Tennessee legislature adjourns. Here’s what lawmakers did and did not accomplish this year

Tennessee lawmakers adjourned for the year Thursday, marching off to the campaign trail having passed a $1.9 billion franchise tax break for businesses, offered no tax breaks to consumers, approved a controversial bill to allow armed teachers and failed to pass Gov. Bill Lee's priority proposal to establish a statewide school choice voucher program.

Protesters disrupting legislative proceedings during controversial debates in both chambers, only to be cleared from galleries — and occasionally led away in handcuffs — by state troopers at the request of House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge.

Meanwhile, Republicans enforced stringent new rules, repeatedly silencing members for breaches of decorum and ended debate on highly high-profile bills before Democrats could speak. House GOP leadership also put in place and enforced a new unwritten rule requiring tickets in one of the chamber's public galleries.

To top it off, two separate ethics complaints were filed against members in the final weeks of session.

But lawmakers also saw bipartisan support for court reforms, protections for musicians against artificial intelligence and passed a state budget that boosts funding for teacher salaries and rural health initiatives.

For now, the 113th Tennessee General Assembly is adjourned sine die, and all pending bills that were not passed in both chambers are dead. After the November election, a new legislature will convene in January for another two-year General Assembly.

Here are among the things lawmakers did and not not accomplish this year.

What they did

∎ $1.9B FRANCHISE TAX CUT AND REFUND FOR CORPORATIONS: Lawmakers approved the largest tax cut in Tennessee history ― all for businesses ― costing $400 million in annual revenue by eliminating the property tax calculation for the state's franchise tax. Alongside the recurring tax break, lawmakers approved $1.5 billion in refunds for businesses who have paid franchise taxes based on the now-eliminated property tax measure over the last three years. Businesses receiving a refund must sign away ability to sue the state for more money, and their names will be listed publicly during the month of June 2025. Proponents of the reform argued it was necessary to avoid costly litigation.

A projected 53% of the total refund dollars will go to businesses located primarily out-of-state, according to analysis by the Department of Revenue obtained by The Tennessean. It remains unclear how much Gov. Bill Lee’s family business, the Lee Company, would benefit from the legislation. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ ARMED TEACHERS BILL: Senate Bill 1325 allows Tennessee school faculty or staff to carry a concealed handgun on the grounds of the school they work at, including inside classrooms, without notifying parents. Tennessee law already allows school resource officers, assigned through an agreement between local school districts and law enforcement, to carry firearms on campus. Teachers wishing to carry firearms on school property must obtain a valid handgun carry permit, undergo fingerprinting and background check, receive a psychiatric certification, and complete 40 hours of training in school policing. They must also receive permission from the school district, the school principal, and local law enforcement.

Many districts in Tennessee, including Metro Nashville, have said they won't approve requests to carry guns on campus.

∎ CENTRALIZED CASE REPORTING SYSTEM: Lawmakers approved a measure to require the state to establish a centralized court reporting system, which will in part enable background checks for firearms sales to accurately reflect current case dispositions and keep guns out of the hands of people who are not lawfully allowed to have them. Last year, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations reported a backlog of 230,000 case dispositions that had not been uploaded into the background check database. The gap means some individuals could potentially have a criminal conviction that would disqualify them from buying a gun, but the case may not show up in a background check. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ REQUIRED COMMITMENT FOR MENTALLY INCOMPETENT DEFENDANTS: In a bill named for slain Belmont University student Jillian Ludwig, lawmakers passed a bill to block criminal defendants who are deemed mentally incompetent and unable to stand trial from legally buying or possessing a gun, and require them to be committed to a facility for mental health treatment. Ludwig was killed by a stray bullet that police say was fired by Shaquille Taylor, who had previously been deemed incompetent to stand trial for another violent crime, but did not meet the standards for involuntary commitment. The bill awaits the governor’s signature.

∎ DEATH PENALTY FOR CHILD RAPISTS: Lawmakers voted to allow the death penalty for defendants convicted of raping a child under 12 — in an effort to challenge a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Senate Bill 1834 would allow capital punishment for adults convicted of raping a child, with certain aggravating factors. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ PENALITIES FOR HELPING FOR MINORS WITH ABORTIONS WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT: Adults who assist minors seeking an abortion or abortion pills could soon face jail time if they don’t first get written, notarized permission from the child’s parent — even in circumstances when the child was raped by a parent, or the child is in Department of Children's Services custody without access to parents.

