We are entering the final weeks of the legislative session so there will be a flurry of activity as bills are heard in committees and voted on during floor sessions. The House of Representatives will hold floor votes on Monday and Wednesday, while the Senate votes on Monday and Thursday. This week we continue to watch the bills that target the LGBTQ+ community and reproductive health. We encourage you to use the email campaign set up by the Tennessee Equality Project to speak out against the bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community. And please use the email campaign set up by the TN Advocates for Planned Parenthood to speak out against the bills targeting reproductive health and a woman's bodily autonomy.
We are also watching several alarming bills that are a response to President Biden’s actions to curb gun violence, as well as bills that will impact education funding, voting rights, First Amendment rights, and decriminalizing marijuana. This document compiled by Indivisible TN includes email addresses and sample scripts to help you contact legislators. Contacting legislators who sit on committees is sometimes the best way to stop bad bills while helping good bills move forward.
Monday House & Senate Floor votes, 4/12
HJR185 – Appoints Laurie Cardoza- Moore, an anti-Muslim ideologue to State Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission. Cardoza-Moore led efforts to prevent a mosque from being constructed in Murfreesboro and had to withdraw as a candidate for the WCS school board.
HB928 – Enacts the “Tennessee Second Amendment Sanctuary Act” declaring any rule, executive order, or regulation of the U.S. government that violates the federal second amendment null, void, and unenforceable in the state and prohibits state government from using public resources to enforce, administer, or cooperate with the federal rule, executive order, or regulation.
SB1035 – Enacts the “Jim Coley Rape Survivors Protection Act” which revises provisions relating to process and protocol for forensic medical examination of victims of sex crimes. Creates new provisions that improves and expedites the process of collecting, storing, and tracking evidence from “rape kits”.
SB1435 – Requires an audiovisual recording be made of interrogations of children taken into custody.
SB1573 – Prohibits state and local government officials or the governor from classifying a category of workers as essential or nonessential.
Monday Committee Hearings, 4/12
HB1181 – Requires abortion providers to dispose of aborted fetal remains through burial or cremation. House Government Operations Committee
Tuesday Committee Hearings, 4/13
HB204 - Enacts the "CROWN Act: Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair" to define race and protective hairstyle for purposes of the Tennessee Human Rights Act. House Commerce Committee
HB1233 - Enacts the “Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act” which requires schools to provide accommodations to students who do not want to use multi-person restroom or locker room. Stigmatizes transgender students by requiring separate & unequal facilities. House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee
SB3 – Enacts the “Fair Maps Act” which establishes nonpartisan process for redistricting congressional and general assembly districts. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB18 – Changes revocation of voting rates after a conviction to a temporary suspension of voting rights for the period of confinement, probation or parole; rights automatically restored after that period. Senate State and Local Government Committee
SB557 - Prohibits TN from enacting federal gun reforms if they are against state law. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB318 – Creates exceptions to the offense of open or conceal carry of a firearm. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB647 – Restores right of suffrage if a person pays the full amount of restitution owed to a victim. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB697 – Enacts the “Tennessee Marijuana Regulation Act” which decriminalizes marijuana. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB843 – Targets protestors by Increasing penalty for obstructing a highway to a Class E felony; creates the offense of throwing an object at someone during a riot; creates the offense of intimidating or harassing someone during a riot. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB1224 – Requires businesses that provide unisex bathrooms to post signs at entrance to building. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB1335 – Enacts the “Tennessee Second Amendment Sanctuary Act” declaring any rule, executive order, or regulation of the U.S. government that violates the federal second amendment null, void, and unenforceable in the state and prohibits state government from using public resources to enforce, administer, or cooperate with the federal rule, executive order, or regulation. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB1370 - Establishes a fetus at any gestational age as a “person” and “person” is deemed to be conceived at the moment of fertilization. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB1391 – Deleted the criminal offense prohibiting a person from carrying a firearm with the intent to go armed. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB1480 - Increases the amount of marijuana someone can legally possess or casually exchange from 0.5 ounce to 1 ounce. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB1487 – Allows someone convicted of a felony to apply for a voter registration card after time served or pardoned. Senate Judiciary Committee
SB1541 – Requires Dept. of Safety to automatically register a person to vote when applying for a driver license. Senate State and Local Government Committee
SB1610 – Creates a Class C misdemeanor for solicitation or camping along a highway or entrance/exit ramp; expands Equal Access to Public Property Act of 2012 to apply the offense of unauthorized camping on state property to all public property. Senate Judiciary Committee
Wednesday House Floor Vote, 4/14
HB529 – Requires schools to notify parents/guardians before beginning sexual orientation or gender identity curriculum; prohibits schools from penalizing absent students. Allows parents to opt children out of curriculum.
HB978 – Creates a Class C misdemeanor for solicitation or camping along a highway or entrance/exit ramp; expands Equal Access to Public Property Act of 2012 to apply the offense of unauthorized camping on state property to all public property.
HB1114 – Requires Dept. of Human Services to provide childcare services to state officers and employees.
Wednesday Committee Hearings, 4/14
HB44 - Funds social worker positions in public schools. House Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee
HB413 – Decriminalizes possession and casual exchange of less than 1 ounce of marijuana. House Criminal Justice Subcommittee
HB446 - Prohibits TN from enacting federal gun reforms if they are against state law. House Civil Justice Committee
HB578 – Prohibits gender affirming care to prepubescent minors; prohibits sexual identity change therapy to pubescent minors without recommendations from 3 physicians; punishes violations by parents/guardians as child abuse & by physicians as professional misconduct. House Health Committee
HB1039 – Amendment to bill cuts the number of weeks unemployment benefits are paid to 12 weeks when the unemployment rate is 5.5% or less. House Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee
HB1160 – Creates a Class A misdemeanor for knowingly transferring a firearm to someone who is prohibited from possessing a firearm by state or federal law. Criminal Justice Subcommittee
HB1252 - Establishes a fetus at any gestational age as a “person” and “person” is deemed to be conceived at the moment of fertilization. House Civil Justice Committee
HB1429 - Requires Dept. of Safety to automatically register a person to vote when applying for a driver license. House Elections and Campaign Finance Subcommittee
HB1460 - Public schools should provide age-appropriate instruction on Black history to fifth & eighth grade students; directs the TN Dept of Education to provide resources & materials to schools. House Education Instruction Committee
HB1480 - Increases the amount of marijuana someone can legally possess or casually exchange from 0.5 ounce to 1 ounce. House Criminal Justice Committee
HB1574 – Allows someone convicted of a felony to apply for a voter registration card after time served or pardoned. House Criminal Justice Subcommittee
Thursday Senate Votes, 4/15
SB1101- Public schools should provide age-appropriate instruction on Black history to fifth & eighth grade students; directs the TN Dept of Education to provide resources & materials to schools.