114 session

Election Laws - As introduced, enacts the "Election Integrity Act of 2026"; creates a process by which a candidate in a local election may challenge the results of the election prior to certification of the election if the candidate has reason to believe errors were made in the adminstration of the election. - Amends TCA Title 2 and Title 49.

2026-03-24 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate State and Local Government Committee

Foster Care - As enacted, requires the department of children's services to provide a copy of a petition to terminate parental rights for a child in the custody of the department to the child's foster parent, if the foster parent has served as the physical placement for the child for a period of nine or more consecutive months; requires the department to provide the required copy within seven days of the filing or being served with the petition. - Amends TCA Section 36-1-113 and Section 37-2-415.

2026-05-05 — Effective date(s) 07/01/2026

Banks and Financial Institutions - As enacted, clarifies that the service of transmitting money from a location originating in this state to a location outside of the United States or its territories is a taxable service and that such a tax is generally levied on the amount of money transmitted; requires revenues generated from such a tax to be allocated to certain funds and purposes. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 38; Title 39; Title 45; Title 47; Title 49 and Title 67.

2026-05-27 — Comp. became Pub. Ch. 1035

Boards and Commissions - As enacted, integrates the bureau of TennCare into the statewide planning and policy council’s structure and mission by adding the director of long-term care services and a managed care organization representative to its membership; expands the council’s advisory and reporting duties to include TennCare’s director, services, and waiver implementation alongside existing department programs. - Amends TCA Title 52, Chapter 5, Part 6 and Title 71, Chapter 5.

2026-05-05 — Effective date(s) 04/14/2026

Education - As enacted, requires LEAs and public charter schools to recognize Victims of Communism Day to honor the people who have fallen victim to communist regimes by providing high school students enrolled in a world history and geography course with at least 45 minutes of instruction on such topic. - Amends TCA Title 15; Title 49, Chapter 1 and Title 49, Chapter 6.

2026-04-24 — Comp. became Pub. Ch. 757

Public Defenders - As introduced, creates five additional social worker positions in the public defender system. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 14 and Title 9, Chapter 4.

2026-04-20 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee

Jails, Local Lock-ups - As introduced, requires the monthly report of the warden of a county workhouse for each prisoner placed under a work release program to be filed with the judge by whom the prisoner was sentenced on or before the fifteenth day of the month immediately following the reporting period. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 40 and Title 41.

2026-03-17 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate State and Local Government Committee

Safety - As introduced, enacts the "Artificial Intelligence Public Safety and Child Protection Transparency Act." - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 10, Chapter 7; Title 47; Title 58 and Title 68.

2026-04-15 — Re-refer to Senate Commerce & Labor Committee

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.

2026-03-19 — Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.

Immigration - As introduced, enacts the “Tennessee Freedom from Unlawful Immigration Detention Act.” - Amends TCA Title 7; Title 8; Title 38; Title 40 and Title 41.

2026-03-24 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate State and Local Government Committee

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.

2026-02-05 — Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee

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.

2026-03-18 — Failed (no second) in Senate Education Committee

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.

2026-03-25 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Judiciary Committee

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.

2026-03-25 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Judiciary Committee

School Vouchers - As introduced, establishes various audit and reporting requirements for the department of education and private schools that enroll recipients of an education freedom scholarship; limits eligibility for the scholarship program to students who are members of a family with an annual household income that does not exceed 300 percent of the amount required for a student to qualify for free or reduced lunch; requires scholarship recipients to be administered the same TCAP tests administered to public school students enrolled in the same grade level or course subject. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29; Title 8, Chapter 44; Title 10, Chapter 7 and Title 49, Chapter 6.

2026-03-18 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Education Committee

Local Education Agencies - As enacted, requires each LEA and public charter school to administer the Presidential Fitness Test to students to assess their strength, endurance, and flexibility. - Amends TCA Title 49 and Title 68.

2026-03-23 — Comp. became Pub. Ch. 598

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.

2026-02-05 — Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee

Workers Compensation - As enacted, adds a requirement that an award of attorneys' fees and costs incurred when an employer unreasonably denies a workers' compensation claim or unreasonably fails to timely initiate any of the benefits associated with the claim must be based on a finding by the workers' compensation judge that the employer's conduct was unreasonable; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 50, Chapter 6.

