The second year of the 110th Tennessee General Assembly convened in mid-January and is scheduled to adjourn in late April. This year we are pursuing pro-active initiatives that advance criminal justice reform and access to the ballot box. We are also working to defeat dangerous legislation that harms immigrants and refugees, religious and racial minorities, LGBT individuals and women. Click on the issue areas below to see highlights from our 2018 legislative agenda.
| Position | Bill Number | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support | SB 0197/HB 0274 | Amends the legislation to provide release eligibility to a person sentenced to imprisonment for life for first or second degree murder after 30 calendar years if the person committed the offense when he or she was less than 18 years of age. Provides that any other offense sentenced to run consecutively or concurrently to the first or second degree murder sentence shall not operate to extend the release eligibility beyond 30 calendar years. Applies to persons serving a sentence of imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole. Applies retroactively to anyone serving a sentence of imprisonment for life or imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 0378/HB 0345 | Criminal Offenses – As introduced, prohibits the death penalty as a punishment for defendants suffering from severe mental illness at the time of the offense. – Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 0316/HB 0421 | Forfeiture of Assets – As introduced, establishes a new procedure for the seizure and forfeiture of assets as the result of criminal activity; requires conviction for the underlying criminal conviction before forfeiture can occur; requires clear and convincing evidence that the property is subject to forfeiture; and provides that all forfeited or abandoned money be deposited in state general fund and all property forfeitures be sold and the proceeds go into state general fund. – Amends TCA Title 39; Title 40; Title 53 and Title 55. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 0919/HB 0825 | Sentencing – As introduced, requires a court to sentence a person who was convicted of a nonviolent offense and is the primary caretaker of a dependent child to an individually assessed sentence based on community rehabilitation with a focus on parent-child unity and support. – Amends TCA Title 40 and Title 41. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1504/HB 1479 | Criminal Procedure – As introduced, authorizes general sessions and criminal court judges statewide to suspend court costs and litigation tax for indigent defendants; authorizes court clerk to implement community service program in lieu of full payment of court costs and litigation taxes for indigent defendants. – Amends TCA Section 8-21-401; Title 40, Chapter 25 and Title 67, Chapter 4, Part 6. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1575/HB 2106 | Amends the legislation to add juvenile offenders to Tenn. Code Ann. 41-4-121 regarding the safekeeping of prisoners and sufficient jails. Authorizes, rather than requires, a court to order commitment to another jail if required for the safekeeping of the prisoner. Broadens a court’s authorization to commit juvenile prisoners to sufficient jails. Requires a hearing to be held regarding the insufficiency of the county jail, and requires the court to consider restricting the use of solitary confinement. Prohibits offenders from being transferred to a state facility. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1585/HB 2237 | Correction, Dept. of – As introduced, prohibits contracts for the operation of prison facilities from containing occupancy level guarantees. – Amends TCA Title 41, Chapter 24. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1768/HB 1965 | Driver Licenses – As introduced, requires department of safety to provide photo identification license free of charge to person whose driver license is revoked or suspended upon surrender of driver license or proof of surrender. – Amends TCA Section 40-24-105 and Title 55. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1865/HB 2181 | Probation and Parole – As introduced, establishes framework for the department of correction making four $500,000 grants to local sheriff departments or probation offices for the purpose of funding reentry programs designed to reduce recidivism and probation revocations. – Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 35, Part 3. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1978/HB 1590 | Criminal Procedure – As introduced, enables a person who has been disqualified from exercising right to vote due to felony conviction to apply for restoration of voting rights if making payments in accordance with payment plan for court costs, restitution, or overdue child support. – Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 29, Part 2. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2062/HB 2111 | Amends the legislation to reduce the size of drug-free school zones and alters the enhancement for selling or delivering a controlled substance to a minor and alters the enhancement for casually exchanging a controlled substance to a minor. Creates the position of alternative sentencing coordinator for 18 judicial districts. Authorizes the District Attorneys General Conference to select which 18 judicial districts will receive an alternative sentencing coordinator position. Creates an appellate division within the District Public Defenders Conference (DPDC) consisting of five attorneys and support staff for public defenders which would represent indigent defendants in appellate level cases. