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We complete the New Law A Day July series with enough new Tennessee laws to make up for all the days I failed to submit a new blog entry during this endeavor.

I've taken the time to break the bills down into subject matter to make it easier to find what would be of interest to you.  What's listed is the bill number and summary.  Some of these laws may sound familiar, possible from stories I or other WDEF News 12 reporters have done for television broadcast.

If you would like to learn more about a specific bill, you can enter the bill number in the state's database. [1]  I've added direct links to make your life easier.  Also, if you plan to use this entry for research, double check the state's database [2] for specific information about penalty for crimes.  Some of the penalties were amended before becoming Public Chapter, i.e. a Class B misdemeanor became a Class C.

As always, I welcome comment about any of these issues and if you find the state's database [3] ultra confusing (which it can be, TMI) I will attempt to help: jlegge@wdef.com [4]

Enjoy...

TAXES:

• SB2326 Taxes, Cigarette - Increases the tax on cigarettes from 10 mills to 3 cents on each cigarette; requires that all cigarette tax revenue realized from the increase be deposited into the general fund.
• HB0472 Taxes, Sales - Reduces, from 6 percent to 5 1/2 percent, the rate of state sales tax levied on certain foods and food ingredients intended for human consumption. Effective Jan 1

 

EDUCATION:

• SB0057 Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - Requires two hours of the required five days of annual teachers' in-service training to be devoted to training in suicide prevention
• SB0293 Education, Curriculum - Urges the state board of education to develop guidelines for the materials and method of instruction used to teach the procedure for voluntarily surrendering a newborn baby and to include that instruction in the lifetime wellness curriculum for grades nine through 12.
• SB0051 School Transportation - Requires school bus drivers to deposit student at student's destination and makes failure to do so Class C misdemeanor punishable by fine only of up to $100;
• SB2175 Education - Replaces pre-graduation exit examination with three mandatory assessment exams to provide educators with information that will improve high school graduation rates and improve post-secondary achievement; exams to be administered in grades eight, 10, and 11.
• HB2293 Education - Reduces from 20 consecutive days to 15 consecutive days the period of time for which a substitute teacher may fill in for a regular teacher on leave without being required to possess a teacher's license or permit.
• SB0247 Students - Requires one-year expulsion of students who gang up with others to fight an individual student.
• HB2260 Education - Classifies threatening to use any destructive device on school property or at school-sponsored event a zero tolerance offense with mandatory one-year expulsion; authorizes judges to suspend driver license of juvenile who is adjudicated delinquent for zero tolerance offense.
• PC0376 - Spells out public school accountability  

 

CRIME:

• SB0127 Criminal Offenses - Expands Class A misdemeanor of escaping from a penal institution to those persons lawfully being held for a civil offense.
• SB1178 DNA and Genetic Testing - Expands group of persons required to furnish DNA samples for testing to include misdemeanants whose offense requires them to register with the sexual offender registry.
• SB0276 Search & Seizure - Adds campus police officers to present law enforcement officers authorized to conduct certain seizures of property and related forfeiture sales of such property.
• SB0730 Criminal Procedure - Adds offenses of rape, statutory rape by authority figure, and aggravated child abuse to list of offenses for which the judge must revoke bail immediately upon conviction.
• SB1967 - Criminal Offenses - ("Crooks with guns") Creates offense of employing a firearm during the commission of a felony; creates offense of possessing a handgun, machine gun, short-barreled rifle, or short-barreled shotgun during commission of a felony (enhances jail time for using gun to commit crime - cost $23 million)
• SB1056 Sexual Offenders - Requires a sexual offender or violent sexual offender to report any material change in the offender's employment status to the registering agency within 48 hours of the change of status.
• HB1753 Criminal Offenses - Broadens the offense of indecent exposure to include prisoners who expose their genitals or buttocks to another or engage in sexual conduct for the purpose of harassing a correctional officer or guard.
• SB0270 Criminal Offenses - Creates new offense of knowingly leaving child under seven in motor vehicle without supervision; punishable by permissible safety training and as Class B misdemeanor by $200 fine for first offense and $500 fine for second or subsequent offense. 
• HB0201 Traffic Safety - Adds driving motorcycle while front tire is off the ground to offense of reckless driving; violation is a Class B misdemeanor.
• HB2314 Sentencing - Sets the minimum period of incarceration for rape of a child at 25 years instead of 15 years; specifies that provisions for person on community supervision applying for release after 15 years would not apply to persons convicted of rape of a child. ("Jessica's Law)
• SB1597  Prohibits the state, any political subdivision, or any public official from imposing additional restrictions on the lawful possession, transfer, sale, transport, carrying, storage, display, or use of firearms and ammunition or firearm and ammunition components during any state of emergency
• SB0064 Sexual Offenders - Requires sexual offender who moves to this state to register regardless of the date of conviction or discharge from supervision if such offender was required to register in another jurisdicion  

 

FINES:

• SB0263 Fines and Penalties - Increases fine for unauthorized use of parking spaces reserved for persons with disabilities from $100 to $150
• SB1945 Fines and Penalties - Increases maximum fine for making nonemergency 911 call from $50 to $500.  

