8:30 a.m. - Senate Regular Calendar - Watch - 2. SB0016 by Lowe
Bill holds churches, charities liable when they shelter undocumented people who commit a crime
8:30 a.m. - Senate Regular Calendar - Watch - 6. *SB0227 by Taylor
- If a church or charity that provides shelter or housing to an undocumented person who commits a crime, that nonprofit could be held legally liable, under this proposal.
- Republicans targeting religious charities that house homeless people? How christlike!
‘Monsanto Protection Act’ shields chemical makers from cancer lawsuits
8:30 a.m. - Senate Regular Calendar - Watch - 10. SB0527 by Stevens
- The Tennessee Senate will vote on a bill that would grant sweeping legal immunity to pesticide and herbicide manufacturers, shielding these multinational corporations from lawsuits when consumers believe they have been harmed by a product’s chemicals.
- Just last month, a jury in Georgia ordered Monsanto parent Bayer to pay nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who says the company’s Roundup weed killer caused his cancer.
- The legislation’s sponsor admitted publicly that Bayer-Monsanto was backing the bill. Similar legislation shielding the company from liability has popped up in state capitals throughout the U.S. as the number of lawsuits facing the company tops 170,000.
- If passed, this bill would strip Tennessee farmers and all consumers of their ability to hold a pesticide or herbicide manufacturer accountable through the courts when a product causes harm.
G.O.P. bill would block regulation of toxic ‘forever chemicals’
8:30 a.m. - Senate Regular Calendar - Watch - SB 0880 *Reeves
- The U.S. Chamber – the national lobbying group for big businesses – is going state by state pressing politicians for new laws that prevent the regulation of “forever chemicals,” also called PFAs.
- PFAs – per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances – are a group of man-made chemicals that do not break down in the environment. These “forever chemicals,” which have been linked to disease, infertility and even death, have been found in 60% of the waters in Northeast Tennessee.
- Senate Bill 880 would prohibit state agencies from adopting public health and safety regulations on pollutants and hazardous waste until officials prove an exposure to the toxin caused "manifest bodily harm" to people.
GOP bill shields students who bully trans students, teachers by ignoring preferred pronouns
8:30 a.m. - Senate Regular Calendar - Watch - 16. *SB0937 by Rose
Bill adds narrow medical exceptions to Republican’s immoral abortion ban
8:30 a.m. - Senate Regular Calendar - Watch - 20. SB1004 by Briggs
- The decision to start a family—or not—is deeply personal and complex. That is why it should only be made by a woman, her family and her doctor—without government interference.
- Tennessee’s Republican-backed ban on abortion has caused pregnant women to be denied care and even caused medical professionals to leave the state due to fear of prosecution.
- Senate Bill 1004, which would add several narrow medical exceptions to the ban, is the G.O.P.’s latest attempt to ease the concerns of medical professionals – not women.
Targeting immigrants: GOP bill criminalizes out-of-state IDs, undermines state cooperation
8:30 a.m. - Senate Regular Calendar - Watch - 24. SB1086 by Johnson
- Multiple states have passed laws allowing undocumented people to obtain driver's licenses to promote road safety, insurance coverage and commerce. Tennessee is going the opposite direction.
- Senate Bill 1086 would invalidate out-of-state licenses issued under these circumstances and criminalize the drivers for non-threatening behavior.
- This bill sets a dangerous precedent: Not only does it invite racial profiling and harassment, it establishes that Tennessee is unwilling to respect the laws enacted by other states, creating legal and logistical conflicts between state governments.
Legislation cracks down on private prisons with high inmate death rate
8:30 a.m. - Senate Regular Calendar - Watch - 25. SB1115 by Pody
- Senate Bill 1115 is the first legislative effort aimed at curbing failures at Tennessee’s four CoreCivic-run prisons to reach the Senate floor.
- The bill requires the Department of Correction to reduce the population at CoreCivic facilities by 10 percent if the death rate of inmates at the private prison facility is twice the death rate of an equivalent state-operated facility. The department is required to continue reducing the population until conditions at the private prisons improve.
- A Correction Department official testified [Time 41:00] on March 25 that the state would be required to remove 750 inmates collectively from the four CoreCivic facilities if this proposal took effect, an admission that all four private prisons are out of compliance.
