The bills below are currently being monitored by TEP.
Bill Number/
Sponsor |
Description / Status |
SB 0781
HB 0583* |
CRIMINAL LAW: Death threat against school employee or student.
Establishes a Class A misdemeanor offense for person communicating death threat concerning a school employee or student. (S: Bunch; H: DuBois) House Judiciary amendment 1 rewrites the bill to create a class A misdemeanor offense for knowingly delivering or conveying a death threat to a public servant. House Judiciary amendment 2 limits the penalty for a minor's first offense to a $1000 fine, 14 days of community service or both. Senate amendment 1 corrects the effective date to July 1, 2008. |
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Senate Status: Set for Senate floor 05/13/2008. |
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House Status: Set for House floor 05/13/2008. |
SB 1133
HB 0905* |
Parental notification regarding clubs and organizations.
Requires schools to notify parents of all clubs and organizations available for students attending such school. Requires written permission of parent or guardian for student to join school club or organization. (S: Bunch; H: Hill) House Education amendment 1 requires written parental permission to prohibit a student from joining a school club or organization. House Education amendment 2 states that information about clubs other than that included in types of communication generally sent to the student's mailing address at the beginning of each school year is not required to be provided by the school. Senate Education amendment 1 requires written parental permission to prohibit a student from joining a school club or organization, and states that information about clubs other than that included in types of communication generally sent to the student's mailing address at the beginning of each school year is not required to be provided by the school. Senate Education amendment 2, as amended, creates a K-12 lottery capital outlay special account. Specifies that $100 million from the lottery for education account be transferred to such capital outlay special account. Specifies that moneys in such capital outlay account be used exclusively for capital outlay projects for K-12 educational facilities. Requires the commissioner of education to develop and administer a grant program for capital outlay projects for K-12 educational facilities using such funds. Requires that grant funds be matched with one dollar of local funds for one dollar of accessible funds in a school district's lottery capital outlay account. Specifies that grants be awarded or credited annually to each public school district in Tennessee. Specifies that remaining unexpended funds not revert to the lottery for education account or the general fund. |
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Senate Status: Failed in Senate Education 06/04/2007. |
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House Status: House Budget Subcommittee deferred to 2008. |
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SB 1959
HB 1419* |
Mental health testing restrictions.
Subjects mental health testing to safeguarding restrictions. Requires written permission be given by a juvenile's guardian prior to testing. Allows for testing when required by a court or necessitated in connection with a disaster or an epidemic. Prohibits an LEA from using a parent's unwillingness to allow administration of a psychotropic medication as a reason for denying the child participation in school or related activities. (S: Black; H: Harwell) Senate amendment 1, House Public Health & Family Assistance amendment 1 rewrites the bill. Requires written parental notification and consent for any student emotional screening. Senate amendment 2, House Public Health & Family Assistance amendment 2 further clarifies the conditions under which the types of screenings are permitted. House Public Health & Family Assistance amendment 3 changes the effective date. |
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Senate Status: Senate 05/07/2007 passed with amendments 1 and 2. |
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House Status: Failed in House Public Health and Family Assistance Subcommittee 03/05/2008. |
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SB 2079
HB 0868*
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LEAs - information regarding school clubs and organization.
Requires LEAs to provide annual information regarding school clubs and organizations as well as a form by which parents may prohibit their children from participating in certain clubs or organizations. (S: Crowe; H: Mumpower) |
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Senate Status: Taken off notice in Senate Education 03/07/2007. |
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House Status: Taken off notice in House Education K-12 Subcommittee 03/13/2007. |
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SB 2162
HB 1943* |
Promoting involvement of parents and guardians.
Changes avenues of parent involvement LEAs are authorized to employ from communicating to parents techniques designed to assist the child's learning experience in the home to identifying opportunities for parents to participate in and support classroom instruction in the school. (S: Burks; H: Winningham) Senate amendment 1 corrects a typographical error. |
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Senate Status: Senate 04/23/2007 passed with amendment 1. |
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House Status: Set for House Finance, Ways & Means Committee 05/13/2008. |
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SB 2561*
HB 2894 |
LEA policy prohibiting harassment or bullying.
