Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee advances bills on school searches, threats law, nuisance businesses and more; divided votes on several measures

The Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee met in Nashville and considered a wide range of bills, advancing several to next steps while debating others at length.

Committee members voted to advance measures on school searches, court fees, nuisance-business enforcement, protections for people alleging threats of mass violence, a registry for persistent domestic violence offenders, and other items. Lawmakers and outside witnesses — including disability advocates, legal scholars, Department of Safety officials and victims’ family members — participated in extended testimony on the proposals involving threats of mass violence, recovery residences and a domestic-violence offender registry.

Why it mattered: The panel’s decisions move multiple bills forward in the legislative process and highlighted recurring policy tensions — balancing public-safety tools, protections for vulnerable people (including children and people with disabilities), and due-process safeguards. The committee also debated how new investigative tools (oral-fluid testing for drugs) and administrative changes (fee and registry provisions) should be implemented and limited.

Key debate: Senate Bill 12-96 (sponsor: Sen. Hale) drew the longest public record. The bill, as amended, would create new state offenses for knowingly making threats of mass violence and for doxxing (posting a home address or phone number online with intent to cause harm). Disability Rights Tennessee, represented by Zoe Jamail, and Beth Cruz, an education attorney at Vanderbilt Law School, urged caution, citing arrests of young children in prior years under related statutes and asking for clearer limits to avoid criminalizing noncredible statements by children or people with disabilities. Department of Safety witnesses, including Elizabeth Stroker, said the amendment raised the criminal intent standard (to knowingly/intentional conduct) and that the department believes that higher mens rea and other drafting changes reduce the risk of unjust prosecutions. Colonel Matt Perry of the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Office of Homeland Security witnesses described investigative practices emphasizing capability-and-intent analysis and multidisciplinary threat assessment teams.

Votes at a glance - Senate Bill 2-90 (Sen. Bailey) — school search rules; amendment adopted; committee vote: 8 ayes, 1 present-not-voting. Outcome: advanced to calendar. Justification/provenance: amendment authorizes certain physical searches (SROs/security officers/administrators who complete specified training) and requires parental notice and Department of Education training for LEAs. Evidence excerpt: "it specifies that certain physical searches of students, lockers, vehicles, or other property on school grounds must be conducted by a school resource officer... requires a principal to notify the parent... and it requires the Department of Education to establish and then maintain an orientation and training program for LEAs." (Sen. Bailey description; transcript)

- Senate Bill 4-09 (Sen. Bailey) — court fee increases and $2 assessment to fund clerks’ continuing education; amendment adopted; committee vote: 7 ayes, 1 no, 1 present-not-voting. Outcome: sent to Finance. Evidence excerpt: "Since court fees have not been increased in over 20 years... Senate Bill 4 0 9 with the amendment seeks to implement a reasonable increase in court fees over a 3 year period... establishes a fund... funded by $2 assessment on civil and criminal cases." (Sen. Bailey description; transcript)

- Senate Bill 11-35 (Sen. Bailey) — nuisance-business enforcement; amendment adopted; committee vote: 8 ayes, 1 no. Outcome: advanced to calendar. Evidence excerpt: "streamlines and strengthens Tennessee's nuisance laws to hold irresponsible businesses accountable when their establishments become hubs for repeated criminal activity... establishes a clear legal threshold... provides a structured enforcement process... allows businesses and homeowners... to seek financial compensation." (Sen. Bailey; transcript)

- Senate Bill 12-96 (Sen. Hale) — threats of mass violence and doxxing; amendment adopted after extended public testimony; committee vote: 6 ayes, 2 no. Outcome: sent to Finance. Evidence excerpt: "the bill creates a class E felony for knowingly making threats of mass violence... enhanced to a class D felony if the threat targets a school, a house of worship... also criminalizes posting an individual's home address or phone number online with the intent to cause harm or threats by making a class B misdemeanor... if harm occurs... a class A misdemeanor." (Sen. Hale/Dept. of Safety description; transcript)

- Senate Bill 8-95 (sponsor: Sen. Rose) — clarifications to Family Rights and Responsibility Acts; amendment adopted; committee vote: 8 ayes. Outcome: advanced to calendar. Evidence excerpt: "limits excused religious absences to 20 days... allows recordings for instruction not to be published without parental consent... clarifies who may render non-emergency first aid..." (sponsor description; transcript)

- Senate Bill 7-50 (Sen. Yeager) — centralized immigration enforcement office reporting; amendment adopted; committee vote: 5 ayes, 2 no. Outcome: advanced to calendar. Evidence excerpt: "the amendment will ask the centralized immigration enforcement division... to make a report to assess associated criminal enterprises with illegal aliens... would include a threat analysis for Tennessee." (sponsor description; transcript)

- Senate Bill 3-24 (Savanna’s Law, Sen. Massey) — persistent domestic-violence offender registry; amendment adopted; committee vote: 7 ayes, 1 present-not-voting. Outcome: sent to Finance. Evidence excerpt: "if a person is convicted a second time... TBI to maintain the registry... registration fee used for violence prevention... sets up mechanism to get off the registry depending on convictions." (sponsor description; public testimony by Savannah Puckett’s mother; transcript)