- MORE: The U.S. Department of Justice opened last year an investigation into CoreCivic’s prison in Trousdale County failed audits, lawsuits and continued reports of assaults, abuse and death.
8:30 a.m. Senate Floor
1. *SB0007 by Lowe. (HB0073 by Howell.)
Historical Commission - As amended, prohibits the Tennessee historical commission, and any other state entity other than the state building commission engaged in the historic preservation of real property, from regulating the renovation, alteration, or demolition of improved public or private real property that is not listed on the Tennessee register of historic places.
Watch. History buffs might hate this.
2. SB0016 by Lowe. (*HB0025 by Cepicky.)
Local Education Agencies - Amends TCA Title 49. As introduced, prohibits a public school from using public funds to have a membership with an association that regulates interscholastic athletics and prohibits a student from participating in an interscholastic athletic competition due to the student transferring no more than once from a school at which the student previously participated in an interscholastic athletic competition regulated by the association.
3. *SB0028 by Pody. (HB0370 by Scarbrough.)
Criminal Offenses - Amends TCA Title 39. As introduced, expands the criminal offense of harassment to include harassment that occurs by communicating in the physical presence of the victim, in addition to in writing, by telephone, or electronically.
4. SB0134 by Johnson. (*HB0087 by Slater.)
Education, Dept. of- Enacts The Learning Pod Protection Act. Authorizes parents to voluntarily participate or associate with learning pods to advance their children's kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) education without being subject to specified restrictions or regulations. Prohibits the state, local governments, and local education agencies (LEAs) from regulating or controlling a learning pod. Establishes that a child who participates in a learning pod satisfies the compulsory school attendance requirements if the child meets certain enrollment requirements.
5. *SB0161 by Hensley. (HB1199 by Kumar.)
Local Education Agencies - As amended, SB161 will require each local school board for an LEA with at least one high school to adopt a policy for authorizing one high school student to serve as a nonvoting representative on the school board.
6. *SB0227 by Taylor. (HB0811 by Grills.)
Tort Liability and Reform - Amends TCA Title 29, Chapter 34. As introduced, allows a charitable organization that provides housing to a person whom the charitable organization knows is unlawfully present in the United States to be held liable for a loss, damages, injury, or death resulting from a criminal offense committed by the person who is unlawfully present in the United States while the person is receiving housing services from the charitable organization if the charitable organization's conduct in providing housing constitutes negligence, gross negligence, or willful and wanton misconduct.
Is this targeting religious groups that assist refugees? How Christ like.
7. SB0238 by Taylor. (*HB0078 by Stevens.)
Bail, Bail Bonds - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40. As introduced, specifies that venue for prosecution of the offense of knowingly violating a condition of release is the county in which the conduct constituting the violation of a condition of release occurred.
8. *SB0415 by Lowe. (HB0675 by Cochran.)
Education- As amended, creates an advisory committee composed of Senate members, House members, representatives of the board of education and department of education. The board members must be appointed by July 1, 2025 and convene its first meeting by August 1, 2025. The committee is tasked with studying teacher and principal evaluation processes, state and locally mandated assessments, a potential shift in required instructional hours rather than days, substitution of CTE courses for courses required for graduation, and educational, licensure, and training requirements for teachers, as well as, compensation structure. The committee is required to submit a report to the speakers of both houses, and the appropriate education committees by December 31, 2025. The report must be prepared by the DOE.
9. *SB0525 by Rose. (HB0913 by Vaughan.)
Election Laws - Amends TCA Title 2; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 20, Chapter 18. As introduced, requires a three-judge panel to hear any civil action in which it is alleged that a proposed charter amendment ordinance that is to be submitted to qualified voters at an election is in violation of the Constitution or state law; prohibits an amendment to the charter of a home rule municipality from being placed on any ballot if the amendment is in violation of the Constitution or state law.
Watch. Legislative overreach on local control. Republicans are still mad that Memphis voters approved a charter question asking for stricter gun laws.
10. *SB0527 by Stevens. (HB0809 by Grills.)
