Government Operations Committee advances a slate of bills including TennCare relief fund, PBM penalties and drone use for wounded deer

The Government Operations Committee on April 16, 2025 advanced a package of bills addressing TennCare debt relief, disaster grants, hunting and wildlife rules, health-care workforce training and other topics, sending most measures to finance/ways and means or to counting rules for further action.

At issue were more than a dozen bills the committee debated or reviewed in a roughly 31-minute session. Sponsors generally summarized each measure and the panel recorded roll-call votes on each item; most measures passed on unanimous or near-unanimous tallies.

The most prominent measures included House Bill 1280, presented by Representative Hill, which would create a medical expense relief fund to help heirs and estates with outstanding bills owed to TennCare. Representative Hill said the fund is “to be used to assist the next of kin and the estate of those who passed, that were enrolled in TennCare and at the time of death, have an outstanding bill,” and added that the change is intended “to keep TennCare from going after these families 1 last time.” The committee vote was recorded as 9 ayes, 0 noes; the bill was referred to finance/ways and means.

House Bill 1278, also sponsored by Representative Hill, would establish a direct grant program to send money quickly to local governments in Northeast Tennessee that sustained damage from last September’s hurricanes. Hill said the proposal is meant to “hone in on our local governments that have had significant impact” while noting that a separate $100 million fund passed in a special session remains available for other affected areas. Members voted 11-0 to advance the bill to finance/ways and means.

On regulatory and wildlife matters, the committee advanced several bills including House Bill 799, directing the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) to consider rules for a commercial blind license for Reelfoot Lake (vote 11-0), and House Bill 175, which would allow the TWRA commission to promulgate rules permitting the use of drones on private land to recover deer wounded during lawful hunting (vote 13-0). Sponsor Representative Darby said the bill “carve[s] out the option to use drones” for recovery and emphasized that current law prohibiting drones to hunt or track game would remain unchanged; the bill delegates rulemaking and penalties, if any, to TWRA.

The committee also approved House Bill 1244, which Representative Martin said would impose reforms to hold pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) accountable for prompt payments to pharmacies and would remove limits on certain penalties; the vote was 12-0 and the bill was routed to the next stage.

Other bills advanced by recorded votes include measures to:

- Create a professional bail bondsman board (HB 576; vote 10-1; to finance/ways & means).

- Change higher-education board membership and appointing processes (HB 919; vote 11-2; to finance/ways & means).

- Permit hunting white-tailed deer with bait on private land under a bait-privilege license (HB 938; vote 13-0; to finance/ways & means).

- Create the African American Cultural Historical Grants Act Fund for capital restoration projects of significance to African American culture and history (HB 686 as amended; vote 13-0; to finance/ways & means).

- Establish a conservatorship management task force to review conservator oversight and explore inter-county notifications (HB 634; vote 13-0; to counting rules).

- Close a corporate campaign-finance loophole by adding “advocating” and “elected official” to disclosure requirements so corporate advocacy must be run through a PAC (HB 456; vote 14-0; to counting rules).

- Create a pilot program to monitor pregnancies across the state administered by TennCare (HB 867; vote 15-0; to finance/ways & means), and a nursing workforce training program targeted to Northeast Tennessee high-school students in partnership with Ballad Health (HB 865; vote 15-0; effective July 1, 2025; to finance/ways & means).

- Provide conscience-based refusal protections for health-care providers in TennCare and CoverKids (HB 638; vote 11-4; to counting rules). Sponsor Representative Karringer said the bill is intended to protect providers acting on “religious or moral beliefs” and includes amendments preserving exemptions for transplant services, oncology and immunocompromised patients.

Votes were taken with limited debate in most cases. Committee members asked procedural and scope questions on several bills — for example, members queried whether HB 1278’s grants would be limited to Tennessee citizens or to local governments, and sponsors clarified that the measure is envisioned as assistance to local governments. On the drone bill (HB 175), members asked whether drone footage or collected data would be retained or used for other purposes; the sponsor said those details would be determined in TWRA rules.

The committee adjourned after completing its calendar. Several measures will proceed to finance/ways and means or to counting rules for further consideration.

Details of each recorded vote and the committee’s brief explanations are below.