- Senate Bill 14-15 (Sen. Briggs) — fentanyl exposure to child as felony (creates felony exposure offense); amendment adopted; committee vote: 7 ayes, 1 present-not-voting. Outcome: advanced to calendar. Evidence excerpt: "creates a felony criminal offense for a person who engages in conduct that places a child in imminent danger by knowingly exposing them to fentanyl... class B felony for 8 and under; class E for ages 9–17." (sponsor description; transcript)

- Senate Bill 12-40 (recovery residences / certification; Rep. Littleton sponsor) — minimum standards and certification for recovery residences; amendment adopted; committee vote: 6 ayes, 2 no. Outcome: advanced to calendar. Evidence excerpt: "outlines minimum standards that Tennessee must adopt for recovery residences... good neighbor practices, residential exit plan... disclosure to local government officials but not the public... certification valid no more than 3 years." (sponsor description; testimony from Oxford House raised concerns about self-governing models)

- Senate Bill 4-19 (Sen. Hensley) — prohibits mailing abortion-inducing pills into Tennessee and civil remedies; amendment adopted; committee vote: 6 ayes, 2 no. Outcome: advanced to calendar. Evidence excerpt: witnesses from pregnancy centers described health and safety concerns with online-sourced medication; sponsor framed measure as preventing out-of-state mailings that lead to abortions in Tennessee. (transcript)

- Senate Bill 10-55 (expunction code reorganization; Sen. Roberts) — technical reorganization and clarification of eligible convictions (adds attempt/facilitation language consistent with intent); amendment adopted; committee vote: 8 ayes, 1 no. Outcome: advanced to calendar. Evidence excerpt: "we're not changing underlying law; we're reorganizing statutes to make expunction paths easier to navigate and clarifying that attempts/solicitations are treated consistently with completed offenses." (sponsor description; transcript)

- Senate Bill 11-66 (reporting on DUI arrests where no intoxicants are detected; sponsor Sen. Ackberry) — requires TBI report identifying arrests where laboratory testing shows no alcohol/controlled substances; committee vote: 8 ayes, 1 no. Outcome: advanced to calendar. Evidence excerpt: "Senate Bill 11 66 will require the TBI... to provide a report... when folks are arrested for driving under the influence when no alcohol or other intoxicants are detected." (sponsor description; transcript)

- Senate Bill 2-56 (post-conviction pathway for pleas joined by DA; sponsor Sen. Gardenhire) — compromise amendment adopted to allow a judge to reopen cases where both the convicted person and the district attorney agree that new non-scientific evidence merits review; committee vote: 5 ayes, 4 no. Outcome: advanced to calendar. Evidence excerpt: "the law gives judges the ability to reopen the case of innocence when an agreed petition is filed by both the district attorney general and the convicted individual or their counsel." (sponsor description; transcript)

What the committee heard from witnesses - Disability Rights Tennessee (Zoe Jamail) and Beth Cruz (Vanderbilt Law School) warned that expanding harsh penalties or lowering intent requirements could sweep in young children and people with disabilities, describing prior arrests under the state’s threats statute and urging clearer intent and exclusion language for young children. Quote: "In fiscal year 2024, [thousands] of children were arrested under our current threats of mass violence law... The youngest was 7 years old... Those children will never appear in front of a judge because they are not competent to stand trial." (Beth Cruz) - Department of Safety witnesses (Elizabeth Stroker) said the amendment’s higher mens rea (knowing/intentional) addresses many of those concerns and that the department supports the clarified standards. Quote: "We did add that language in there to specifically address those types of situations." (Elizabeth Stroker) - Homeland Security and Tennessee Highway Patrol witnesses emphasized capability-and-intent investigations, multidisciplinary threat assessment teams and that oral-fluid roadside testing and evidence collection can assist officers in complex drug-impaired-driving investigations (witnesses: Greg Mays, Colonel Matt Perry). - Victims’ advocates and family members supported the domestic-violence registry bill (Savanna’s Law), saying prior convictions should be accessible to prevent future harm (witness: Kimberly Dodson, mother of Deputy Savannah Puckett). - Oxford House representatives urged caution on proposed recovery-residence certification language that would unintentionally force changes to the long-standing, self-governing Oxford House model.

What’s next Several bills that passed the committee will move to Finance or Calendar for further consideration by the full Senate. Bills that drew significant public testimony (notably the threats-of-mass-violence bill and the recovery-residence certification bill) are now on paths where floor debate and committee reports will shape final text.

Meeting context: The committee convened with a broad agenda, dozens of bills on the calendar and multiple extended witness panels. Several bills were rolled to later hearings or to 2026 where court cases or additional work was requested.

Ending: The Senate Judiciary Committee recessed for the day and scheduled further consideration of remaining bills at the next session; several gun-related bills were noted to be on the committee calendar for a subsequent meeting.