8:30 a.m. - Senate Regular Calendar - Watch - 3. SB0351 by Taylor
- More than 30 local governments across the United States have implemented guaranteed basic income programs to test whether a monthly cash infusion for low-income participants, usually around $500, improves a family’s overall financial stability.
The pilot programs are yielding positive results.
- In fact, Sen. Raumesh Akbari and Rep. Justin J. Pearson introduced a bill to test the concept in Tennessee at $250 a month.
- The idea is still alive at the state level, but Senate Bill 351 by Sen. Brent Taylor would prohibit any city or county from implementing a program of their own or even joining a study.
Bill raises cap on personal injury awards, invites civil suits against abortion medication distributors
8:30 a.m. - Senate Regular Calendar - Watch - 4. SB 0419 *Hensley
- Senate Bill 419 raises the state’s cap on civil damages in personal injury lawsuits and creates a new “catastrophic loss” claim against a person who unlawfully distributes of abortion-inducing medication.
- Mailing and delivering abortion-inducing medication without a prescription is already a criminal offense in Tennessee.
- It appears the House sponsor, who is a trial attorney, is using the Republican Party’s anti-abortion fervor as a way to increase noneconomic damages in civil cases. The legislation increases the cap from $750,000 to $1.5 million and lifts the “catastrophic” injury cap from $1 million to $2 million.
G.O.P. bill dismantles Human Rights Commission, moves civil rights enforcement to biased Attorney General
11:30 a.m. - Government Operations - Watch - SB 0861 *Stevens
- This Republican-backed bill would terminate the independent watchdog protecting the civil rights of workers, renters, homeowners and consumers.
- The Human Rights Commission has safeguarded the civil rights of Tennesseans since 1963 by investigating reports of discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. The Commission generally resolves issues without costly litigation.
- Senate Bill 861 would move the division under the Republican Attorney General, a political appointee who has actively undermined the civil rights of women, minorities, students and LGTBQ families.
Bill sends G.O.P. Attorney General on a witch hunt against cities, counties
1 p.m. - State & Local Government - Watch - SB 0845 *Lowe
- Republicans are backing a heavy-handed bill that would empower the state’s G.O.P. attorney general to investigate and prosecute cities and counties when he claims they are violating state law.
- The attorney general’s office would only have to prove their case in front of a court if the local government challenges the AG’s findings – a legal situation that disadvantages cities and counties.
- And if a local government resists, the state finance commissioner could withhold all state funding owed to the city or county.
Bill will force Memphis’ utility to serve a new customer outside the city
2 p.m. - Finance, Ways & Means - Watch - SB1138 by Taylor
- A developer building a housing subdivision outside of the city of Memphis was rejected on his application to connect his subdivision to the city’s sewer system operated by Memphis Light, Gas & Water.
- Rather than investing in an alternative sewer system for the property, the developer called his friends in the Tennessee General Assembly. Those Shelby County Republicans filed a bill designed to force the city-owned utility to serve that developer’s subdivision.
- It wasn’t long ago state Republicans gave Shelby County communities the right to de-annex from Memphis, but they still want their friends to have the benefits of being in the city.
- You can read about the entire saga in documents submitted to the Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation (page 59).
G.O.P. bill allows development on flood-reducing wetlands – days after widespread flooding
2 p.m. - Finance, Ways & Means - Watch - SB0670 by Taylor
- Just days after storms left neighborhoods flooded across West Tennessee, Senate Bill 670 would allow property developers to pave and build over flood-fighting wetlands.
- The bill removes protections for some wetlands – a move that will increase flooding and costs for taxpayers. Tennessee’s wetlands absorb billions of gallons of stormwater each year, reducing flood risks for families and businesses. More flooding leads to higher insurance rates and disaster recovery costs—which taxpayers will be forced to cover.
- Isolated wetlands also act as a natural filter, removing pollutants from urban and agricultural runoff. Eliminating protections means more contamination in drinking water sources, especially in West Tennessee, where millions of residents rely on groundwater.
- MORE WETLAND REDUCTION. While SB0670 rolls back wetland protections, SB 0843 (also on this calendar) would reduce wetland acquisition by pilfering the state’s wetland acquisition fund to pay for TWRA operating expenses.