2026-05-05 — Effective date(s) 07/01/2026

Sentencing - As introduced, states that there is a rebuttable presumption that a defendant convicted of aggravated assault is not a favorable candidate for probation if the offense involved the use or display of a firearm during the commission of the offense. - Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 35.

2026-04-20 — Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 4/21/2026

Taxes, Real Property - As enacted, revises standards for the length of the redemption period for a property subject to a tax sale based on whether the period of delinquency is three years or less or is more than three years. - Amends TCA Section 67-5-2701.

2026-05-18 — Effective date(s) 07/01/2026

District Attorneys - As introduced, requires TACIR to study and prepare a report on pay equity for assistant district attorneys general in this state. - Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 8, Chapter 7.

2026-04-13 — Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.

Real Property - As enacted, requires a description of real property contained within a deed of conveyance of a property not previously described in a recorded instrument to be prepared by a registered land surveyor, or by a licensed attorney utilizing a survey prepared by a registered land surveyor. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 23; Title 39; Title 45; Title 47, Chapter 18; Title 56; Title 62 and Title 66.

2026-05-26 — Comp. became Pub. Ch. 996

Anatomical Gifts - As introduced, permits medical examiners to deny an anatomical gift of a deceased whose death occurs under suspicious, unusual, or unnatural circumstances if the medical examiner believes one of the listed criteria is met; requires the procurement organization to provide certain listed information prior to and following the procurement of an anatomical gift. - Amends TCA Title 38, Chapter 7 and Title 68, Chapter 30.

2026-02-05 — Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Health and Welfare Committee

Children - As introduced, requires, in contested child custody, dependency and neglect, adoption, and guardianship proceedings in which the court has appointed a guardian ad litem, a court to order the child to be evaluated by a qualified expert unless the court determines an examination is unnecessary; requires the expert to submit a report containing certain information; specifies that the submitted report constitutes prima facie evidence of the child's condition and the factors relevant to the child's best interest; specifies various other requirements for the guardian ad litem's consideration of the report and the allocation of the examination costs. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 37.

2026-03-10 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Judiciary Committee

General Assembly - As introduced, decreases from 50 to 25 miles a member's principal residence is from the capitol for purposes of the member receiving the hotel portion of per diem; prohibits such members from receiving a daily mileage allowance. - Amends TCA Section 3-1-106.

2026-04-20 — Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 4/21/2026

Children - As enacted, specifies that a parent's or legal guardian's action of raising, guiding, or instructing the parent's or legal guardian's child in a manner consistent with the child's biological sex is not a basis for certain findings or actions by the court, does not constitute the criminal offense of child abuse, child neglect, or child endangerment, and must not be considered as a negative factor by a court in determining a custody arrangement in the best interest of the child. - Amends TCA Title 36, Chapter 6; Title 37, Chapter 1 and Title 39, Chapter 15.

2026-05-05 — Effective date(s) 04/27/2026

Trade Regulation - As introduced, enacts the "Stop Rent Rigging Act." - Amends TCA Title 47 and Title 66.

2026-03-03 — Failed in Senate Commerce and Labor Committee (No second)

Consumer Protection - As introduced, enacts the "Junk Fee Prevention Act." - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 19 and Title 47, Chapter 18.

2026-02-17 — Failed in Senate Commerce and Labor Committee

Criminal Offenses - As enacted, creates a Class E felony offense when a person, for the purpose of deriving a pecuniary benefit, engages in conduct intended to influence the occurrence or nonoccurrence of an event while the person, or another acting in active concert with the person, is a party to a contract traded on a prediction-market by which the person will derive such pecuniary benefit directly from the settlement of that contract based on the occurrence or a nonoccurrence of the event. - Amends TCA Title 39.

2026-05-27 — Effective date(s) 07/01/2026

Landlord and Tenant - As enacted, prohibits certain persons from publishing, transmitting, or broadcasting any video of the service of civil process related to an eviction proceeding without the express written permission of the individual being served with civil process; specifies that an individual who is a victim of the publication, transmission, or broadcast of such a video without the individual's permission has a private right of action against the person violating the prohibition. - Amends TCA Title 13; Title 29 and Title 66.