Sponsored by Sen. Paul Rose, R-Covington, with an aim at protecting parents’ “God-given and state-given rights to protect their minors from obtaining an abortion,” Senate Bill 1971 creates a new crime of “abortion trafficking,” criminalizing an adult who “recruits, harbors or transports a pregnant unemancipated minor” who is seeking an abortion or abortion-inducing drug — regardless of location — if they don’t first get written, notarized consent from their parent or legal guardian. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ VACATED TSU’S BOARD: Republicans voted to vacate the entire Tennessee State University board over the outcries of Democrats as the GOP supermajority reneged on a previous deal struck in committee to keep three of the board's 10 members. Lee signed the bill into law the same day, and immediately appointed eight new members to the board. Republicans argued a full leadership turnover is required after a scathing state audit last year and financial issues at TSU over the years, though House Democrats on Thursday suggested wiping the board clean is retribution after the board previously refused to oust outgoing TSU President Glenda Glover. The new board is set to meet for the first time in late April.

∎ REFORMED CERTIFICATE OF NEED REQUIREMENTS: Current law requires state approval before providers can build or expand health care facilities and services. Lawmakers approved a measure to phase out certificate of need permit requirements for new health care facilities to open in counties that do not already have hospitals, in an effort to increase access to emergency care. Advocates for reform estimate that Tennessee's certificate of need laws have blocked nearly $1.5 billion in proposed health care investments since 2000. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ CHILD AUTOPSIES CLOSED TO PUBLIC REVIEW WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT: Lawmakers passed legislation requiring autopsies of children killed in violent crimes will not be open to public records requests without parental consent, unless the parent has been named a suspect in the child's death. Autopsy records must be reviewed in person, and no photographs or reproductions can be made. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ REQUIRED SCHOOL-BASED GUN SAFETY TRAINING: Lawmakers approved a bill to require public schools in Tennessee to teach children age-appropriate, politically neutral firearms safety concepts as early as pre-kindergarten. School children will be taught concepts such as “how to avoid injury if a student finds a firearm,” “never to touch a found firearm,” and safety relating to firearms beginning in the 2025-26 school year. Proponents of the safety concepts training have likened it to mandatory school fire drills. The bill awaits Lee’s signature.

∎ REQUIRED AGE VERIFICATION FOR PORN SITES:  Lawmakers voted to require porn websites to verify all users are 18 or older before providing access to explicit content. Age verification would require submission of a U.S.-issued photo ID or a similar method. Failure by websites to verify age would be a Class C felony, punishable by three to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. The attorney general would be empowered to bring legal action against companies who fail to do so. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ REQUIRED AGE VERIFICATION AND PARENTAL CONSENT FOR SOCIAL MEDIA SITES: Lawmakers approved the Protecting Children from Social Media Act to require parental consent and age verification before children are allowed to create social media accounts. Similar laws in other states have faced legal challenges. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ AI PROTECTIONS FOR MUSICIANS: Lawmakers approved the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, or ELVIS Act, which creates voice protections against deepfakes and unauthorized uses of artists' voices and likenesses. A host of celebrity musicians and songwriters testified in committee and joined Lee at bill announcements and signings – including CMA Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson, singer and actress Chrissy Metz, songwriter and producer Jamie Moore, and country star Luke Bryan.

The act adds artists' voices to the state's current Protection of Personal Rights law and can be criminally enforced by district attorneys as a Class A misdemeanor. Artists — and anyone else with exclusive licenses, like labels and distribution groups — can sue civilly for damages. The new law will go into effect July 1.

∎ REQUIRED STUDENTS TO VIEW POLITICAL FETAL DEVELOPMENT VIDEO: School children in most Tennessee counties will be required to view a three-minute animated video depicting fetal development, such as one produced by anti-abortion political action group Live Action, regardless of parental consent, beginning in the 2024-25 school year. HB 2435/SB 2767 mandates the inclusion of a computer-generated or high-definition ultrasound video depicting fetal development in family life curricula across the state, citing as an example Live Action’s “Meet Baby Olivia” animated video, which asserts that human life begins at conception, and uses an alternative developmental timeline of fetal development that is not consistent with U.S. medical standards. Lee signed the bill into law in the final days of session.

∎ $750K FOR SECURITY GRANTS FOR HOUSES OF WORSHIP: The budget included $750,000 to support the state's grant program through which 501(c)3 nonprofits can hire trained security personnel to protect houses of worship. The program is administered through the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

∎ $297M FOR RURAL AND MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVES: The budget included $197 million over five years in TennCare funding to go toward apprenticeships, expanding access to specialty care and telemedicine, hospital and physician practice grants. It also includes $100 million over five years in TennCare funding for community mental health centers and behavioral health hospitals to expand access to addiction treatment, in-home support, and children's hospital infrastructure.

∎ INCREASED K-12 FUNDING BY $261M: Lawmakers included a $261 million increase for the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement funding structure for K-12 education. The funding increase will continue working toward a minimum starting salary of $50,000 for Tennessee teachers by 2026.

