Bills we’re watching

Our 2025 Bills to Watch list, which highlights key legislation on cannabis, democracy, education, economic inequality, environmental justice, and healthcare. The bills listed below reflect both the challenges we must confront and the opportunities we must seize to dismantle systemic barriers and create lasting change for thriving Black communities.

Cannabis

• HB0703 (Behn)/ SB 0921 (Campbell)
  Enacts the “Pot for Potholes Act”; establishes a regulatory structure for the cultivation, processing, and retail sale of marijuana and marijuana products in this state to be administered by the department of agriculture.

• HB0872 (Rudder)/ SB0489 (Bowling)
  Enacts the “Tennessee Medical Cannabis Act,” which establishes a medical cannabis program to be administered by the Tennessee medical cannabis program commission.

• HB0981 (Miller)/ SB0923 (Campbell)
  Decriminalizes the possession of less than one ounce of marijuana or less than five marijuana plants; authorizes municipalities and counties to impose civil penalties on the possession of marijuana in certain circumstances.

• HB1370 (Chism)/ SB0960 (Lamar)
  Requires county election commissions to include three non-binding questions related to the legalization of marijuana on the November 2026 ballot; requires the secretary of state to compile the results of the non-binding, advisory referendum, publish the results on the secretary of state’s website, and forward the results to the members of the general assembly.

Democracy

Recall Elections

• HB0056 (Lamberth)/ SB0039 (Haile)
  Authorizes a county legislative body to recall a person appointed to a position by the county legislative body upon a two-thirds vote of the legislative body.
• HB0384 (Butler)/ SB0140 (Lowe)
  Creates a recall process for members of a municipal legislative body and of a city or county school board.

Election-Related Bills

• HB0049 (Davis)/ SB0245 (Haile)
  Expands the proceedings for which a district attorney general pro tem may be appointed to include certain civil proceedings; declares meetings of the district attorneys general conference to be open meetings except for meetings related to certain matters; specifies that the executive director of the district attorneys general conference must provide legal counsel and advice to district attorneys general and their staff and that the legal counsel and advice may be provided by attorneys employed with the district attorneys general conference.

• HB0304 (Bulso)/ SB0266
  Prohibits state and local government entities from displaying or allowing display of flags other than Tennessee and U.S. flags on courthouses and public roads and sidewalks; prohibits LEAs and public charter schools from displaying in public schools flags other than the official United States flag and the official Tennessee state flag.

• HB0322 (Barrett)/ SB 0392 (Taylor)
  Creates the offense of human smuggling; creates the offense of harboring or hiding, or assisting another in harboring or hiding, within this state an individual who the person knows or should have known has illegally entered or remained in the United States; authorizes the attorney general to take certain actions against a person or organization who commits or is about to commit a human trafficking offense or an aggravated human trafficking offense.

• HB0937 (Glynn)/ SB1211 (Oliver)
  Establishes automatic restoration of voting rights for people who complete their sentence, including any parole or probationary period.
• HB1159 (Lynn)/ SB0831(Hensley)
  Requires a voter to designate on the voter registration record a political party with which the voter is affiliated in order to vote in primary elections for such political party.
  

Education

• HB0047 (Hale)/ SB0303 (Bailey)
  Authorizes local boards of education and governing bodies of public charter schools to display the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the Constitution of Tennessee, the Bill of Rights, a resolution honoring the history of a school in the LEA or the public charter school, or other historically significant documents in a prominent location in each school building.

• HB0218 (Behn)/ SB0270 (Oliver)
  Enacts the “Universal Pre-K Funding Act,” which would implement a universal pre-kindergarten program throughout Tennessee by establishing a dedicated funding source through a tax on digital advertising.

• HB0377 (Zachary)/ SB 0376 (Rose)
  Prohibits the exclusion of persons from participating in, being denied the benefits of, or being subject to discrimination by a four-year public or private institution of higher education in this state on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, and national origin; prohibits such institutions from using race, color, ethnicity, or national origin in determining whether a prospective student qualifies for admission into the institution, or receives scholarships or financial aid; creates a private cause of action against an institution and its officers, employees, and agents for such unlawful practices.

• HB0793 (Lamberth)/ SB0836 (Watson)
  Authorizes LEAs and public charter schools to refuse to enroll students who are unlawfully present in the United States.
  
  *Expected to challenge Plyer v. Doe which ruled that a state cannot prevent children of undocumented immigrants from attending public school unless a substantial state interest is involved.

Economic Inequality

• HB0002 (Behn)/ SB0002 (Oliver)
  Enacts the “End the Grocery Tax by Closing Corporate Loopholes Act,” which would implement a corporate minimum tax on companies paying no franchise or excise tax to fund a statewide elimination of the 4% grocery tax.

• HB0156 (Clemmons)/ SB 0036 (Campbell)
  Exempts child care agencies from business tax; requires the state to annually allocate the amount of such taxes derived from child care services and received from counties and municipalities in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

• HB0298 (Behn)/ SB0242 Oliver)
  Enacts the “Homes not Hedge Funds Act”; prohibits certain business entities from purchasing more than 100 single-family homes in certain counties in this state for purposes of renting the purchased properties; establishes a state and private cause of action and establishes damages for violations.

• HB0431 (Jones J)/ SB 0405 (Lamar)
  Enacts the “CEO Pay Disparity Tax Act,” which imposes a pay disparity surcharge in the amount of an additional 0.1 percent to the standard 6.5 percent excise tax rate on each company whose top executive is paid at least 100 times more than the median income of the company’s employees. 

Environmental Justice

• HJR0074 (Jones J)
  Proposes adding a provision establishing the right to clean air, pure water, and the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic values of the state’s environment.
• HB0950 (Brooks)/ SB1206 (Yarbro)
  Creates a grant program to facilitate green spaces in urban areas; authorizes the technical secretary of the air pollution control board to establish a program to encourage community-led programs that reduce air pollution.
  

Healthcare

• HJR0007 (Bulso)
  Proposes an amendment to Article I of the Constitution of Tennessee to declare that a person shall not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall a person be denied equal protection of the law; defines “person” to include every human being from fertilization to natural death.

• HB0014 (Love)/ SB003 (Akbari)
  Clarifies that the term “abortion,” as defined for the offense of criminal abortion, does not include the use of contraceptives, including any device, medication, biological product, or procedure that is generally intended for use in the prevention of pregnancy, whether specifically intended to prevent pregnancy or for other health needs, or the disposal of embryos resulting from fertility treatments, including healthcare services, procedures, testing, medications, treatments, or products.
• HB0027 (Behn)/ SB0187 (Lamar)
  Enacts the “Reproductive Freedom Act.” This bill provides that every person has a fundamental right to make decisions about the person’s reproductive health care, including the fundamental right to use or refuse contraceptive procedures or contraceptive supplies.  Additionally, this bill provides that a pregnant person has a fundamental right to continue a pregnancy and give birth, or to have an abortion and to make decisions about how to exercise such right.  Finally, this bill provides that a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of this state.

• HB0179 (Hakeem)/ SB0345 (Lamar)
  Specifies that the offense of criminal abortion does not include an abortion that was necessary due to a medical emergency affecting the physical or mental health of the pregnant person or performed on a patient whose pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.
• HB0295 (Love)/ SB0044 (Lamar)
  Adds doula services performed by a person with a verification of certification to the list of services that may be provided as medical assistance under the TennCare program; directs the department of health to establish by rule a process for the verification of certification to a person who demonstrates that the person has completed a doula training program that meets certain requirements.