Leftover bills to be discussed in House as special session enters second week

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The second week of the legislative special session on public safety in Tennessee is set to begin on Monday, and with it, some leftover bills that weren’t discussed last week.

During the first week of the special session, the Senate passed four bills and tabled dozens of others, while the House passed eight.

In a floor session scheduled for 2 p.m., the House will begin to look over nearly 20 leftover bills.

Here’s a look at what’s up for discussion this week:

• HB7072: Directs the administrative office of the courts (AOC) to define and develop a centralized system of case management, document management, electronic case filing, electronic payment methods, data reporting, and any other capability deemed necessary for collection and reporting of all state and local court public case-level data.
• HB7036: Changes prerequisites for emergency detention and admission to a treatment facility from “immediate” substantial likelihood of serious harm to “imminent” substantial likelihood of serious harm.
• HB7033: Requires a bail hearing, which must be open to the public, before a defendant who has been arrested or held to answer for a bailable offense may be admitted to bail.
• HB7032: Requires health insurance carriers, including TennCare providers, to provide mental health services and treatment to the same extent that the carriers and providers provide alcoholism and drug dependence services and treatment. requires health insurance carriers, including TennCare providers, to provide mental health services and treatment to the same extent that the carriers and providers provide alcoholism and drug dependence services and treatment.
• HB7038: Requires the Department of Education to establish a school safety alert grant program to provide grants to LEAs to offset expenses incurred by schools for the installation of school safety alert systems.
• HB7012: Directs the Department of Safety to provide free firearm locks to Tennessee residents upon request; requires department-approved handgun safety courses to contain instruction on the safe storage of firearms; exempts the retail sale of firearm safes and firearm safety devices from sales and use taxes beginning November 1, 2023; defines firearm safes and firearm safety devices.
• HB7006: Authorizes the department to direct available state funds to contract with additional private service providers across the state to provide inpatient psychiatric services for uninsured individuals in this state; requires the department to report to the speakers of both houses on whether additional inpatient psychiatric services are needed in the City of Knoxville and whether additional state funds should be expended for the construction of a state-owned and -operated inpatient psychiatric facility in the City of Knoxville.
• HB7030: Expands the offenses for which a juvenile court may transfer a child to be tried as an adult in criminal court, if the child was 16 years of age or more at the time of the offense, to include burglary involving the theft of a firearm or an attempt to commit such offense; adds an appeal process for a criminal court to review a juvenile court’s determination for such transfers.
• HB7026: Requires a court that makes mental health adjudications regarding children to enter a standing and continuing order instructing the juvenile court clerk to collect and report certain information regarding children who have been adjudicated as a mental defective or judicially committed to a mental institution within three business days for the purposes of complying with federal law.
• HB7008: Requires a qualified mental health professional or behavior analyst to take certain steps to warn or protect an identified victim or group of people when the professional determines that a service recipient has made an actual threat of bodily harm or has an intention to commit such harm; provides immunity from civil, criminal, and regulatory liability for a professional who takes reasonable action to provide such warning or protection.
• HB7005: Clarifies that a private school serving students in any of the grades pre-kindergarten through twelve is authorized to adopt a handgun carry policy for the private school’s property.
• HB7034: Raises from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony knowingly violating an order of protection or a restraining order issued due to domestic abuse when based on stalking; raises the classification range for stalking from a Class A misdemeanor or Class E felony to a Class E or D felony; raises the classification of aggravated stalking from a Class E to a Class D felony; requires a court to order a mental health assessment of a defendant’s need for mental health treatment if convicted of a stalking offense, at cost to the defendant unless indigent; requires the sentence to include the defendant undergoing treatment and monitoring of drug intake if the assessment indicates that the defendant is in need of and amenable to treatment.
• HB7023: Authorizes a law enforcement agency to assign a law enforcement officer to serve as a school resource officer at a school within a local board of education’s control that has not entered into a memorandum of understanding with a law enforcement agency to assign a school resource officer to the school.
• HB7063: Authorizes LEAs and public charter schools to employ retired law enforcement officers who are retired from a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency and honorably discharged veterans of the United States armed forces to serve as school resource officers on school premises; requires local boards of education and public charter school governing bodies to adopt policies to effectuate same.
• HB7035: Establishes a loan forgiveness program for psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors.
• HB7073: Requires a juvenile court to impose a blended sentence on a child adjudicated delinquent for certain offenses; defines blended sentencing as a combination of any disposition otherwise provided for juveniles and a period of an adult disposition to be served after the child turns 19 and which ends on or before the child’s 24th birthday; requires the juvenile court to hold a transfer hearing if a juvenile offender is 16 or more but less than 18 at the time of the alleged conduct and is alleged to have committed certain offenses; requires the juvenile court to transfer the juvenile to adult criminal court for disposition as if the juvenile were an adult if the court makes certain findings; provides for an automatic de novo review by the criminal court of a juvenile court’s decision denying a transfer to adult criminal court.
• HJR7015: Sponsored by Caleb Hemmer and Anthony Davis — Urges the Department of Safety to provide its “Safe & Secure Firearms in Tennessee” brochures at all Driver Service Centers alongside other information provided to public that deals with public safety.

The Senate’s Monday floor session is scheduled for 4 p.m., however, it’s unclear what will be discussed as an agenda has not been released at this time.

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