∎ $15M FOR CHARTER SCHOOL FACILITIES: The budget also included $15 million for public charter schools to acquire facilities. Separate legislation would give charter schools first right of refusal to lease or purchase vacant and underutilized public school facilities ― a measure was criticized by opponents as a "land grab." The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ BANNED STATE-FUNDED GENDER-AFFIRMING HORMONE THERAPY FOR INMATES: Lawmakers approved a measure that would bar the Tennessee Department of Corrections from using state funds to administer gender-affirming hormone therapies. Currently, there are 87 inmates in state prisons receiving gender-affirming hormone treatments, according to TDOC. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ OPENED LIABILITY FOR OUT-OF-STATE TRAVEL WITH MINORS FOR TRANSGENDER THERAPIES: Lawmakers passed a bill to designate civil liability for adults who "intentionally recruit, harbor, or transport" unemancipated children for the purposes of receiving transgender-affirming medical treatments, therapies, and procedures already outlawed in Tennessee without consent from a parent or legal guardian. The final version of the bill eliminated an earlier proposal to make such travel a felony. Parents are still permitted to transport their children out-of-state for such procedures. If signed by Lee, it would take effect July 1.

∎ EXTENDED SEXUAL ASSAULT SUIT STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS: Lawmakers approved a measure to extend the statute of limitations from one year to three for victims of rape, sexual assault, and sexual battery to bring lawsuits. Extensive delays in rape kit testing have plagued Tennessee crime labs in recent years, and the Nashville Sexual Assault Center has worked with survivors whose rape kits languished untested while the civil statute of limitations expired. The new law took effect on April 4.

∎ PROHIBITED UNLICENSED VEHICLE BOOTING: Lawmakers passed a bill to prohibit booting vehicles in Tennessee by anyone except individuals licensed by a local government, and requiring parking enforcement to be available to remove the boot within 45 minutes of a driver's call. Towing companies would be required to notify vehicle owners before owing, selling, or demolishing the vehicle. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ ADOPTED DEBANKING RESTRICTIONS: Lawmakers approved a bill to prohibit financial institutions and insurance providers from denying financial services to customers due to their political or religious views, speech, or affiliations. The bill came in response to what proponents described as a rise in de-banking discrimination by financial institutions. The bill awaits Lee's signature.

∎ BANNED ‘CHEM TRAILS’: Lee signed into law a bill banning intentional release of chemicals into the air, codifying a ban on so-called “chem trails,” a widely debunked conspiracy theory that the federal government is spreading chemicals for nefarious reasons. Processes such as cloud seeding, where clouds are aerially blanketed with a compound called silver iodide to boost rainfall, have been used in weather and precipitation management since the 1940s, particularly in the American West during drought conditions. The ban will take effect July 1.

∎ BLOCKED DCS EXCLUSION OF FOSTER PARENTS ON ANTI-LGBT BELIEFS: Lee signed into law a bill to block the state Department of Children's Services from excluding potential adoptive or foster parents who hold anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs for "religious or moral" reasons, which sponsors argued was necessary to grow the pool of foster families in the state. Republican sponsors of the bill argued it will protect prospective foster families from being blocked from fostering children altogether if they decline to care for a gay or trans foster child, but Democrats said the bill could be dangerous if children are sent to "hostile" environments where they aren't supported or accepted. The law goes into effect July 1.

∎ OVERRULED MEMPHIS TRAFFIC STOP REFORM: Lawmakers passed legislation to block local governments from passing police reform on traffic stops over the objections of the family of Tyre Nichols, whose 2023 death after a fatal police beating sparked local Shelby County reforms. RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, Nichols' parents, traveled to Nashville to defend the Memphis reform measure they helped pass. Lee quickly signed the bill into law, and it went into effect on March 28.

∎ A HISTORIC BIBLE IS AN OFFICIAL STATE BOOK: Lee signed into law a bill designating the Aitken Bible – the first edition of the Bible printed in the United States during the Revolutionary War – as an official state book, along with nine other works including George Washington’s “Farewell Address” and Alex Haley’s “Roots." The Aitken Bible is now the only religious text designated by law as an official state book. Former Gov. Bill Haslam vetoed legislation designating the Bible as a state book on constitutional grounds. With Lee’s signature, the Bible joins the exhaustive list of state symbols, including the state amphibian (the Tennessee Cave Salamander), the state rock (limestone), and the state dog (bluetick coonhound).

∎ DESIGNATED NOVEMBER "CHRISTIAN HERITAGE MONTH:" Separate legislation designates November as "Christian Heritage Month," to "encourage citizens to learn more about Christian heritage in this state." Lee signed the measure into law.

∎ TIGHTENED IMMIGRATION REPORTING: A bill requiring local law enforcement to report individuals’ immigration status to federal enforcement authorities passed and was signed into law, despite opposition from immigrant rights groups. The law goes into effect July 1.

