal court judge to serve until the person's successor is elected at the August 2028 general election. - Amends TCA Title 16, Chapter 2.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, adds as an affirmative defense to the offense of criminal exposure of another to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), proof by a preponderance of the evidence that a person infected with HIV was in compliance with a treatment regime prescribed by the person's healthcare provider to medically suppress the risk of HIV transmission. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 13.

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.

DUI Offenses - As introduced, allows a person convicted of driving under the influence of an intoxicant involving alcohol or opioids to agree to receive naltrexone injections at the person's own expense for a period of 12 continuous months in lieu of being required to operate only a motor vehicle equipped with an ignition interlock device. - Amends TCA Title 39; Title 40 and Title 55, Chapter 10.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, adds the advisement or encouragement to commit suicide to the offense of assisted suicide under certain circumstances. - Amends TCA Title 39.

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.

Children's Services, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the department to record, by audio recording or video recording, all interviews of children conducted by department employees as part of the department's investigation of claims of abuse or dependency and neglect. - Amends TCA Title 10, Chapter 7, Part 5; Title 24; Title 37 and Title 38.

Criminal Procedure - As introduced, prohibits a court from assessing court costs against a defendant in a criminal proceeding if the defendant is found not guilty by a jury or by a judge following a bench trial on all charges for which the defendant was accused, the prosecution is dismissed or a nolle prosequi is entered by the state, or the charges against the defendant are dismissed by the court. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

Criminal Offenses - As introduced, increases from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class C felony the available sentence for an aggravated criminal trespass if, while in commission of the trespass, the trespasser encounters the owner using or displaying a firearm in self-defense; upgrades trespass offenses to Class C felonies. - Amends TCA Section 39-11-611; Title 39, Chapter 13, Part 10 and Title 39, Chapter 14, Part 4.

Law Enforcement - As introduced, enacts the "Stop American Gestapo Act (SAGA)." - Amends TCA Title 38 and Title 39.

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.

Death - As introduced, requires, if the person or government agency assuming custody of a body for the purposes of burial does not request an autopsy, or that the body be embalmed, the person or agency to ensure that the body is buried within 48 hours from the time when the person or agency waives the ability to request an autopsy or embalming of the body. - Amends TCA Title 34, Chapter 6, Part 37; Title 38; Title 50; Title 56; Title 62, Chapter 5; Title 62, Chapter 6 and Title 68.

Health, Dept. of - As introduced, directs the department on or before January 1, 2026, to submit a report with a list of each drug that is psychotropic medication pursuant to current law and the side effects of each medication to the chair of the health and welfare committee of the senate and the chair of the committee of the house of representatives having jurisdiction over health-related matters. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 33; Title 41; Title 49; Title 53; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

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.

Sentencing - As introduced, requires a local community corrections advisory board to provide its annual report to the county legislative body on the progress of community corrections programs by February 1 of each year. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 16; Title 37; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 41.

Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, requires a gun dealer to ensure that three days have passed since the transaction was initiated by the purchaser before transferring a firearm to a purchaser if the purchaser is older than 17 but younger than 21. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13.

Criminal Procedure - As introduced, allows certain persons deprived of the right of suffrage to apply for a voter registration card and have the right of suffrage provisionally restored if the person enters into a payment plan to become current on all child support obligations. - Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 29.

Education - As introduced, deletes obsolete provisions regarding implementation of the school grading system. - Amends Chapter __ of the Public Acts of 2025 (1st Ex. Sess. – SB 6001 / HB 6004); and TCA Title 4, Chapter 49; Title 8 and Title 49.

Taxes, Alcoholic Beverages - As introduced, deletes an obsolete provision relating to a tax credit for beer or ale that was destroyed in a flood occurring between May 1, 2010, and May 8, 2010. - Amends TCA Title 57 and Title 67.

Energy - As introduced, requires an applicant and an electric utility service to perform and submit to the locality a site assessment prior to the approval of a rezoning request, special exception, or special use permit for the siting of a new high energy use facility (HEUF). - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 13; Title 54; Title 65 and Title 68.

Housing - As introduced, enacts the "Affordable Housing and Tenant Protection Act"; allows local governments to adopt ordinances and resolutions to control rent for private residential rental units; creates the increased housing program and increased housing fund; authorizes the Tennessee housing development agency to make grants from the fund to eligible developers and first-time homebuyers to assist in gap financing and down payment assistance. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 53; Title 9; Title 12; Title 13; Title 66 and Title 67.