 

HEALTH/MEDICAL/SAFETY:

• SB0334 Hospitals and Health Care Facilities - Requires hospitals, during the fall and winter months, to offer elderly inpatients certain immunizations for flu and pneumococcal diseases. - Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 2.
• HB1775 AIDS, HIV and STDs - Requires judge to order person convicted of promoting prostitution to submit to HIV test.
•  SB1994 Safety - Creates a Class C misdemeanor offense subject to a fine only for a parent or legal guardian to permit a child under the age of 18 to operate or be a passenger on an offhighway motor vehicle on certain property without wearing a helmet that meets the U. S. department of transportation standards; authorizes municipalities to adopt mirror ordinance and to issue a traffic citation in lieu of arrest for a violation.
• HB2049 - Allows an organization that sponsors volunteer health care services to file reports concerning the physicians providing such volunteer services on a quarterly basis and to maintain confirmation of licensure of such physicians as provided on the state Web site; clarifies that activities that are not otherwise authorized cannot be performed at the physician's office on behalf of the sponsoring organization. (affects Project Access in Hamilton Co.)  

 

MISC:

• HB0349 Fireworks - Raises the age from 10 to 16 for the lawful purchase of Class C common fireworks; increases the amount of the fine depending on the number of offenses a retailer commits; authorizes municipalities to adopt an ordinance that mirrors the unlawful sale of fireworks to minors, intoxicated, or irresponsible persons.
• SB0418 Boats, Boating - Clarifies laws related to boating regulation and safety, updates boating laws to account for new technologies, and increases boating under the influence penalties for first and second time offenders.
• HB1048 Food and Food Products - Authorizes the sale of non-potentially hazardous foods prepared in home-based kitchens to be sold at farmers' markets.
• SB2310 Domestic Relations - Requires a waiting period for any divorce involving parties with minor children; requires mediation in all divorce proceedings; allows a court to deny a divorce if the parents have not completed parenting classes; requires cases involving the custody of or visitation with children of unmarried parents to be subject to the parenting plan mediation and parenting class process.
• HB2211 Election Laws - Moves date for presidential preference primary from second Tuesday in February to first Tuesday in February.  

 

DOGS:

• HB2174 Criminal Offenses - Creates misdemeanor offenses for removing from a dog an electronic or radio transmitting collar or microchip implant without the permission of the owner.
• SB0143 Civil Procedure - Imposes liability upon owner of a dog that causes injury to another regardless of whether the dog had any past propensity for viciousness or whether the owner had knowledge of the dog's viciousness.
• SB1190 Animals and Animal Cruelty - Provides that in animal cruelty prosecutions, if the defendant does not post court-ordered security to pay for expense of caring for the animal within 15 days, animal is forfeited and defendant loses all ownership rights; establishes provisions governing situations where person from whom animal was seized is not the owner and for situations where the owner is indigent.
• SB0537 Criminal Offenses - Increases the punishment for the offense of being present as a spectator at a dog fight from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class B misdemeanor.
• HB1161 Domestic Violence - Expands definition of abuse to include physical harm, attempted physical harm, or threatened physical harm to a pet of an adult or minor and requires court to place an animal with the petitioner or in foster care in a protective order.
• SB0139 - Increases punishment for the offense of owning a dog running at large and provides staggered punishments for such offense depending upon the amount of damage or injury to another caused by the dog at large.  

 

ILLEGALS:

• HB0600 Criminal Offenses - Prohibits the transportation of illegal aliens into the state, imposes a fine of $1,000 for such violation, and requires that money received from such fines be applied to the costs associated with deportation of such illegal aliens.
• HB0729 - the bill provides for the Commissioner of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to order the appropriate regulatory board or local government to revoke, suspend or deny a person's license if that person is unlawfully employing an illegal alien and the violation has occurred within the scope of practice of a license issued by the state of Tennessee.  

 

LOCAL ITEMS:

• SB0653 Public Records - Allows county clerks as well as local health departments to issue copies of birth and death certificates in Davidson, Hamilton, Knox and Shelby counties.
• HB1414 Law Enforcement - Allows the Bradley County forensic laboratory to assess and receive the same fees as are currently charged by publicly funded and TBI forensic labs for conducting tests to determine the drug and alcohol content of blood.
• HB0698 Municipal Government - Places certain requirements on municipalities contracting for and the operation of surveillance cameras installed to enforce or monitor moving traffic violations at intersections controlled by traffic-control signals.
• PC0002 - March 10 of each year shall be observed as "Harriet Tubman Day," to be proclaimed as such by the governor to honor and recognize Harriet Tubman for her important role in the history of Tennessee and the United States of America as an abolitionist and champion of equal rights for all people. This day shall not be a legal holiday. (Local school children helped pass this)

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