Winning and losing legislation in Tennessee in 2018
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A look at some of the winning and losing bills of the 2018 session of the Tennessee General Assembly:
WINNERS
ABORTION ULTRASOUND: Requires doctors to offer women who are getting abortions a look at an ultrasound, if one was performed beforehand. HB 108
CHILD MARRIAGE: Bars children younger than 17 years of age from getting married; outlaws someone at least four years older from marrying a 17-year-old; emancipates minors who are married so they have the ability to hire attorneys and/or file for divorce. HB 2134
COAL REGULATION: Takes coal-mining regulation away from the federal government and puts it back in the hands of state regulators. SB 686
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: Prohibits corporal punishment against disabled students, unless a school district opts to allow it and a student’s parents give written permission to use it. HB 2330
CORPORATE TAXES: Spares Tennessee corporations from $112 million annually in state corporate excise taxes that would have taken effect in 2020-2021 under President Donald Trump’s tax-reform law. SB 2119
DUI TESTING FEE: Requires $250 DUI fees to go into the general fund instead of a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation fund that supports testing labs, a process a state appeals court ruled unconstitutional. HB 1959
EMISSIONS TESTING: Seeks federal approval to end vehicle emissions testing currently required in six counties. HB 1782
GUNS, MENTAL ILLNESS: Requires notifying local law enforcement when someone fails a gun background check and is legally banned from having a gun because of involuntarily ending up in a mental institution or being found by a tribunal to have a severe mental illness. HB 958
JAMES K. POLK’S TOMB: Urges that former President James K. Polk’s remains be moved from the grounds of the Tennessee Capitol to the Polk museum in Columbia, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. SJR 141
JUVENILE JUSTICE REFORM: Sets out conditions for when juveniles can be placed in state custody or tried as adults, among other changes. HB 2271
MONUMENT TO UNBORN: Calls for creation of a monument to the unborn on the Capitol grounds using private funding. HB 2381
MOVING CONFEDERATE STATUES: Bars local governments from selling or transferring property that has historic memorials, including Confederate monuments, without permission from the Tennessee Historical Society or a court. HB 644
OFF-DUTY OFFICERS IN SCHOOLS: Lets school districts pay off-duty law enforcement officers to serve as armed school officers during school hours or school-sponsored events. SB 2059
OPIOID LIMITS: Limits initial opioid prescriptions to a three-day supply for new patients, with exceptions for major surgeries, cancer, hospice, sickle cell and treatment in certain licensed facilities. HB 1831
PLANNED PARENTHOOD TENNCARE MONEY: Seeks federal approval to ban TennCare payments to abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, for non-abortion services. HB 2251
SANCTUARY CITIES: Requires state and local law enforcement agencies to detain immigrants for deportation at the request of federal officials without requiring warrants or probable cause, or risk losing future state economic or community development money. HB 2315
SHORT-TERM RENTALS: Restricts the ability of local governments to ban short-term rentals, including Airbnb, by grandfathering in certain properties, among other changes. HB 1020
SUNDAY LIQUOR SALES: Allows for Sunday sales of wines and spirits immediately at liquor stores; allows for Sunday wine sales at grocery stores starting in January; prevents liquor stores from selling alcohol on Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter. HB 1540
TENNCARE WORK REQUIREMENT: Seeks a federal waiver to require able-bodied people on TennCare without children under the age of 6 to work, volunteer or attend school, with some exceptions. HB 1551
TNREADY FIX: States that no adverse action may be taken against any student, teacher, school or district based on results from the 2017-18 TNReady online tests after a cyberattack on the company that administers the test. HB 75
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE BOARD RESTRUCTURING: Shrinks the University of Tennessee board from 27 to 11 voting members, and adds one non-voting student member; creates four seven-member advisory boards specific to individual campuses, each with one student and faculty member. SB 2260
UTILITY MONEY FOR CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE: Lets cities spend natural gas utility revenues to fund chambers of commerce, with some counties exempted. HB 1914
WHISKEY BARREL TAX EXEMPTION: Exempts Jack Daniel’s and other distillers from property tax on whiskey barrels. SB 2076
LOSERS
AG BATHROOM BILL: Would have required the state attorney general’s office to defend school districts over transgender student bathroom policies. SB 2480
ARMING TEACHERS: Would have allowed school districts to decide whether to let teachers undergo training to carry guns in schools. HB 2208
AUTOPSY PUBLIC RECORDS: Would have exempted autopsy reports from public records law. HB 2360
BUMP STOCK BAN: Would have banned bump stocks in Tennessee. HB 1461
COLLEGE CREDIT REQUIREMENT: Would have required Tennessee Promise and HOPE scholarship students to complete 30 hours of course credits annually. HB 2114
GUN EVENTS: Would have let a citizen sue a government that refuses to make a government-owned venue available for third parties for gun shows and other activities. HB 1602
GUN RESTRAINING ORDERS: Would have let law enforcement officers seek court-issued temporary restraining orders to prohibit people from having guns if the officer believes they pose immediate and present danger to others or themselves. SB 670
GUN SAFES TAX EXEMPT: Would have exempted gun safes from sales tax. HB 2183
GUNS IN AIRPORTS: Would have let people with handgun carry permits bring guns into an airport drive, general parking area, walkway, shop or other area of an airport terminal outside the screening checkpoint. HB 2485
HANDGUN PERMIT FINES: Would have lowered the penalty to $250 for a first offense of toting a gun without a handgun carry permit. SB 2427
IN-STATE IMMIGRANT TUITION: Would have offered in-state tuition for Tennessee public college students whose parents brought or kept them in the country illegally. SB 2263
LIBERTIES FROM GOD: Would have begun the lengthy state constitutional amendment process to insert a statement that says God is the source of liberty. HJR 37
MEDICAL MARIJUANA: Would have legalized medical marijuana in Tennessee. HB 1749
NEO-NAZI RESOLUTION: Would have strongly denounced white nationalists and neo-Nazis. HJR 583