Subcommittee advances bill creating per se nuisance standard for repeat crime locations

Representative Parkinson presented the amendment to House Bill 10 50, describing constituent complaints about properties that had become hubs of criminal activity and telling the committee he worked with the District Attorneys General Conference to streamline a civil-abatement process. Parkinson said the bill would speed closure or remediation of properties that generate repeated serious calls for service and that adjacent businesses and residents were suffering lost revenue and reduced property values.

Mike Donovan, deputy executive director for legal services and policy at the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference, described the amendment’s mechanics. The measure defines five categories of qualifying criminal arrests—drug offenses, prostitution-related offenses, assaultive offenses, firearm-related offenses, and property-related offenses—and creates a presumption of a public nuisance after a property accumulates three unrelated qualifying arrests within a specified period and fails to abate before a fourth arrest. Upon the fourth qualifying arrest, prosecutors could seek injunctive relief, including a temporary restraining order and padlocking to abate the nuisance.

Donovan said the measure was modeled in part on Georgia law and would avoid prolonged litigation by creating a prima facie presumption after notice and a fourth qualifying arrest. Sponsor Parkinson said the bill would protect neighboring businesses and families, citing multiple calls for service and a shooting near a targeted property.

Committee members asked procedural and scope questions; the bill’s proponents said it preserves due process and gives property owners a chance to abate after notice. The subcommittee voted to send House Bill 10 50, as amended, to full judiciary; the clerk recorded 7 ayes and 0 noes.