2026-04-06 — Effective date(s) 04/01/2026

Prisons and Reformatory Institutions - As introduced, prohibits this state or a local government from entering into a new contract or renewing an existing contract for the provision of correctional services for an inmate under the custody and care of the department of correction or the local government. - Amends TCA Title 41, Chapter 24.

2026-03-24 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate State and Local Government Committee

Flags - As introduced, requires the governor to proclaim a statewide day of mourning and order the state flag to be flown at half staff over the state capitol during such period of mourning if a current or former member of the general assembly dies, unless the member had been convicted of a felony. - Amends TCA Title 4.

2026-03-16 — Re-refer to Senate Calendar Committee

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.

2026-03-25 — Failed in Senate State and Local Government Committee

Election Laws - As introduced, authorizes senators who have served for at least eight consecutive years and representatives who have served for at least 10 consecutive years to use signatures of registered voters outside of such senator's or representative's district for purposes of completing a nominating petition. - Amends TCA Title 2.

2026-03-24 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate State and Local Government Committee

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.

2026-03-10 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Commerce and Labor Committee

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

2026-03-10 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Commerce and Labor Committee

Campaigns and Campaign Finance - As introduced, authorizes the use of unexpended campaign funds by an officeholder to procure home security equipment and monitoring services for the officeholder's personal residence. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 10.

2026-02-05 — Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee

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.

2026-02-05 — Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Commerce and Labor Committee

Taxes, Real Property - As introduced, limits the setting of the tax rate on property by a county, municipality, metropolitan government, or other taxing entity in any fiscal year at a rate that would render in total receipts from all levies an amount more than the receipts from that source from the immediately preceding fiscal year for the county, municipality, metropolitan government, or other taxing jurisdiction, plus an additional 2 percent, subject to certain exceptions; establishes a procedure by which the 2 percent increase may be exceeded by passage of a referendum. - Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 5.

2026-03-24 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate State and Local Government Committee

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.

2026-04-13 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee

Civil Emergencies - As enacted, requires a local emergency management agency to annually require all employees to receive training provided by TEMA on the "Mutual Aid and Emergency and Disaster Assistance Agreement Act of 2004," and the "Interlocal Cooperation Act"; encourages the chief executive of each police department, sheriff's department, fire department, public works department, highway department, municipal utility, or county or municipal finance office that is a participating government entity to designate employees to receive the training provided by TEMA. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 58, Chapter 2 and Title 58, Chapter 8.

2026-05-18 — Comp. became Pub. Ch. 957

Fire Prevention and Investigation - As enacted, requires certification from the peace officer standards and training commission and certain other criteria to be met in order for the commissioner of commerce and insurance, the commissioner's deputies, a municipal fire investigator, or a salaried county fire investigator to exercise police powers, including the power to arrest, relative to cases of arson or suspected arson. - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 38 and Title 68.

2026-05-05 — Effective date(s) 01/01/2028

Sewage - As introduced, increases, from a Class C to Class B misdemeanor, the classification of offenses involving unlawful disposal of sewage if the person commits the offense while engaged in the business of removing accumulated wastes from subsurface sewage disposal systems. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 68, Chapter 221.

2026-02-05 — Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Energy, Ag., and Nat. Resources Committee

Sewage - As introduced, implements a system of graduated periods of suspension of a person's license to engage in the business of removing accumulated wastes from subsurface sewage disposal systems following conviction for offenses involving illegal dumping of sewage. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 68, Chapter 221.

2026-02-05 — Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Energy, Ag., and Nat. Resources Committee

Environment and Conservation, Department of - As introduced, enacts the "Climate Resiliency Fund Act." - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 3, Part 5; Title 9; Title 60; Title 67 and Title 68.

2026-02-05 — Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Energy, Ag., and Nat. Resources Committee

Naming and Designating - As introduced, designates the bog turtle as an official state reptile. - Amends TCA Section 4-1-321.

2026-03-12 — Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.

Insurance, Health, Accident - As introduced, creates the "Regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) In Health Care Act." - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 27; Title 56 and Title 71.

2026-04-07 — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Commerce and Labor Committee