Cities & Counties subcommittee advances multiple local-government bills; key votes recorded

A Tennessee House Cities & Counties subcommittee meeting on March 19, 2025, advanced a series of state and local government bills, recording final committee votes on multiple measures and taking several items off the calendar.

The committee moved most bills to the “next available calendar” in state and local government. Votes recorded on the transcript include unanimous and split tallies depending on the measure.

Why it matters: The bills cover technical changes to local practice (surveyor legal descriptions, performance-bond procedures), housing incentives and tax relief for veterans and seniors. Advancing a bill to the next calendar puts it in line for further committee consideration or a floor vote and signals the legislature’s near-term attention to those policy areas.

Votes at a glance: - House Bill 480 (surveyors — legal descriptions): Passed in committee, recorded 7 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 863 (amendment changing affordable-housing requirement from “in perpetuity” to 30 years, as amended): Passed, recorded 7 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 335 (allowing Blountville utility-district board pay increase, as amended): Passed, recorded 7 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 795 (standardizing performance-bond release and development-application timelines): Passed in committee, recorded 4 ayes, 3 noes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 1128 (constable/post-certification training provision, as amended): Passed, recorded 7 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 636 (residential-buildings/provisions as amended): Passed, recorded 7 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 79 (revitalization program changes, as amended): Passed, recorded 7 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 783 (sober-living regulation, as amended): Passed in committee, recorded 5 ayes, 2 noes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 405 (hotel-occupancy tax collection where occupant dies during a long stay, as amended): Passed, recorded 6 ayes, 1 no. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 48 (disabled-veteran property-tax relief cap removal): Passed, recorded 7 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 436 (disabled-veteran reimbursement change): Passed, recorded 7 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 842 (wetlands/TWRA fund use, as amended): Passed, recorded 7 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 733 (zoning appeals procedure change): Passed, recorded 5 ayes, 2 noes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 83 (study on ambulance service funding): Passed, recorded 7 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar. - House Bill 935 (permissive competitive bidding for insurance brokerage in self-insured counties, as amended): Passed, recorded 6 ayes. Moves to the next available calendar.

Taken off notice or rolled: Several bills were taken off notice or rolled by sponsors during the hearing; examples include House Bill 808, House Bill 544, House Bill 889, House Bill 1083, House Bill 11761 and others as recorded in the transcript. Several sponsors requested more work or to recalendar the bills.

Sent to summer study: House Bill 319 (property-classification cleanup intended to reaffirm decades-old practice on single-family residential assessment) was sent to summer study after extended debate and public testimony; the committee recorded a motion and voted to send that bill to summer study.

What the committee did not decide: A number of bills were discussed briefly and the committee either advanced them with amendments or agreed to return them to sponsors for further work; no floor actions were taken at this hearing.

Votes and formal actions listed above come from the Cities & Counties subcommittee transcript for March 19, 2025, as recorded by the committee clerk. Specific vote tallies and the committee’s recorded outcomes are reproduced above as stated on the record.