It's the (new) law in Tennessee



The Tennessee General Assembly has enacted over 150 new laws which go into effect July 1. Following are a few of the highlights. Many of them effect how Cannon County's law enforcement, courts and schools operate:

• HB0222 - Driver Licenses: As enacted, requires a person to establish proof of United States citizenship; lawful permanent resident status; or, in the case of a temporary driver license, a specified period of authorized stay in the United States, if the person, for purposes of obtaining a Tennessee driver license, presents a driver license from another state that issues driver licenses to illegal aliens.

• HB1719 - Domestic Violence: As enacted, removes the authority of a magistrate to issue a temporary order of protection to the victim upon the arrest of a person for a domestic violence offense and replaces it with the requirement that, upon a finding that the arrested person is a safety threat to the alleged victim, the magistrate impose conditions of bail designed to protect the alleged victim.

• SB1335 - Boats, Boating: Adds provisions regarding regulation of non-motorized vessels; deletes provision that exempts renters of watercraft who have completed a safety orientation from the requirement that any person born after January 1, 1989, who operates any vessel must successfully complete a boating safety examination and receive a certificate from the Tennessee wildlife resources agency or be accompanied on the vessel by a person who was born on or before January 1, 1989, or is 18 years of age or older and is certified to operate a vessel.

• SB1670 - Pharmacy and Pharmacists: Authorizes a pharmacist in this state to dispense, in good faith, to a patient without proper authorization or a valid prescription the number of dosages of a prescription drug necessary to allow the patient to secure proper authorization or a valid prescription from the patient's prescriber; limits the amount of a prescription drug dispensed under this amendment to a 20-day supply.

• HB1939 - Firearms and Ammunition: As enacted, allows county commissioner in the actual discharge of the commissioner's duties who has a valid handgun carry permit to carry in buildings in which county commission meetings are held, but not in room in which judicial proceeding in progress; not applicable to member of legislative body of metropolitan government.

• HB1701 - Taxes, Privilege: Imposes a $2.00 tax on a sexually oriented business for each customer that enters; provides for revenue being allocated to the general fund with the intent that amounts be allocated to programs for victims of sex trafficking; schedules the tax to be repealed on July 1, 2021.

• SB2017 - Local Education Agencies: As enacted, extends homebound instruction to all students, instead of only pregnant students, who have a medical condition that prevents the student from attending

• HB1947 - Sexual Offenders: Defines "playground" for purposes of sexual offender restrictions as any indoor or outdoor facility that is intended for recreation of children and owned by the state, a local government, or a not-for-profit organization.

• SB1885 - Pest Control: As enacted, requires applicators to notify the department of agriculture prior to making aerial applications of pesticides via an online reporting system, instead of notifying county sheriff's offices.

• HB2068 - Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation: As enacted, imposes suspension or revocation of license for violations in the marketing of alcohol and drug treatment services.

• HB2024 - Criminal Procedure: As enacted, revises and makes permanent and applicable statewide the Knox County pilot project that allows indigent criminal defendants to pay their court costs and litigation taxes through the performance of public service.

• HB2330 - Students: As enacted, prohibits the use of corporal punishment against a student with a disability who has an IEP or a Section 504 plan, with certain exceptions.

• SB1875 - Sentencing: As enacted, enacts "Henry's Law," which requires that a person convicted for second-degree murder resulting from unlawful distribution of Schedule I or II drug where victim is a minor be punished from within one range higher than the sentencing range otherwise appropriate for the person. Henry's Law, which is named after Henry Granju who died from an opioid overdose at age 18, essentially creates stiffer prison sentences for people convicted of second-degree murder by distributing drugs to minors.

• HB2348 - Controlled Substances: As enacted, requires a prescriber to provide certain information prior to prescribing more than a three-day supply of an opioid or an opioid dosage that exceeds a total of a 180 morphine milligram equivalent dose to a woman of childbearing age.