∎ EXPANDED SECRECY FOR TOURISM RECORDS: Lawmakers approved a bill to keep certain records at the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development secret if the agency’s commissioner and attorney general deem them “sensitive.” Proponents of the bill repeatedly said the ability to keep records secret would help Nashville “get the Super Bowl.” Lee signed the bill into law.

∎ REQUIRED DISTINCT EMERGENCY ALARMS IN SCHOOLS: Lee signed into law a measure to require all schools in the state to create a new fire alarm policy – an effort backed by parents from The Covenant School following the deadly shooting there last year. The new law requires all schools to develop emergency procedures to determine the cause of an activated fire alarm. Covenant families have backed the bill and said confusion about the cause of a fire alarm during the March 27, 2023 school shooting led to the death of 9-year-old William Kinney. The law took effect on March 12.

What they didn’t do

∎ STATEWIDE SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAM: House and Senate lawmakers failed to come to a compromise on Lee's cornerstone policy proposal to offer state-funded scholarships of more than $7,000 to families to send their children to a private school of their choice. After more than a month of negotiations, Lee declared the proposal dead for the year.

∎ PASS A CONSUMER TAX CUT: While Lee's budget proposal this year includes $1.9 billion in franchise tax breaks for businesses, it does not include funding for a grocery tax holiday for Tennessee families. For the past several years, lawmakers have approved a month-long sales tax holiday on food, passing on tax savings to consumers. Last year, lawmakers approved a three-month sales tax holiday. Republicans blamed the exclusion on “Bidenomics.” Lawmakers voted down an effort by Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville, to eliminate the state’s grocery tax altogether.

∎ CLARIFY LEGALITY OF CONTRACEPTIVES AND IVF TREATMENTS: Republicans on a Tennessee House subcommittee blocked a bill to codify legal protections for birth control and in-vitro fertilization treatments, arguing the bill is unnecessary and could potentially lead to abortions. Rep. Harold Love, D-Nashville, brought HB 2227 in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that found fertilized embryos used in IVF are legally children, effectively shuttering IVF facilities in the state over legal concerns about the handling of unused embryos. The Alabama legislature quickly passed a legislative remedy to the court's ruling to allow IVF treatment to resume.

∎ PRIDE FLAGS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: A bill aimed at banning display of political and ideological flags – including the pride flag and Black Lives Matter flag – in Tennessee public schools failed in the Senate after receiving approval from House Republicans. House Bill 1605 would have prohibited the display of any flags that “represent a political viewpoint, including but not limited to, a partisan, racial, sexual orientation, gender, or other ideological viewpoint.”

∎ CREATE AN AGRICULTURE CONSERVATION TRUST: After Lee proposed $25 million to establish a Farmland Conservation Fund, lawmakers refused to pass legislation.

∎ ALLOW CUSTOMERS TO CARRY GUNS IN BUSINESSES: Senate Judiciary Committee members narrowly blocked a controversial proposal that would have allowed concealed carry permit holders to bring guns into businesses without the property owners' consent.

∎ CRIMINALIZE TRANSPORT OF INDIVIDUALS IN TENNESSEE UNLAWFULLY: A measure that would have increased penalties for transporting individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States anywhere inside Tennessee failed in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

∎ APPROVE FREE SCHOOL MEALS: Two separate efforts – one Democrat-led, another brought by a Republican – to make meals at public schools free for all children, reimbursed by the state, failed in the House K-12 Subcommittee.

∎ BLOCK STATE COURTS FROM CHALLENGING THE LEGISLATURE: A proposal by Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, seeking to block state courts from hearing challenges to any internal rules or policies the General Assembly passes failed in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill came in direct response to a lawsuit filed last year after three Tennesseans were dragged out of a committee hearing for holding paper signs calling for gun reform. The residents successfully sued the legislature over the House rules on signs.

∎ BAR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FROM REAPPOINTING EXPELLED LAWMAKERS: A proposal seeking to prohibit local governments from reappointing previously expelled members of the legislature – in direct response to Shelby and Davidson County governments reappointments of Reps. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, and Justin Jones, D-Nashville, last year – was deferred to summer study, a move that often leads to the demise of legislation.

∎ SEND EMPLOYEE SEXUAL HARASSMENT INVESTIGATIONS TO AG: A short-lived bipartisan effort to move sexual harassment investigations outside the purview of the legislature to the Attorney General’s Office died as House Republicans declined to discuss the proposal – preventing a former lawmaker who resigned amid a harassment report from testifying on the bill. Currently, all sexual harassment complaints are handled internally through a confidential investigation by the Office of Legislative Administration.

Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@tennessean.com or on X at @Vivian_E_Jones.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee legislature ends: What lawmakers did and didn't pass