Requires an LEA revising its policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation, or bullying, to transmit a copy of the policy to the commissioner of education with the changes to the policy clearly highlighted. (S: Woodson; H: Winningham) |
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Senate Status: Referred to Senate Education. |
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House Status: House passed 03/17/2008. |
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SB 3733
HB 2997* |
Teaching of materials on human sexuality.
Prohibits public elementary or middle schools from permitting any instruction or materials on sexual orientation other than heterosexuality. (S: Bunch; H: Campfield) House Education K-12 subcommittee amendment 1 clarifies the language to read "shall provide" instead of "shall permit." |
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Senate Status: Referred to Senate Education. |
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House Status: House Education K-12 Subcommittee referred bill 02/19/2008 to State Board of Education. |
SB 0685*
HB 0793 |
Visitation rights.
Expands list of circumstances necessitating a hearing when a petition for grandparent visitation is opposed by the custodial parent to include those situations where one parent is serving in the military on active duty requiring that parent to be out of the state for 90 days. Allows the spouse of a father or mother serving in the military on active duty requiring that parent to be out of the state for a period of 90 days to petition for visitation rights, and allows court to grant such rights if they are in the best interest of the child and if the parent on active duty is helping to support the child. (S: Bunch; H: Campfield) |
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Senate Status: Referred to Senate Judiciary. |
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House Status: Failed in House Domestic Relations Subcommittee 03/27/2007. |
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SB 1098
HB 0988* |
Supervised visitation.
Allows parent or guardian who pays for supervision of child visitation to select provider of visitation supervision services. (S: Bunch; H: Campfield) |
| Senate Status: Referred to Senate Judiciary |
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House Status: Taken off notice in House Domestic Relations Subcommittee 04/10/2007 |
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SB 3392
HB 2962* |
Termination of parental rights.
Declares that a parent who attempts to support or visit a child, but has been deterred by the acts of others or circumstance beyond their control has not willfully abandoned the child for the purpose of determining the termination of parental rights in either foster care or adoption situations. Current law provides that an order terminating a person's parental rights is binding, except based upon the timely appeal of the order, as permitted by law. No such order may be overturned after one year from the date of the entry of the final order. This bill specifies that the termination order may be overturned more than one year after the entry of the order, so long as it is pursuant to the appeal of the order. Requires that prior to a hearing on an action for termination of parental rights that, if the parent has limited English proficiency, the court shall provide an interpreter. (S: Tate; H: Hardaway) |
| Senate Status: Referred to Senate Judiciary |
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House Status: Taken off notice in House Domestic Relations Subcommittee 04/01/2008. |
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Other Status: Deferred in Judicial Council to 03/06/2008. |
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SB 3569*
HB 4139 |
Termination of parental rights.
Changes various requirements regarding termination of parental rights; expands grounds for termination of parental rights by adding statutory rape and aggravated statutory rape to the definition of severe child abuse. Requires the trial court to set a date for a status conference and enter a scheduling order; establishes that no trial for the termination of parental rights shall be continued more than once unless the trial court finds that there is good cause. (S: Herron; H: Jones S.) House amendment 1 rewrites the bill. (1) Rewrites the present law provisions regarding parties who must be made parties to adoption proceedings to include the following: the legal parents, guardian of the child or of an adult, the biological mother, and the established father or putative father of the child. (2) Revises the present law provisions governing the opening of certain records. Under present law, for purposes related to the determination of eligibility of any adopted person or any person placed for adoption for any federal or state benefit or any other benefits to which they may be entitled, the departments of children's services and finance and administration may open any adoption record, sealed adoption record, sealed record, post-adoption record, sealed home study records, or any adoption assistance record and disclose any information contained in those records that may be necessary to permit determination of eligibility for, or correction of, payments made to or on behalf of any adopted person. This amendment adds that the records may be open for purposes related to providing to a Title IV-D child support office information necessary to verify the status of an adoption for purposes of determining a current or past child support obligation or for terminating a future obligation for child support. This amendment also adds as information that may be released, that information necessary to permit determination of the status of current, past or