Browse Legislation

Sunset Laws - As introduced, extends the Tennessee state veterans' homes board to June 30, 2029; requires the board to report back to the government operations committee by December 31, 2026, to update the committee on its progress in addressing the findings and observations set forth in the December 2025 performance audit report. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 58, Chapter 7.

TennCare - As introduced, extends the ground ambulance service annual assessment to June 30, 2027; changes the penalty imposed by the bureau on an ambulance provider for each day an assessment remains unpaid from $50 per calendar day to 5 percent of the principal amount owed per month for each month. - Amends TCA Title 71, Chapter 5, Part 15.

Alcoholic Beverages - As introduced, prohibits a person from furnishing, dispensing, or giving away alcoholic beverages or beer to a person who is not 21 or older at a private party or private event; requires the owner or operator of an event at which alcoholic beverages are served to submit with the request for approval for the event proof satisfactory that the owner or operator has taken reasonable steps to ensure that alcoholic beverages are not served to persons who are not 21 or older in attendance at the event. - Amends TCA Title 7 and Title 57.

Motor Vehicles - As introduced, increases from $25 to $500 the coverage failure fee imposed by the department of revenue for the first failure to comply with the James Lee Atwood Jr. Law; increases that fee to $1,500 and requires registration be suspended or revoked for a second or subsequent failure to comply; bars a plaintiff from recovering noneconomic damages from a defendant arising out of the use of a vehicle if the plaintiff was not in compliance with the financial responsibility law; makes other related revisions. - Amends TCA Title 29; Title 55 and Title 56.

Children's Services, Dept. of - As introduced, requires the commissioner to develop and implement a statewide, outcomes-based, county-level quality assurance program no later than July 1, 2027; directs the commissioner to send reports to the general assembly detailing the department's progress toward implementing the program at the end of each fiscal year quarter until the program is fully implemented. - Amends TCA Title 37, Chapter 5.

Public Utility Commission - As introduced, authorizes the commission to electronically submit to the general assembly its annual report comparing telecommunications, electricity, natural gas, water, and wastewater utility rates between this state and the southeastern states. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 12; Title 13; Title 54; Title 64; Title 65; Title 68 and Title 69.

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.

Human Rights - As introduced, includes "honorifics" in the prohibition on requiring a student, teacher, state employee, or state contractor to use or provide a person's preferred name or pronoun. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 50; Title 49, Chapter 7, Part 24 and Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 51.

State Employees - As enacted, removes the requirement for waivers to be used only one course at a time for academic courses that full-time state employees are eligible to take without paying tuition charges, maintenance fees, student activity fees, registration fees, or online course fees; authorizes the waiver to be used for more than one course at a time. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 8.

Children - As introduced, revises various provisions governing surrendering custody of unwanted infants, including adding an ambulance station that has staff scheduled 24 hours a day to the list of facilities that must receive possession of a newborn infant left on the premises with an employee or member of the professional medical community if certain listed conditions are met. - Amends TCA Title 36, Chapter 1, Part 1 and Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2.

Pensions and Retirement Benefits - As introduced, requires retirement credit established for a period of disability for a commissioned member of the department of safety or agent of the Tennessee bureau of investigation to be at no cost to that member; authorizes political subdivisions that pass a resolution to establish retirement credit for its employees to allow a police officer's credit for a period of disability to be at no cost to the officer. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 34, Part 6.

Local Government, General - As introduced, authorizes Putnam County and incorporated cities within the county to regulate sober living homes for recovery from alcohol, drug, and substance abuse to the extent such regulation complies with the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 51, Part 26.

Regional Authorities and Special Districts - As introduced, revises various provisions of the Real Estate Infrastructure Development Act of 2025. - Amends TCA Title 7; Title 9; Title 12; Title 13; Title 66; Title 67 and Title 68.

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.

Local Education Agencies - As introduced, requires an LEA or public charter school to allow a private pay provider for a student with autism spectrum disorder or developmental delays access to the student during the school day to provide the student with private pay services in educational settings, including classroom settings, as determined by the student's IEP or service agreement. - Amends TCA Title 49; Title 68 and Title 71.

Sentencing - As introduced, increases the penalty for leaving the scene of an accident resulting in injury from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony; increases the penalty for leaving the scene of an accident that the person knew or should reasonably have known resulted in death from a Class E felony to a Class D felony. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 13 and Title 55, Chapter 10.

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 introduced, requires that if a vandalism offense occurred at a house of worship, the sentencing court to include as part of the sentence a fine of no less than two times the total amount of any property damage or loss or cleaning and restoration expenses incurred by the house of worship as a result of the offense. - Amends TCA Title 29 and Title 39.

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.

Children - As introduced, defines a child in need of heightened supervision; makes various other changes regarding the commitment, detention, and shelter care of children. - Amends TCA Title 37, Chapter 1, Part 1.