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2131/HB 2676 | Correctional Programs – As introduced, enacts the “Private Prison Alignment Act.” – Amends TCA Title 4; Title 12 and Title 41. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2133/HB 2520 | Sentencing – As introduced, prohibits a sentencing court from making a sentencing determination based in whole or in part on defendant’s consent or refusal to consent to any form of temporary or permanent birth control, sterilization, or family planning services, regardless of whether the defendant’s consent is voluntarily given. – Amends TCA Title 40. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2218/HB 2651 | Education – As introduced, establishes a commission on the school-to-prison pipeline and restorative practices. – Amends TCA Title 49. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2261/HB 2271 | Juvenile Offenders – As introduced, enacts the “Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2018.” – Amends TCA Title 37 and Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 15. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2384/HB 2187 | Criminal Procedure – As introduced, prohibits the nonpayment of county jail fees as a basis for the revocation of a person’s driver license. – Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 26, Part 1; Section 40-24-105 and Title 41, Chapter 11, Part 1 | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2398/HB 2468 | Prisons and Reformatory Institutions – As introduced, requires certain local government private prison contracts and contracts between the state and a local government to house inmates to meet criteria and standards that apply to contracts between this state and prison contractors; requires department of correction to adopt standards regarding recidivism rates and incorporate such standards into future contracts. – Amends TCA Title 5 and Title 41, Chapter 24. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2465/HB 2248 | Professions and Occupations – As introduced, enacts the “Fresh Start Act” to require that denials and refusals to renew occupational and professional licenses based on a criminal conviction must only occur when the offense relates to the offender’s ability to perform the occupation or profession. – Amends TCA Title 62, Chapter 76, Part 1 and Title 63, Chapter 1. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2626/HB 1862 | Criminal Procedure – As introduced, lowers the expunction fee from $350 to $180 for a defendant whose charge was dismissed due to successful completion of a pretrial diversion program. – Amends TCA Section 40-32-101. | Current Status |
| Position | Bill Number | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oppose | SB 272/HB222 | Driver Licenses – As introduced, requires the department of safety to print the language “NON U.S. CITIZEN” or “ALIEN” on driver licenses, permits, or other forms of identification issued or renewed for a temporary period to persons who are not United States citizens and not lawful permanent residents of the United States. – Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 50. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2263/HB 2429 | Education, Higher – As introduced, exempts certain students from paying out-of-state tuition at state institutions of higher education. – Amends TCA Section 4-58-102; Title 49, Chapter 7; Title 49, Chapter 8 and Title 49, Chapter 9. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 2332/HB 2315 | Immigration – As introduced, prohibits state and local governmental entities and officials from adopting sanctuary policies; authorizes Tennessee residents and members of the general assembly to submit complaints to the attorney general; provides that violations subject entities to ineligibility of state moneys; requires law enforcement agencies to enter into memorandums of agreement with federal officials concerning enforcement of federal immigration laws. – Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 8; Title 9; Title 38; Title 39 and Title 40. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 2333/HB 2312 | Public Officials – As introduced, prohibits the use of consular identification cards, and other similar documents not authorized by the general assembly for use for identification purposes, for determining a person’s identity or residency by an official or employee of the state or any political subdivision of the state; prohibits local governments and law enforcement agencies from establishing the acceptability of any such cards or documents. – Amends TCA Title 2; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8 and Title 55. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 2567/HB 2579 | Immigration – As introduced, authorizes local chief law enforcement officers to enter into memoranda of understanding with the United States department of homeland security concerning the enforcement of federal immigration laws, detention and removals, and investigations in the local jurisdiction. – Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 8, Chapter 8. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 2578/HB 2552 | Criminal Offenses – As introduced, creates a Class E felony, punishable by fine only, when a member of a local governmental body knowingly votes to approve an ordinance or resolution that expressly conflicts with state or federal law relative to immigration or historical memorials; violator also subject to removal from office. – Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7 and Title 39. | Current Status |