Trade War: Trump’s tariff taxes will explode costs for Tennesseans
- Tennessee businesses purchase more than $22 billion worth of goods and products from China each year, more than double the next closest foreign nation, according to Michigan State University’s globalEDGE trade tracker.
- This morning, the cost of all Chinese imports destined for Tennessee businesses will more than double due to President Donald Trump’s 104% tariff tax. And the billions of dollars worth of goods sold by Tennessee businesses to China will be slapped with a reciprocal tariff.
- It’s expensive and time consuming for businesses to establish new supply chain partners – domestically or internationally. So the immediate end result is that businesses pay double the cost for their Chinese imports and pass those increased costs onto consumers.
8:30 a.m. Senate Regular Calendar
1. *SB0136 by Briggs. (HB0152 by Wright.)
Local Government, General - Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 8, Chapter 44. As introduced, authorizes a member of a local government's legislative body to participate in a scheduled meeting by electronic means if the member is dealing with a family or medical emergency, has been called into military service, or is unable to attend in person due to inclement weather.
TCOG says the military exemption already exists in state law.
2. *SB0170 by Lowe. (HB1025 by Russell.)
Juvenile Offenders - Amends TCA Title 37; Title 39 and Title 55, Chapter 10, Part 7.
As introduced, requires suspension of a minor's driving privileges or ability to obtain a driver license for a period of one year as part of the disposition if a minor is adjudicated delinquent for an act that would constitute the offense of harassment by bullying or cyber-bullying.
3. SB0351 by Taylor. (*HB0337 by Gillespie.)
Local Government, General - As amended, prohibits a local government from adopting or enforcing any ordinance, resolution, regulation, code, requirement, or policy that has the purpose or effect of making a payment to an individual under a guaranteed income program.
Republican Party overreach. Preemption and state interference with local control.
4. SB0419 by Hensley. (*HB0005 by Bulso.)
Remedies and Special Proceedings - As amended, expands the definition of catastrophic loss or injury in civil actions to include the wrongful death of an unborn child at any stage of gestation in utero when an abortion-inducing drug is sent directly to a patient by a defendant via courier, delivery, or mail service.
Anti-abortion. Allows up to $5 million in civil damages for distributors of abortion pills..
5. SB0533 by Stevens. (*HB0351 by Hurt.)
Jails, Local Lock-ups - Amends TCA Title 41. As introduced, requires a prisoner who is released from a county workhouse or jail for paid employment to pay the costs of the required electronic monitoring device.
Shifts the cost of GPS monitoring from the business employing incarcerated labor to the incarcerated person… This could result in some people working without pay.
6. *SB0542 by Stevens. (HB0805 by Grills.)
Pensions and Retirement Benefits - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 4, Part 15. As introduced, requires the TCRS board of trustees to divest the retirement system from investment activity it has in a company known to be majority-owned by China; requires a local governing body to divest its political subdivision pension plan from investment activity it has in a company known to be majority-owned by China.
7. *SB0602 by Bailey. (HB1125 by Farmer.)
Education - As amended, requires the DOE to develop guidelines and criteria used to determine how long a student must be present in a teacher's classroom before the teacher is held accountable for a student's academic record. However, if the student in question takes a TCAP test, they must have been in the teacher's classroom for at least 150 days of instruction (or 75 if on a block schedule) before the student's score would count towards the teacher's evaluation. Additionally, this amendment specifies that an LEA or pubic charter school may compensate the estate of a teacher employed by an LEA or charter school at the time of their death for the teacher's unused, accrued annual and sick leave.
8. SB0621 by Briggs. (*HB0456 by Rudd.)
Campaigns and Campaign Finance - With amendment, requires a corporation that uses corporate funds for communications expressly in support or opposition of a candidate or elected official to report such expenditures in the same manner as PACs.
9. SB0626 by Briggs. (*HB0457 by Rudd.)
Election Laws- As introduced, authorizes the county election commission to notify individuals filing a petition for recall, referendum, or initiative of a defect in the petition that must be cured prior to certification for final approval. - Amends TCA Title 2.
Makes several changes to voter registration and purging, including purging voters who have not voted in two successive statewide November elections
10. *SB0655 by Stevens. (HB1010 by Moody.)
District Attorneys - Amends TCA Title 8. As introduced, authorizes a district attorney general, on the consent of the district attorney general of any other judicial district, to specially appoint another district attorney general, or an assistant to that district attorney general, to conduct specific proceedings under title 8, chapter 47, regarding removal of officers, which the district attorney general is authorized by law to conduct in that district.