Pest Control - Amends TCA Title 43, Chapter 8. As introduced, specifies that a manufacturer or seller of a pesticide registered with the commissioner of agriculture and with the environmental protection agency under the federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is not liable in a civil action related to the labeling of the pesticide, if the pesticide bore a label approved by the EPA under FIFRA at the time of sale.
Watch. "liability shield" legislation that protects Bayer-Monsanto from Roundup cancer lawsuits
11. *SB0535 by Stevens. (HB0874 by Martin B.)
Children - Amends TCA Title 24; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 47. As introduced, enacts the "Tennessee Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act."
Prohibits social media companies from informing suspects of a subpoena related to their account.
12. SB0811 by Powers. (*HB0825 by Maberry.)
Education, Curriculum - Amends TCA Title 49. As introduced, enacts the "Teen Social Media and Internet Safety Act," which requires the department of education to develop curricula for the instruction of social media and internet safety for students in grades 6-12 who are enrolled in a school in a local education agency (LEA) or public charter school; requires such LEAs and public charter schools to instruct such students using the curricula developed by the department.
13. SB0880 by Reeves. (*HB0896 by Todd.)
Administrative Procedure (UAPA) - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 5. As introduced, prohibits a state agency from disseminating, proposing, or finalizing any regulatory action for a substance, mixture, or chemical related to drinking water, water pollution control, hazardous substances, contaminated site remediation, air quality, or solid or hazardous waste handling unless the regulatory action is based upon the best available peer-reviewed scientific and technical information.
Watch. Would block rules against PFAs, ‘forever chemicals’
14. *SB0884 by Reeves. (HB1143 by Boyd.)
Energy - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 13; Title 64; Title 65; Title 67 and Title 68. As introduced, clarifies that a political subdivision that imposes requirements or expectations related to the type of clean or green, or renewable, energy used by a public utility in an ordinance, resolution, or other regulation must include certain sources of energy as permissible sources of clean or green, or renewable, energy, regardless of whether the political subdivision classifies the requirements or expectations as relating to clean or green, or renewable, energy.
Watch. Looks like something utilities want to avoid decarbonization.
15. *SB0885 by Reeves. (HB1133 by Boyd.)
Taxes - Amends TCA Title 67. As introduced, allows nuclear energy production facilities to seek pollution control tax credits for certain machinery and equipment.
Watch. Interesting details in the fiscal note: There is one small modular reactor (SMR) planned to begin operations by 2033. It is assumed that the proposed exemption will apply to machinery and equipment purchased with regards to the construction of the SMR, if such purchases are not made directly by TVA. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) January 2024 report entitled Capital Cost and Performance Characteristics for Utility-Scale Electric Power Generating Technologies, capital costs for an SMR range between $1,000,000,000 and $5,000,000,000. According to the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Advisory Council’s Final Report and Recommendations released in October 2024, the construction costs of an SMR in Tennessee is estimated to be approximately $1,400,000,000.
16. *SB0937 by Rose. (HB1270 by Cochran.)
Education - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8; Title 9, Chapter 8; Title 29, Chapter 20 and Title 49. As introduced, specifies that certain individuals are not required to use another's preferred name or pronoun, if the preferred name or pronoun is not consistent with the individual's legal name or sex; insulates certain individuals from civil liability for using, or refusing to use, certain names or pronouns in reference to another; allows a civil action to be filed against certain employers and public schools that implement certain preferred pronoun policies or that allow certain names or pronouns to be used in reference to an unemancipated minor without first obtaining parental consent.
Expands the “pronoun bill” to protect students who misgender teachers
17. *SB0943 by Massey. (HB1255 by Alexander.)
Children - As amended, revises, in a suit for annulment, divorce, separate maintenance, or in any other proceeding requiring the court to make a custody determination regarding a minor child, the relevant factors the court must consider in making such a determination. Requires the court in such cases to include certain written findings relative to such considerations.
18. SB0970 by Southerland. (*HB0660 by Jones R.)
Water Authorities - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 68. As introduced, permits authorities formed and certified by municipalities under the Municipal Energy Authority Act to have certain water and wastewater treatment powers to the extent that the authority’s exercise of such powers does not conflict with any ordinances or rules adopted by another local government having jurisdiction over such matters.
