Tennessee lawmakers have voted to send a bipartisan bill that would have let residents convicted of felonies apply to vote again without also restoring their gun rights to a summer study committee, the Associated Press reports. The move effectively kills the bill for the session. Some Republican leaders were sympathetic to the aims of the bill sponsors but questioned whether that particular piece of legislation was the correct solution. Republican House Majority Leader William Lamberth said, “I'm all for rewriting the code. But I don't think just this bill is the way to do it."

Families of three children and three adults killed in last year’s Covenant School shooting have filed an ethics complaint against Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga. The complaint charges the lawmaker is violating Senate ethics rules by being part of a lawsuit seeking release of the shooter’s writings while pushing a bill, SB2105, to block third parties from intervening in public record lawsuits. The bill passed unanimously through the Senate and is now on the House's agenda. Since June, a legal battle has been ongoing over release of the shooter’s journal. Nashville police and the families of the Covenant victims have tried to prevent the journal’s release, while Gardenhire and several media outlets have petitioned to have it released. The Nashville Banner has more.

Republican lawmakers have backed away from an effort to abolish Tennessee’s 60-year-old independent Human Rights Commission and reconstitute the agency within Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office, the Tennessee Journal reports. Instead, the House this week went along with a Senate amendment that tasks Skrmetti with examining the agency’s operations and deciding if his office should take over its functions.

The House on Monday approved its version of Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed business franchise tax-cut bill, which would provide one-year refunds of $700 million to companies but require they first agree to public disclosure of their names and rebate amounts before seeing any of the money. The move sends the bill back to the Senate, where Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, has voiced support for the disclosure provision, the Tennessee Journal reports. Bill negotiators also will have to resolve differences in the length of the program as the Senate had approved a three-year benefit, and whether to accept a House provision requiring participating companies to waive their right to sue over the tax. The Tennessean reports on those differences.

House and Senate Republicans began meeting privately on Tuesday morning to negotiate differences between two chambers’ approaches to Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal to create a statewide school voucher system. The talks are a continuation of discussions held between Senate Education Chair Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, and House K-12 Subcommittee Chair Kirk Haston, R-Lobelville, on Monday night, the Tennessee Journal reports.

Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, and Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, are co-sponsoring a bill that would allow a judge to restore someone’s right to vote separate from other rights, including those regarding gun possession, jury service, holding public office and certain fiduciary powers. The Associated Press reports that SB2913/HB2380 seeks to undo restrictions established in July 2023, when election officials interpreted a state Supreme Court ruling as requiring people convicted of felonies to get their full citizenship rights restored by a judge, or show they were pardoned, before they can apply for reinstated voting rights. In January, the elections office confirmed that voting rights restoration also requires getting back gun rights. A group of Democratic lawmakers previously asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate that policy.

The Senate on Monday unanimously passed legislation requiring minors to have parental consent to create social media accounts. The Associated Press reports that lawmakers are hoping to require social media companies to provide parents with options to view privacy settings, set daily time restrictions and implement mandatory breaks. If enacted, the state attorney general would be permitted to investigate and sue social media platforms for violations.

A bill to require public schools in Tennessee to teach children age-appropriate firearms safety concepts as early as pre-Kindergarten is on its way to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk after a final Senate vote last week. The Senate passed HB2882 in a party-line vote of 24 to 3 last Thursday. It passed the House of Representatives in February. Sponsor Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, said, "This curriculum would be developed to instruct children on how to properly stay away from a firearm if they happen to see a firearm, and what to do as far as reporting if they find a firearm." Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, argued that the training requirement represents a hurried effort to address the symptom of a systemic problem, and lawmakers should be doing more to address the root cause. The Tennessean has the story.

A bill that would require public school students to watch a video on fetal development, or something comparable, produced by anti-abortion group Live Action is headed to Gov. Bill Lee's desk for his signature. The Associated Press reports that SB2767, sponsored by Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma, mirrors similar proposals, all backed by the group, that have popped up this year in Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and West Virginia. North Dakota was the first state to adopt the idea last year. The video has been criticized by some educators and physicians, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said the video is anti-abortion misinformation “designed to manipulate the emotions of viewers.” Bowling says, “It does show conception and it’s an AI-type of film, but it’s medically correct ... And it shows the moment when the sperm unites with the egg, and that is the beginning of life.”

TBA’s Legislative Updates podcast is new this week with attorney and TBA lobbyist Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorney and TBA lobbyist Ashley Harbin. This week they discuss HB2710/SB2254 (the TBA Conservatorship bill), HB2645 (the adoption birth certificate bill), HB2002 (removing two Shelby county judicial districts), HB2215/SB2448 (the Real Estate Fraud Reduction Act), and HB2644 (the adoption clean-up bill.) 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.