11. *SB0674 by Taylor. (HB0900 by Todd.)
Employees, Employers - Amends TCA Title 7 and Title 50. As introduced, clarifies that the general assembly preempts and occupies the entire field of regulating the terms and conditions of employment; prohibits local governments from adopting or enforcing any law, rule, or policy that requires a term or condition of employment that exceeds or conflicts with state or federal law.
Watch. Preemption and state interference. Republican Party overreach into local control over employment law.
12. SB0705 by Massey. (*HB0676 by Stinnett.)
Education - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 50 and Title 49. As introduced, requires that certain employees of state special schools receive the same leave and certain other benefits as employees of LEAs and public charter schools.
13. *SB0750 by Yager. (HB0833 by Keisling.)
Law Enforcement - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 8; Title 38 and Title 68. As introduced, requires each law enforcement agency, except for the Tennessee bureau of investigation, to report monthly to the department of safety each interaction that the law enforcement agency had with illegal aliens over the previous month; requires that such report include the date of the interaction, the number of illegal aliens encountered, and a description of identification documents, if any, in their possession.
Racial profiling. Anti-immigrant, paperwork mandate. Requires reporting by every law enforcement encounter with undocumented individuals (exempts TBI)
14. *SB0764 by Bailey. (HB0979 by Williams.)
Health Care - As amended, requires the Board of Medical Examiners (BME) to review and determine the qualifications and fitness of all persons applying for a license to practice as an anesthesiologist assistant. Requires the BME to adopt rules governing the licensure and practice of anesthesiologist assistants. Prohibits a person from practicing as an anesthesiologist assistant or using the title or representing that the person is a certified anesthesiologist assistant or anesthesiologist assistant without having a license granted by the BME. Establishes that a violation of such restriction is Class B misdemeanor.
Watch. CRNAs oppose. Anesthesiologists want the option to hire lower-paid, less-trained “anesthesiologist assistants” that do not have a scope of practice currently under TN law.
15. *SB0799 by Johnson. (HB0855 by Reeves.)
Election Laws - As amended, requires statewide political parties to nominate their candidates for the general ballot through a primary election. Includes a grandfather clause for counties where a political party nominated candidates by a method other than a primary election in either the 2022 or 2024 election cycles. In those counties, the party may continue using that alternative method for nominating candidates except for the office of governor, members of the Tennessee General Assembly, United States Senate, and United States House of Representatives.
16. SB0817 by Lowe. (*HB0760 by Darby.)
Drugs, Prescription - Amends TCA Title 49; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68. As introduced, authorizes a healthcare practitioner to prescribe and a pharmacist to dispense a prescribed, bronchodilator rescue inhaler to an authorized entity to be administered to a person believed to be experiencing asthma symptoms or respiratory distress in an emergency situation, under a standing protocol from the healthcare practitioner; encourages schools in LEAs and public charter schools to keep bronchodilator rescue inhalers to be administered to students believed to be having asthma symptoms or in respiratory distress in an emergency situation.
17. *SB0298 by Roberts. (HB1197 by Kumar.)
Education, Curriculum - As amended, specifies that authorization to provide an elective state-funded Bible course consisting of a nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible extends to public charter schools. Clarifies that local education agencies (LEAs) and public charter schools are not required to approve a course for an academic study of the Bible if the course was approved by the Department of Education before July 1, 2025. Requires each LEA and public charter school to make all Bible course curricula and instructional materials available on their respective websites.
18. SB0519 by Roberts. (*HB0219 by Reedy.)
Real Property - With amendment, 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. Allows the AG to impose a civil penalty of up to 25 percent of the fair market value of land owned by a foreign entity for failure to file.
19. *SB1399 by Roberts. (HB1353 by Littleton.)
Criminal Offenses - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 16. As introduced, creates an offense for a person who harms or threatens to harm an individual involved in the judicial process or a family member of such person with the intent to impede, intimidate, interfere with, or retaliate against the justice system participant in connection with their participation in the judicial process, punishable as a Class E felony.
This is already illegal.