19. SB1003 by Hensley. (*HB1002 by Haston.)
Local Education Agencies - Amends TCA Title 49. As introduced, requires the state board of education to approve at least one universal screener for pre-kindergarten students as an alternative growth model to generate individual growth scores for pre-kindergarten teachers; requires, instead of authorizes, LEAs and public charter schools that provide a voluntary pre-kindergarten program to allow pre-kindergarten teachers to use the results of a state-board-approved universal screener for pre-kindergarten students as an alternative growth model for annual evaluation purposes.
20. SB1004 by Briggs. (*HB0990 by Terry.)
Abortion - With amendment, defines "inevitable abortion" as cervical dilation before pregnancy viability due to preterm labor or cervical insufficiency. It defines "serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function" as a medically diagnosed condition that severely complicates pregnancy and may include specific complications like preterm membrane rupture, severe preeclampsia, mirror syndrome, and infections risking uterine rupture or infertility. It excludes mental health conditions from this definition.
21. *SB1015 by Haile. (HB1359 by Littleton.)
Foster Care - With amendment, establishes a set of rights for foster children in Tennessee’s DCS custody or in agencies contracted for foster care placement. It mandates that the department implement these rights through administrative rulemaking. The rights include access to education, appropriate care in the least restrictive setting, a safe and healthy environment, the ability to report violations without retaliation, access to healthcare with age-appropriate explanations, and freedom from punitive restrictions on communication with legal representatives.
Good bill. Foster Child Bill of Rights
22. SB1024 by Reeves. (*HB1036 by Baum.)
Education - With amendment, grants university governing boards the discretion to call private meetings, not subject to open meetings and streaming requirements, to discuss senior administration, personnel positions, and contracts.
23. *SB1052 by Haile. (HB1355 by Littleton.)
Children - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 63. As introduced, specifies that a biological father or alleged biological father who makes token financial support to or for the benefit of a child or the child's mother during the pregnancy or when the mother had physical custody of the child is not a putative father; makes various other changes regarding final orders of adoption.
24. SB1086 by Johnson. (*HB0749 by Reeves.)
Driver Licenses - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 50. As introduced, creates the Class B misdemeanor offense of operating a motor vehicle in this state with an invalid driver license; designates out-of-state driver licenses issued exclusively to illegal aliens as invalid driver licenses in this state.
Watch. Law would invalidate out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to undocumented persons
25. SB1115 by Pody. (*HB1144 by Boyd.)
Correction, Dept. of - With amendment, requires the department of correction to reduce the population at a private prison facility by 10 percent if the death rate of inmates at the private prison facility is twice the death rate of an equivalent state-operated facility. It requires the department to continue the reduction in population until they are able to determine what conditions are causing the higher death rate and have corrected those issues..
Good bill. Holds CoreCivic accountable to keep inmates and guards safe
26. *SB1146 by Crowe. (HB1349 by Littleton.)
Drugs, Prescription - Amends TCA Title 38; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68. As introduced, requires the medical examiner's office to ascertain and document current drug use, including psychotropic drugs, by a deceased individual who committed a mass shooting; directs the University of Tennessee's health science center to study drug interactions between the psychotropic drugs and any other drugs present in the deceased individual's system; requires the department of health to disclose the psychotropic drug use of the individual to the public upon request.
27. *SB0298 by Roberts. (HB1197 by Kumar.)
Education, Curriculum - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6. As introduced, makes various changes to the approval process and notice requirements for nonsectarian, nonreligious Bible courses; clarifies that public charter schools are authorized to provide nonsectarian, nonreligious Bible courses in the same manner as local education agencies.
28. *SB0421 by Reeves. (HB1239 by Helton-Haynes.)
Opioids - Amends TCA Title 33; Title 41; Title 53 and Title 63. As introduced, authorizes certain prescribing physician assistants and nurse practitioners to prescribe buprenorphine products for the treatment of opioid use disorder when the physician assistant or nurse practitioner is employed by or contracts with a state correctional facility or county or municipal jail, and certain other conditions are met.
29. SB0519 by Roberts. (*HB0219 by Reedy.)
Real Property - Amends TCA Title 66, Chapter 2, Part 3. As introduced, requires foreign persons who purchase land in this state and who file a report of such purchase to the United States department of agriculture under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act to also file the report with the commissioner of agriculture.