| Position | Bill Number | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support | SB 872/HB 1261 | Search & Seizure – As introduced, prohibits a law enforcement officer from seizing or destroying a person’s photograph or recording of an event or person if it is not illegal and the person is in a place the person has a right to be when photographed or recorded; allows law enforcement to petition court for copy of certain photographic material. – Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 6, Part 1. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 1727/HB 2142 | Public Funds and Financing – As introduced, prohibits the state and local governments from contracting with companies that boycott Israel; requires the Tennessee consolidated retirement system (TCRS) to divest direct holdings in companies that boycott Israel; requires treasurer to maintain a list of such companies. – Amends TCA Title 4; Title 8 and Title 12. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1756/HB 1755 | Telecommunications – As introduced, enacts the “Tennessee Neutrality and Internet Consumer Protection Act.” – Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 10; Title 12; Title 65; Title 67 and Title 68. | Current Status |
| Support TAKE ACTION |
SB 2183/HB 2253 | Telecommunications – As introduced, requires any internet service provider that provides internet to the state to provide a net neutral internet service. – Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 10; Title 12; Title 65; Title 67 and Title 68. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 2389/HB 2357 | Education – As introduced, requires use of certain definitions of anti-Semitism and provides examples of anti-Semitism to be used in determinations of violations of K-12 or postsecondary educational policies prohibiting discrimination based on Jewish ancestry or ethnic characteristics. – Amends TCA Title 49. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2449/HB 2405 | Telecommunications – As introduced, creates a task force of the general assembly to study the effects of overturning the FCC’s net neutrality rules. – Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 10; Title 12; Title 65; Title 67 and Title 68. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2612/HB 2611 | General Assembly – As introduced, requires that individuals be permitted to bring signs into legislative office buildings and the state capitol building and to possess the signs while present in such buildings. – Amends TCA Title 3 and Title 4, Chapter 8. | Current Status |
| Position | Bill Number | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oppose | SB 0127/HB 0054 | Business and Commerce – As introduced, prohibits state and local governments from taking discriminatory action against a business based on that business’s internal policies. – Amends TCA Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 48; Title 61; Title 62 and Title 67. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1943/HB 1982 | Criminal Procedure – As introduced, adds gender identity to the list of victim characteristics in hate crime as an enhancement factor in sentencing. – Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40, Chapter 35, Part 1. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2088/HB 2392 | Employees, Employers – As introduced, rewrites the Healthy Workplace Act to designate certain acts of harassment, intimidation, or bullying as unlawful employment practices and to require employers to adopt policies prohibiting those acts of harassment, intimidation, or bullying. – Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 21; Title 39 and Title 50, Chapter 1. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 2480/HB 2620 | Attorney General and Reporter – As introduced, expands the attorney general and reporter’s duties to include representation of an LEA or certain LEA employees in a legal proceeding arising out of the LEA’s adoption of a policy or practice designating multi-person restrooms, locker rooms, or other facilities for use based only on one’s biological sex. – Amends TCA Title 8 and Title 9. | Current Status |
| Position | Bill Number | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oppose | SB 0244/HB 0108 | Abortion – As introduced, prohibits abortions from the point a fetal heartbeat is detected; requires fetal heartbeat testing prior to an abortion; creates exceptions. – Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 15, Part 2 and Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 1961/HB 1892 | Abortion – As introduced, prohibits abortions from the point a fetal heartbeat is detected; requires fetal heartbeat testing prior to an abortion; creates exceptions. – Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 15, Part 2 and Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 1962/HB 1893 | Abortion – As introduced, clarifies that the required notice in facilities and physician offices regarding the illegality of being coerced to have an abortion must be written and displayed in such a manner that a reasonable person to whom it applies should have noticed it. – Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 15, Part 2; Title 63, Chapter 6; Title 63, Chapter 9 and Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2092/HB 1985 | Public Employees – As introduced, prohibits public employers from discriminating against applicants for employment and employees with pregnancy-related conditions by not providing the applicants and employees with reasonable accommodations. – Amends TCA Title 4 and Title 8. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2133/HB 2520 | Sentencing – As introduced, prohibits a sentencing court from making a sentencing determination based in whole or in part on defendant’s consent or refusal to consent to any form of temporary or permanent birth control, sterilization, or family planning services, regardless of whether the defendant’s consent is voluntarily given. – Amends TCA Title 40. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 2148/HB 2251 | TennCare – As introduced, establishes that it is the policy of the state to avoid the use of state funds to promote or support elective abortions; instructs the commissioner of finance and administration to seek a waiver from the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services to require the exclusion of a provider from the TennCare program if inclusion of the provider in the program would result in the direct or indirect use of state funds to promote or support abortion. – Amends TCA Title 68 and Title 71. | Current Status |
| Oppose | SB 2494/HB 2262 | Birth Control – As introduced, revises the manner in which family planning funds may be disbursed by the department of health. – Amends TCA Section 68-34-105. | Current Status |
| Position | Bill Number | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support | SB 1298/HB 857 | Criminal Procedure – As introduced, requires the issuance of a certificate of voting rights restoration to a person who was convicted of an infamous crime in this state and received a pardon, was discharged from custody after serving or expiration of the maximum sentence imposed for the crime, or was granted a certificate of final discharge from supervision by the board of parole or county correction authority; requires the person to have paid all restitution to any victim and all court costs prior to receiving a certificate of voting rights restoration. – Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 29. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1488/HB 2372 | Election Laws – As introduced, lengthens voter registration period to 15 days before an election instead of 30 days before an election. – Amends TCA Title 2. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1706/HB 1556 | Election Laws – As introduced, authorizes a qualified person to register and vote on election day or update the person’s voter information and vote on election day. – Amends TCA Title 2. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1767/HB 1777 | Election Laws – As introduced, creates a process for automatic voter registration by county election commissions after a person completes an application for a driver license, photo identification license, or handgun carry permit with the department of safety. – Amends TCA Title 2 and Title 55, Chapter 50. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1768/HB 1965 | Driver Licenses – As introduced, requires department of safety to provide photo identification license free of charge to person whose driver license is revoked or suspended upon surrender of driver license or proof of surrender. – Amends TCA Section 40-24-105 and Title 55. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 1978/HB 1590 | Criminal Procedure – As introduced, enables a person who has been disqualified from exercising right to vote due to felony conviction to apply for restoration of voting rights if making payments in accordance with payment plan for court costs, restitution, or overdue child support. – Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 29, Part 2. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2090/HB 2300 | Election Laws – As introduced, requires any county using direct recording electronic voting systems to have the capability to create a voter-verifiable paper audit trail for each ballot cast. – Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 9. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2128/HB 2332 | Redistricting, Legislative – As introduced, imposes public notice and public input requirements on a redistricting committee and upon consideration of a final redistricting plan. – Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 16, Part 1 and Title 3. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2187/HB 2306 | Election Laws – As introduced, provides for the registration of eligible voters upon the submission by the department of safety to the appropriate county election commission of an eligible voter’s application for a driver license or photo identification card; establishes methods by which a person may decline to be registered to vote in such a manner. – Amends TCA Title 2. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2401/HB 2090 | Election Laws – As introduced, allows a college student registering to vote by mail to vote by absentee ballot instead of in person the first time. – Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 6. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2407/HB 2457 | Election Laws – As introduced, permits the use of a photo identification card issued by this state, the United States, or an accredited postsecondary institution of education in this state for purposes of verifying the identity of an eligible voter. – Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 7. | Current Status |
| Support | SB 2439/HB 2612 | Election Laws – As introduced, permits a person at least 15 years of age but not more than 18 years of age to be registered to vote upon turning 18 years of age through submittal of an application for a driver’s permit, driver license, or photo identification license with the department of safety. – Amends TCA Title 2. | Current Status |