• SB2030 - Criminal Offenses: As enacted, enacts the "Tennessee Stolen Valor Act". It makes wearing military medals that aren't your own a criminal impersonation.

• SB2015 - Local Education Agencies: As enacted, prohibits LEAs from entering into a non-disclosure agreement during, or as a prerequisite to, settlement for any act of sexual misconduct; prohibits employees from assisting others in obtaining employment if the employee knows that the person has engaged in sexual misconduct involving a minor or student.

• HB2039 - Bail, Bail Bonds: Requires bounty hunters to wear clothing that clearly identifies the person as a bounty hunter and prominently displays the words "bounty hunter" any time a bounty hunter is engaged in the functions of bounty hunting.

• SB2359 - Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation: As enacted, authorizes county or district health department to operate a needle and hypodermic syringe exchange program on petition of the county legislative body and approval by the department of health

• HB2153 - Milk, Dairy Products - Authorizes the labeling of any milk sold in this state as "Local Tennessee Milk", or a statement that indicates the milk is Tennessee milk, if the milk contains only milk produced in Tennessee.

• SB0912 - Driver Licenses: Allows a victim of identity theft to apply for and receive a new driver license with a new distinguishing number upon presenting proof of the crime, including a law enforcement report that lists the applicant as a victim of identity theft; allows the department of safety to charge a reasonable fee for reissuance of a driver license due to identity theft.

• SB0777 - Controlled Substances: As enacted, makes various changes and additions to law concerning opioids; creates task force with duty to promulgate rules that create a uniform minimum disciplinary action that will apply to any healthcare practitioner who treats a human patient with an opioid and that healthcare practitioner's licensing board or agency finds that the healthcare practitioner engaged in a significant deviation or pattern of deviation from sound medical judgment; requires comptroller to conduct certain studies.

• SB1787 - Criminal Offenses: As enacted, classifies as second-degree murder the killing of another by unlawful distribution or unlawful delivery or unlawful dispensation of fentanyl or carfentanil, when those substances alone, or in combination with any scheduled controlled substance, including controlled substance analogs, are the proximate cause of the death of the user

• HB0521 - Education: As enacted, requires all public high schools to place automated external defibrillator (AED) devices in schools; encourages public middle and elementary schools and private schools to place AED devices in schools.

• SB1944 - Sexual Offenses: As enacted, classifies the offense of continuous sexual abuse of a child as a violent sexual offense for purposes of the Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification and Tracking Act of 2004; revises the sentencing requirement for a person convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

• SB1512 - Law Enforcement: As enacted, requires each law enforcement agency to ensure that, whenever a person is arrested and taken into custody by an officer of the agency, the person is asked whether that person is the parent or legal custodian of any children that will be left unattended by the person's arrest; enacts other related provisions.

• HB1862 - Criminal Procedure: As enacted, lowers the expunction fee from $350 to $180 for a defendant whose charge was dismissed due to successful completion of a pretrial diversion program.

• HB2690 - Local Education Agencies: As enacted, requires LEAs to provide written notice to a student's parents or legal guardians before the student participates in any mental health screening.

• SB2011 - Education, State Board of: As enacted, requires a director of schools, director of public charter school, or director of a nonpublic school who learns of the conviction of a licensed educator employed by the LEA for certain offenses to report the conviction to the state board; authorizes the state board to reprimand such a director for failure to report; enacts other related provisions.

• SB2015 - Local Education Agencies: As enacted, prohibits LEAs from entering into a non-disclosure agreement during, or as a prerequisite to, settlement for any act of sexual misconduct; prohibits employees from assisting others in obtaining employment if the employee knows that the person has engaged in sexual misconduct involving a minor or student.

• HB0149 - Criminal Procedure: As enacted, prohibits a person charged with incest from participating in judicial diversion.

• HB2181 - Probation and Parole: As enacted, establishes framework for the department of correction making four $250,000 grants to local sheriff departments or probation offices for the purpose of funding reentry programs designed to reduce recidivism and probation revocations.