The Certificate of Need Reform Working Group, made up of Republican Tennessee lawmakers, will file a bill this legislative session that will overhaul the current Certificate of Need Program (CON), according to a Feb. 26 email sent to 36 senators and representatives obtained by the Nashville Business Journal. The CON was established in 1972 by the federal government and is a permit for the establishment or modification of a health care institution, facility or service at a designated location, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. The bill will be aimed at eliminating the requirements for certain types of medical facilities and lightening restrictions for others, eliminating the CON requirements for freestanding emergency departments, intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) habitation facilities that are licensed by the Tennessee Department of IDD, burn units, neonatal intensive care units and organ transplant facilities. If the bill passes, the new requirements would go into effect on July 1, 2025, and new facilities would be required to receive accreditation within two years. 

A sales tax increase across Shelby County could pay for a new jail. The Daily Memphian reports that the news outlet obtained a draft bill in which the state would give the county permission to increase the total sales tax rate to 10.75%. The tax increase, raising the local sales tax rate to 3.75% across Shelby County, would have to be approved through a referendum. The draft bill is an amendment to a caption bill being carried by Rep. John Gillespie, R-Memphis, and Sen. Paul Rose, a Republican who represents Tipton, Lauderdale and Shelby counties.

A bill is moving through the Tennessee General Assembly that would remove the requirement that foster and adoptive families be vaccinated against flu and whooping cough. HB1726/SB2359, introduced by Rep. Ron Gant, R-Piperton, and co-sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, will be discussed in the Civil Justice Committee on Wednesday. WSMV reports that the bill exempts an individual or member of an individual’s household from the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) immunization requirements for adopting or fostering a child if they object on the basis of religious or moral convictions. The Federal Administration for Children and Families requires caregivers of infants to have an up-to-date whooping cough and influenza vaccine.

The House today passed HB 1692 which seeks to allow records from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development to be exempt from public records laws if the tourism commissioner and attorney general deem them “sensitive,” reports the Tennessean. The bill, proposed by the Lee administration and sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, is modeled after a similar exemption for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development that passed in 1988 and keeps records deemed sensitive secret for five years, with the possibility of an extension for a second five-year term. Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, presented the bill in the House and stated, "This would allow the department of tourism, in their negotiations with businesses and tourism interests with the state of Tennessee, to keep their trade secrets and proprietary information safe while the negotiations are going on.” The House passed the legislation, on a 69-14 vote. The bill has not yet been heard in a Senate committee.

TBA’s Legislative Updates podcast is new with TBA lobbyist Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists, Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin. They discuss HB1804/SB1690 which establishes a presumption of joint custody, HB2710/SB2254 the TBA conservatorship bill and HB2644/SB2633 which cleans up some current laws relating to adoption and foster parents. Legislative Updates airs each week on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Tennessee House of Representatives Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, each appointed five-member committees to consider removing Shelby County Criminal Court Division 9 Judge Melissa Boyd, which the Board of Judicial Conduct recommended in a Jan. 26 letter to the leaders. The Daily Memphian reports that removal is not an impeachment, which would begin with a vote by the House and proceed with a trial in the Senate. She would be removed with two-thirds votes by both the House and the Senate, but she would not be banned from running for reelection. Impeachment and conviction would prohibit her from running for office again with a two-thirds vote by the Senate.

A bill sponsored by Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Eads, and Rep. John Gillespie, R-Memphis seeks transparency from progressive criminal-justice reform groups that work with local district attorneys. SB2561/HB2618 would require those groups, and other nonprofits that have contracts or memoranda of understanding with prosecutors, to disclose all of their donors from the previous calendar year, reports the Daily Memphian. “These restorative-justice outfits have an outsized role in our district attorney’s office," Taylor said in a committee hearing. They "are fundamentally changing how our judicial system operates in Shelby County.” Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said he supported greater transparency for nonprofits working with governments but noted that the 2021 Personal Privacy Protection Act protects donors to all nonprofits. The act says state agencies cannot “require an entity exempt from federal income tax under § 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code to provide the names or other personal information of persons who have provided financial or nonfinancial support to the exempt entity."

House Bill 1605 passed Monday with a vote of 70-24. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, would prohibit the display of any flags that “represent a political viewpoint, including but not limited to, a partisan, racial, sexual orientation, gender or other ideological viewpoint.” The bill does not explicitly prohibit the display of the Nazi or Confederate flags, reports the Tennessean. Bulso confirmed that he sponsored the bill on behalf of parents in his district who are concerned about display of the pride flags in Williamson County Schools classrooms. A companion bill could be up for a final vote in the Senate as early as Thursday, having passed the Senate Education Committee in a 5-4 vote last week. HB1183/SB0503, a wide-ranging amendment that would overhaul Tennessee's standardized testing requirements for public school students and make sweeping changes to teacher and principal accountability procedures, was filed Monday. The Tennessean reports that the new, 39-page House amendment is vastly different from a 17-page Senate version and Gov. Bill Lee's seven-page bill that more narrowly deals with school choice. A first committee hearing on the bill was scheduled for today in the House K-12 Subcommittee, and the Senate Education Committee is set to take up the bill on Wednesday afternoon.

TBA’s Legislative Updates podcast is new with TBA lobbyist Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists, Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin. This week they discuss HB1804/SB1690 which establishes a presumption of joint custody; HB2710/SB2254, the TBA conservatorship bill; and HB2644/SB2633, which cleans up some current laws relating to adoption and foster parents. Legislative Updates airs each week on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

A bill sponsored by state Rep. Johnny Garrett, R-Goodlettsville, passed the House State Government Committee on Wednesday, despite legislative attorney Matt Munday cautioning that it might be unconstitutional. The bill in question would prevent local governments from sending General Assembly members who are expelled “for disorderly behavior” back to the same seat, reports the Daily Memphian. State Rep. Bryan Richey, R-Maryville, is sponsoring a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment that is similar to Garrett’s bill. Richey’s resolution would go further, preventing the expelled member from holding office for four years after the expulsion. That resolution is expected to be heard next week.