Hello nonprofit friends,
These are your legislative updates for Tennessee for Friday, February 7th. Download the updates here. Download the legislative calendar here.
THIS WEEK’S RUNDOWN:
On Tuesday, the House Population Health Subcommittee and the House Health Committee both met for the first time this year. The subcommittee now includes the topics of intellectual & developmental disabilities, mental health, and public health legislation. DDA, TDMHSAS, TennCare and DOH provided updates.
Key Takeaways:
- Expansion of TEIS for children up to the age of 5.
- Katie Beckett Waiver—4,000+ families served, no current waitlist.
- DDA Community Grants—Funding inclusive playgrounds, housing, and respite care.
- 988 Crisis Line: 43K+ calls, 9K+ texts in FY24, 63% diversion from hospitalization.
- Overdose Prevention: 854K naloxone units distributed, overdose deaths declining.
- School-Based Mental Health: 390+ behavioral health liaisons deployed, improving student outcomes.
- Homelessness & Recovery: Creating Homes Initiative has developed 36K housing options for at-risk individuals.
- Expansion of evidence-based home visiting through parent coaching, health screenings, and referrals to essential services.
Also on Tuesday, the House Children & Family Affairs Subcommittee met for the first time this year. The subcommittee heard a presentation from TCCY and the Second Look Commissioner which presented its 2024 annual report. The full report with findings and recommendations can be found HERE.
On Thursday, the joint fiscal review committee approved a 9-month extension of TennCare’s MCO contracts. Sen. Yager indicated that United Healthcare “stepped up to the plate” to address the reimbursements of a provider in his community who had expressed concerns during the November committee meeting.
NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR:
Monday:
- Governor Bill Lee will deliver his State of the State address, outlining his legislative and budget priorities for the year. You can watch the speech live at 5:45pm CT HERE.
Tuesday:
- House Finance, Ways & Means Committee will hear a budget overview from the Dept. of F&A and presentations from the DAs Conference, Public Defenders Conference, and Administrative Office of the Courts.
- Senate Commerce & Labor Committee will hear a presentation from the TN Employer Benefits Alliance for an update on the state of employer benefits.
- House Education Committee will hear a presentation from SCORE.
- House TennCare Subcommittee will consider:
- HB18-Directs the bureau of TennCare to establish a temporary TennCare benefits program to provide medical assistance on a temporarybasis to certain individuals who do not qualify for enrollment in TennCare, CoverKids, or a successor program. Requires the bureau to submit a waiver to the federal centers for Medicare andMedicaid services by December 31, 2025.
- House Children & Family Affairs Subcommittee will consider:
- HB46-Requires that a reimbursement payment to a child advocacy center be completed within 30 days of receipt of a request for reimbursement. Requires payment of a 10 percent late payment fee for failing to make a timely reimbursement to a child advocacy center. Requires the department of children’s services to submit to the general assembly an annual report on the timeliness of reimbursement payments to child advocacy centers.
Wednesday:
- House Finance, Ways & Means Committee will hear presentations from the Comptroller, Secretary of State and the Dept. of Treasury.
- House Insurance Committee will hear from TennCare.
- House Health Subcommittee will consider:
- HB105-Removes the requirement that grants under the child care improvement pilot program be provided explicitly to nonprofit organizations in order to establish or make improvements to a child care agency.
- HB107-Removes the requirement that a parent or caretaker relative enter a personal responsibility plan that requires a child to attend school and receive immunizations and health checks. Removes certain requirements for a parent or caretaker regarding personal responsibility plans. Also removes a 20 percent reduction in temporary assistance payments for failure to comply with personal responsibility plan requirements pertaining to children attending school and children receiving immunizations and health checks.
BILL ALERTS:
SB 306/HB 459 by Briggs/Martin G – Allows the secretary of state to administratively dissolve a cooperative, corporation, LLC, or limited partnership if it files a document containing materially false information knowingly signed by an organizer, director, officer, member, agent, or representative. Allows administrative dissolution or revocation of a foreign corporation’s certificate of authority or a foreign limited partnership’s registration if the entity is owned or controlled by a foreign government or foreign nongovernment person designated as a foreign adversary by specified entities.
SB 453/HB 391 by Hatcher/Atchley – Revises notification requirements for timely filing of fundraising campaign literature by allowing a professional solicitor to file with the secretary of state required solicitation campaign literature or promotional materials, within 90 days after a solicitation campaign has been completed or within 90 days after the end of the fiscal year for a campaign that lasts more than one year. Removes the requirement that a professional solicitor must notify the secretary of state or provide copies of any modification or changes in campaign solicitation literature or promotional materials.
SB454/HB379 by Hatcher/Stinnett – Clarifies, by removing certain language, that a professional solicitor includes servants or employees specially employed by or for a charitable organization who are engaged in the solicitation of contributions.
SB 563 by Pody – Corrects a reference in the charitable solicitations law that requires educational institutions be approved as such by the Tennessee public charter school commission rather than the state board of education to be exempt from registration requirements.
HB 426 by Love – Exempts a nonprofit religious institution from property taxes, under certain circumstances; applicable in Davidson County.
HB 594 by Doggett – Increases, from two to four, the number of temporary sales periods that a bona fide religious institution may participate in and be exempt from registering to collect sales tax on sales directly to consumers made during such temporary sales period.
HB 603 by Bricken – Changes from February 1 to January 15, the date by which the secretary of state must annually report to the governor and general assembly on the operation of the filing office. Broadly captioned.
HB 46 by McCalmon – Requires that a reimbursement payment to a child advocacy center be completed within 30 days of receipt of a request for reimbursement. Requires payment of a 10 percent late payment fee for failing to make a timely reimbursement to a child advocacy center. Requires the department of children’s services to submit to the general assembly an annual report on the timeliness of reimbursement payments to child advocacy centers.
SB 212 by Gardenhire – Expands the requirement that state and local governing bodies make an agenda available to the public prior to regular public meetings of the body to include the governing bodies of certain nonprofit organizations, including nonprofit community organizations that receive federal funding, nonprofit organizations that receive community grant funds from this state or certain funding from local governments, nonprofit organizations created for the benefit of local governments, and nonprofit organizations that provide the metropolitan government of Nashville/Davidson County with certain utility services; requires, rather than permits, such governing bodies that maintain a website to post the agenda to the website.
SB 227 by Taylor – Allows a charitable organization that provides housing to a person who the charitable organization knows is unlawfully present in the United States to beheld liable for a loss, damages, injury, or death resulting from a criminal offense committed by the person who is unlawfully present in the United Stateswhile the person is receiving housing services from the charitable organization if the charitable organization’s conduct in providing housing constitutesnegligence, gross negligence, or willful and wanton misconduct.