TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Immigration Bills Continue to Advance in General Assembly

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Mar 20, 2026

Immigration-related proposals continue to advance in both the state House and Senate according to multiple news sources. On Monday, the House passed three bills. The first would require school districts to track and report students by documentation status. That was a change from the original legislation, which would have allowed school districts to deny education to undocumented children. Now the bill must be reconciled with the Senate version, which allows districts to require tuition of undocumented children. The Nashville Banner and WPLN report on HB793/SB836.

The House also passed HB1704 making it a criminal offense to stay in Tennessee for more than 90 days after a final deportation order, and HB1705 giving attorneys general the power to investigate and withhold funding from state and local governments that fail to verify the citizenship of employees. In the Senate this week, members heard a second reading of SJR624 on Monday and then passed the resolution yesterday. It would amend Tennessee’s Constitution to codify that only U.S. citizens may vote in state elections. The Daily Memphian reports on these three measures.

Finally, the House passed HB2185 yesterday. It would authorize the state coordinator of elections to create an electronic portal to access U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data to verify immigration or citizenship status. This bill is scheduled to be considered by the Senate State and Local Government Committee on March 24.

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