Committee advances measures on voting access, campaign platforms and housing; several bills pass, some fail

The Senate State and Local Government Committee met in Nashville on May 1, 2025, and considered a long calendar of committee-member bills, moving several to the full Senate calendar or other committees and rejecting others. The most consequential debates touched on restoring voting rights for people exiting the justice system, a new grant fund for African American historic sites, local-government/developer agreements, rules for online political donation platforms and pilot programs affecting jail voting.

The committee advanced a bill to remove financial barriers for people seeking to restore voting rights after involvement with the justice system. Sponsor Senator Trachberry told the committee that the amendment adopted at the hearing “will simply remove the financial burden for those who seek to restore their right to vote after they have exited the justice system,” and noted the change would remove court costs and allow people who are making child-support payments to apply for restoration. The committee approved that amendment and then passed the bill on a 7–1 roll call (No: Senator Lowe). The bill will move to the Senate calendar.

Lawmakers also approved the African American Cultural and Historical Grant Act, which creates a grant fund to support capital projects that highlight African American contributions and history in Tennessee. The measure directs the Tennessee Historical Commission to administer the fund; money would be provided only if the General Assembly appropriates it or if the commission accepts gifts and grants. Senator Cahill, the sponsor, said the bill prioritizes renovation of existing facilities and listed examples including the Claiborne Temple in Memphis, the Alex Haley House, Fort Pillow State Historic Park and the National Museum of African American Music. The committee passed the bill 7–1 (No: Senator Lowe).

A local-government/developer bill backed by Senator Pote — intended to require that once a written agreement is executed the local government could not impose additional nonessential infrastructure obligations on the developer without agreement — drew opposition from local-government groups. Chad Jenkins of the Tennessee Municipal League testified that the bill would alter current law allowing localities to require developers to construct or pay for dedications and facilities proportional to a development’s impact; Jenkins said the bill’s limits and a refund provision tied to deficiency reports would create perverse incentives. The bill failed in committee on a 2–6 vote (Ayes: Senator Garnhauer and Senator Lowe). The committee record shows detailed testimony from municipal and county association witnesses opposing the measure.

The committee considered a bill to make it easier for people detained in local jails (not state prisons) who remain eligible to vote to access absentee ballots. Jacola Lane of the Campaign Legal Center testified in support, saying the measure would reduce procedural barriers that have left large numbers of eligible jailed voters effectively unable to cast ballots in past elections. That bill failed in committee on a 4–3 vote and remained in committee.

On campaign finance and online donations, the committee passed a bill aimed at reducing so-called “smurfing” (use of many small contributions under fraudulent names to obscure a large donor). The measure would require online political platforms that facilitate contributions to register with the state registry of elections, require use of a credit-card CVV for donations made on such platforms, and add identity-theft penalties for using names without the cardholder’s knowledge; it would also limit the share of a candidate’s receipts that can come from a single platform. The sponsor told the committee the legislation came after reporting and inquiries showing large volumes of contributions routed through third-party platforms. The bill passed and moves to the calendar (roll call recorded as 6 ayes, 2 noes on final action).

The committee also adopted an amendment and passed a measure that will cap combined local hotel-motel (lodging) taxes at 8 percent and limit any single increase to four cents at a time; sponsors said the change both grandfathered recent local increases and narrowed authorized uses to tourism-related projects. That bill passed the committee and moves to finance.

Many technical and administrative bills also moved or were scheduled to move: a TCRS (Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System) housekeeping bill passed on unanimous voice/roll votes; legislation increasing the state matching cap for local human resource agencies moved; an insurance procurement clarification for public entities passed; and other bills were rolled to later calendars or referred to subcommittees. Several bills passed on voice votes or unanimous roll calls and will go to finance or other committees as recorded in the roll calls.

Votes at a glance - Senate Bill 366 (amended) — Restore voting-rights procedure (remove court costs; allow those paying child support to apply): Passed committee, 7–1 (No: Lowe). Moves to calendar. - Senate Bill 1172 — African American Cultural and Historical Grant Act (creates a grant fund administered by the Tennessee Historical Commission; appropriation optional): Passed committee, 7–1 (No: Lowe). Moves to calendar. - Senate Bill 731 — Limits on local-government changes to developer agreements (refund/deficiency provisions): Failed committee, 2–6 (Ayes: Garnhauer, Lowe). Remains in committee (failed). - Senate Bill 1258 — Facilitate jailed but eligible voters casting absentee ballots (pilot/clarifications): Failed committee, 4–3. Stays in committee. - Senate Bill 627 — Online donation platforms / anti-smurfing (registration, CVV, identity-theft trigger, platform share limit): Passed committee, recorded 6–2. Moves to calendar. - Senate Bill 629 — Cap on local lodging (hotel-motel) tax, cap 8% and incremental 4¢ limit; restricts authorized uses to tourism-related projects: Passed committee, recorded 7–0. Moves to finance. - Senate Bill 1139 (Bill 11 39) — (as amended) Passed committee and moves to finance (roll recorded 6 ayes, 2 present/not voting). - Senate Bill 1059 (10 59) — Canvassing/script coordination alignment with federal rule (amendment): Passed to calendar, 5–3. - Senate Bill 848 — County purchasing/insurance brokerage permissive procurement (Blount County request): Passed committee, 8–0. - Senate Bill 842 (insurance procurement clarification): Passed committee, 5–1–1 (see roll). Moves to calendar. - Senate Bill 165 — Increase state match cap for local human resource agencies: Passed committee, roll recorded 7–0. Moves to calendar. - Senate Bill 510 — TCRS housekeeping and membership clarifications (amendments adopted): Passed committee, unanimous recorded roll. - Senate Bill 368 — Disabled-veterans property-tax reimbursement study/appropriation request (fiscal note cited): Moved to finance for further consideration.

What this means next Bills that passed the committee will be scheduled for further action on the Senate floor or referred to finance or other committees as noted above. Measures that failed may be revised and returned, or remain in committee. Several items (including a pair of roll-to-tomorrow bills) were held for continued work and additional amendment language.

Who spoke on key items - Senator Trachberry (sponsor): explained the voting-rights amendment removing court costs and allowing people paying child support to apply. - Chad Jenkins, Tennessee Municipal League: testified against the developer-agreement bill, saying it would change established law on dedications and create incentives to delay corrective deficiency work. - David Connor, Tennessee County Services Association: echoed municipal concerns and noted previous efforts to codify proportionality standards in state law. - Jacola Lane, Campaign Legal Center: testified in favor of the jailed-voter language, describing Davidson County’s pilot program that increased jailed voters’ participation when the county facilitated ballot access.

Requests for follow-up and next steps Committee members directed several bills to finance or other committees for fiscal review (including the lodging-tax cap and the disabled-veterans property-tax measure, the latter of which carried a fiscal note). Sponsors were asked to work with fiscal and local-government stakeholders on outstanding fiscal-note questions. Several bills were rolled to the next day for additional amendment work.

Ending note The committee sat through a multi-hour calendar and ended with several bipartisan unanimous and near-unanimous approvals as well as contested defeats. Members signaled continued attention to election access, local-government authority, and protecting transparency of online political fundraising.