Below are some of the 200+ laws that went into effect on July 1 following the 2024 legislative session.
Abortion
SB 1971: As enacted, creates the criminal offense of abortion trafficking of a minor; provides for a civil action against a person committing the offense of abortion trafficking of a minor if certain conditions are met.
Adoption
SB1738: As enacted, enacts the “Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act,” which generally prohibits the department of children’s services from requiring a current or prospective adoptive or foster parent to affirm, accept, or support any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the parent’s sincerely held religious or moral beliefs; makes related changes.
Artificial Intelligence
HB 2091: As enacted, enacts the “ELVIS Act,” defines and adds “voice” as a protected personal right; adds commercial availability of a sound recording or audiovisual work in which the individual’s name, voice, likeness, or image is readily identifiable to considerations for determining whether non-use has occurred; makes other related changes
SB 2668: As enacted, specifies that for the purposes of sexual exploitation of children offenses, the term “material” includes computer-generated images created, adapted, or modified by artificial intelligence; defines “artificial intelligence.”
Children
SB2929: As enacted, requires the Department of Children’s Services, county medical examiners, chief medical examiners, and facilities that perform autopsies to establish policies and procedures for the prioritization of the completion of final autopsy reports for fatalities of certain children.
Consumer Protection
SB0378: As enacted, regulates the production and sale of hemp-derived cannabinoids, including products known as delta-8 and delta-10.
Criminal Offense
HB1817: As enacted, increases the penalty from a Class D felony to a Class B felony for a person who negligently, by act or omission, engages in conduct that places a child eight years of age or less in imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment.
HB2323: As enacted, enacts the “Chris Wright Act,” which increases the penalty for a third or subsequent domestic assault conviction from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony; upgrades the offense classification for certain qualifying misdemeanor offenses to a Class E felony upon a defendant’s conviction for a sixth or subsequent qualifying misdemeanor.
HB2198: As enacted, increases the penalty for the offense of threatening to commit an act of mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony.
SB2570: As enacted, authorizes a person who suffers loss or injury as a result of a defendant intentionally obstructing a highway, street, or other place used for the passage of vehicles or conveyances to bring a cause of action against such person to recover compensatory damages from the loss or injury.
Criminal Procedure
SB0757: As enacted, generally requires, when a person is arrested, booked, or confined in the jail of a county or municipality, the arresting law enforcement agency and the keeper of a jail to collaborate to verify the citizenship status of the person and the sheriff to report the status of those who are not lawfully present, or whose status cannot be determined, to the district attorneys general conference.
Domestic Violence
SB1972: As enacted, enacts “The Debbie and Marie Domestic Violence Protection Act,” which makes revisions to law related to global positioning monitoring system devices, including requiring the court to order an offender to wear such a device under certain circumstances unless the court finds the offender no longer poses a threat to the alleged victim or public safety, requiring a cellular device application or electronic receptor device provided to the victim to be capable of notifying the victim if the offender is within a prescribed proximity of the victim’s cellular device or electronic receptor device, and making other revisions.
Education
HB1909: As enacted, enacts the “Laken Riley Act of 2024,” which generally prohibits a public institution of higher education from prohibiting adults lawfully present on the institution’s property from carrying a nonlethal weapon for purposes of self-defense; allows certain exceptions.
Environmental Preservation
SB2691: As enacted, prohibits the intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight.
Firearms and Ammunition
HB1600: As enacted, prohibits the purchase or possession of a firearm by a person under 25 if the person was previously adjudicated delinquent for an act that, if committed by an adult, would have constituted certain offenses; allows the TBI access to juvenile court records for the limited purpose of performing a background check prior to the transfer of a firearm or to determine eligibility for a handgun carry permit pursuant to existing law.
Foster Care
HB1675: As enacted, expands the eligibility for reimbursement as a relative caregiver by removing the income limitations and including a relative caregiver who meets the eligibility requirements and has been awarded custody by an order of any court.
Immigration
HB2124: As enacted, requires, rather than authorizes, law enforcement agencies to communicate with the appropriate federal official regarding the immigration status of any individual, including reporting knowledge that a particular alien is not lawfully present in the United States or otherwise cooperate with the appropriate federal official in the identification, apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the United States.
Juvenile Court
HB1676: As enacted, specifies that a juvenile court proceeding may be commenced by the taking of a child into custody or the removal of custody from a parent or legal guardian; requires the juvenile court in a dependency and neglect proceeding to determine whether a parent, guardian, relative, or caregiver of the child cannot be excluded as a perpetrator of severe child abuse against the child; prohibits a juvenile court from returning a child victim of severe child abuse to the custody of a person who cannot be excluded as the perpetrator unless certain circumstances are met; makes various other changes.
Juvenile Offenders
HB2126: As enacted, allows a juvenile court to transfer a child, who is 15 or older, to be tried as an adult in criminal court for the offense of organized retail crime, theft of a firearm, or an attempt to commit such offense; revises law with regard to confinement of a child in a local juvenile detention facility, a juvenile detention facility. or an adult detention facility.
HB2590: As enacted, makes bullying and cyberbullying offenses subject to the same penalties as harassment; requires an officer to make a report of bullying and notify a parent or guardian when victim is a minor.
Marriage
HB2041: As enacted, prohibits marriage between first cousins.
Mental Illness
HB1640: As enacted, enacts “Jillian’s Law,” which makes various changes relative to being adjudicated as a mental defective or judicially committed to a mental institution, including requiring a person judicially committed to remain committed until the competency of the person to stand trial is restored or, if competency is unable to be restored but the person no longer meets the standard, until the court with criminal jurisdiction over the charges approves a mandatory outpatient treatment plan that accounts for the safety of the community.
Public Health
SB2782: As introduced, creates a civil cause of action against any person who intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports an unemancipated minor within this state for the purpose of receiving a prohibited medical procedure, regardless of where the medical procedure is to be procured.
Sentencing
SB1834: As introduced, authorizes the death penalty as a punishment for rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child, or especially aggravated rape of a child.
TennCare
HB 2251: As enacted, requires that a waiver amendment to the existing TennCare II waiver that requires elective abortion providers be excluded from participation as providers in the TennCare program be submitted to the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services for approval.
Full List: Over 200 laws that went into effect on July 1, 2024 can be viewed here.
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