11:30 a.m. Government Operations
1. SB 1245 *Haile (HB 0576 by *Doggett, Sexton)
Bonding, Surety and Professional- As amended, gives the board of professional bondsmen broader power to deny licensure. Also, it changes the date when a person cannot operate as a professional bondsman in this state unless the person is licensed by the board of professional bondsmen to September 1st 2026. It adds term limits for members who have been appointed to the board on a rotating basis. The amendment also adds the requirement that each bondsman must inform the board in writing of each county where they have been approved. Finally, it gives the board the power to assess civil penalties for violations of the rules.
Bondsman qualifications.
2. SB 0861 *Stevens (HB 0910 by *Garrett)
Human Rights- With amendment, makes significant changes to Tennessee’s civil rights and anti-discrimination laws. It consolidates enforcement authority under the attorney general by dissolving the Tennessee Human Rights Commission by July 1, 2025, transferring its functions, case files, and responsibilities to the attorney general’s office. It strengthens penalties for malicious harassment, allowing civil fines up to $10,000 per violation. The bill prohibits discrimination in housing, real estate, and education based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, and disability. It creates the "Tennessee Anti-SLAPP Act," providing immunity from civil suits for individuals making good faith reports to government agencies and allowing recovery of legal costs. State agencies are barred from doing business with organizations that discriminate, and the Department of Personnel is tasked with ensuring compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Watch. Disbands Tennessee’s independent civil rights watchdog.
3. SB 0181 *Jackson, Roberts (HB 0288 by *Lafferty)
State Government- As introduced, removes obsolete statutory references to the defunct joint select committee on veterans services of the general assembly. - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8, Chapter 34, Part 2; Title 52; Title 58, Chapter 7; Title 63, Chapter 6, Part 4; Title 68, Chapter 142, Part 1; Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2 and Title 69, Chapter 10.
1 p.m. State & Local Government
1. SB 0845 *Lowe (HB 1097 by *Sexton, Zachary)
Local Government, General- As amended, authorizes the attorney general and reporter to review actions by local governments to determine whether or not the action violates state law or the State Constitution. If it is determined that a violation has occurred, the attorney general must provide written notice to the local government identifying the specific statutory or constitutional provision that the local government has violated. The local government will then have sixty (60) days to either repeal or revise the action, or challenge the finding of the Attorney General. The bill requires that any challenge be heard and determined by a three-judge panel.
Bill empowers the AG to investigate local governments for suspected preemption violations…
1:30 p.m. Appropriations Subcommittee / Finance, Ways & Means
24. SB1138 by Taylor. (*HB0543 by Vaughan.)
Sewage - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 35; Title 7, Chapter 82 and Title 68, Chapter 221. As introduced, prohibits a municipal sewer system or utility district that has operated a sewerage system outside of the corporate boundaries of the city or town for 25 years or more from ceasing operation of the sewerage system outside the corporate boundaries so long as the sewerage system maintains sufficient capacity, as determined by a study conducted by TACIR.
Watch. Legislative overreach. Forcing the Memphis-owned utility into a decision that benefits a developer and is not in the policy of the utility.
36. SB0843 by Walley. (*HB0842 by Crawford.)
Taxes, Real Property - Amends TCA Section 67-4-409. As introduced, requires half the revenue collected from recordation taxes be returned to the county in which the real property is located on a recurring basis; applies to transfers of real property on or after July 1, 2025.
Watch. Robs the Wetland Acquisition Fund to pay TWRA officers…
38. SB0293 by Crowe. (*HB0020 by Reedy.)
Military - Amends TCA Title 9, Chapter 4 and Title 58. As introduced, specifies that the state guard is a separate entity within the military department for budgetary purposes.
39. SB0670 by Taylor. (*HB0541 by Vaughan.)
Water Pollution - Amends TCA Title 4; Title 11, Chapter 14, Part 4; Title 66; Title 67, Chapter 4, Part 4 and Title 69. As introduced, prohibits the department of environment and conservation from applying criteria that will result in the classification of real property as a wetland, or otherwise regulating real property as a wetland, unless the property is classified as a wetland under federal law.
Watch. Wetland destruction bill. Homebuilder’s bill.
40. SB1038 by Bowling. (HB1060 by Howell.)
Game and Fish Laws - Amends TCA Section 70-2-106. As introduced, increases the fee that county clerks and other agents are authorized to collect from purchases of hunting and fishing licenses from $1.00 to $3.00 for annual licenses and $.50 to $3.00 for temporary licenses.