future child support obligations that are, or may be due, on behalf of any adopted person. (3) Revises the present law provisions regarding grounds for the initiation of termination of parental or guardianship rights. Under present law, termination of parental or guardianship rights may be initiated if the parent or guardian is found by the court hearing the petition to terminate parental rights or the petition for adoption to have committed or been sentenced to more than two years imprisonment for severe child abuse against the child who is the subject of the petition or against any sibling or half-sibling of such child, or any other child residing temporarily or permanently in the home of such parent or guardian. This amendment instead authorizes the initiation of termination of parental or guardianship rights if there has been a finding of or the parent or guardian has been sentenced to at least two years imprisonment for severe abuse against: (A) The child who is the subject of the petition; or (B) Any other child and the finding occurred within the past 10 years of the date of the filing of the petition to terminate parental rights or the petition for adoption, and the parent or guardian was not a juvenile at the time of the finding. (4) Adds as a ground for termination of parental rights the fact that the parent has been convicted of rape or aggravated rape, from which the child was conceived. (5) Revises the present law provisions regarding hearings for termination of parental rights. Present law requires the court to ensure that the hearing on the petition takes place within six months of the date that the petition is filed, unless the court determines an extension is in the best interests of the child. The court must enter an order that makes specific findings of fact and conclusions of law within 30 days of the conclusion of the hearing. This amendment adds that if such a case has not been completed within six months from the date the petition was served, the petitioner or respondent will have grounds to request that the court of appeals grant an order expediting the case at the trial level. Senate amendment 1 removes this bill's revisions of present law provisions regarding grounds for the initiation of termination of parental or guardianship rights as described in House amendment 1 (item (3) of House amendment summary). |
| Senate Status: Senate 05/07/2008 passed with amendment 1. |
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House Status: House 05/06/2008 passed with amendment 1. |
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Other Status: Select Committee on Children & Youth 03/10/2008 reviewed. |
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SB 3910
HB 3713* |
Persons living together prohibited from adopting children.
Prohibits any individual who is cohabitating in a sexual relationship outside of a marriage that is valid under the constitution and laws of this state from adopting a minor. Clarifies that this prohibition includes both cohabiting opposite-sex and same-sex individuals. (S: Stanley; H: DeBerry J.) |
| Senate Status: Senate Judiciary 04/29/2008 deferred to summer study. |
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House Status: Referred to House Family Justice Subcommittee. |
SB 0998
HB 0493* |
Sunset - human rights commission.
Sunsets the human rights commission on June 30, 2011. (S: Harper; H: Kernell) |
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Senate Status: Referred to Senate Government Operations |
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House Status: Referred to House Government Operations |
SB 3357
HB 3243* |
Changes to sex designation on birth certificates.
Authorizes certain persons to change the sex designation on their birth certificate. (S: Marrero; H: Kernell) |
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Senate Status: Referred to Senate Judiciary. |
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House Status: Referred to House Public Health and Family Assistance Subcommittee. |
SB 3932
HB 3805* |
Changing of birth certificate due to sex change surgery.
Removes prohibition on changing individual's sex on original birth certificate as result of sex change surgery. (S: Marrero; H: Kernell) |
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Senate Status: Taken off notice in Senate Judiciary 04/17/2008. |
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House Status: Taken off notice in House Health & Human Resources 04/22/2008. |
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SB 4052
HB 3907* |
Amendment of birth certificate for changed gender.
Requires birth certificate to be amended upon receipt of a sworn statement from a licensed medical professional that the person's gender has changed. (S: Marrero; H: Richardson) House Health & Human Resources amendment 1 requires the amended birth certificates read either MTF (male-to-female) or FTM (female-to-male) rather than simply M or F. |
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Senate Status: Taken off notice in Senate General Welfare 04/02/2008. |
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House Status: Taken off notice in House Health & Human Resources 04/15/2008. |
SB 2291*
HB 2342 |
Tennessee Equality Project specialty license plates.
Adds the Tennessee Equality Project to list of organizations permitted to issue specialty earmarked license plates; 50 percent of the revenue from the plates will be allocated to the Tennessee Equality Project Foundation. (S: Marrero; H: Jones S.) |
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Senate Status: Referred to Senate Transportation |
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House Status: Taken off notice in House Public Transportation & Highways Subcommittee 02/05/2008. |
