Over 200 New Laws Go into Effect Today in Tennessee

A new set of laws is set to take effect on July 1 in Tennessee. Amongst the some 200 laws taking effect are bills signed by Gov. Bill Lee that will impact healthcare in the state.

Before July 1, some bills went into immediate effect upon Lee’s signature; for example, the bill allowing armed teachers in the state is already effective.

Below is a look at some of the laws going into effect that will impact healthcare in some way:

• Those with power of attorney for healthcare decisions cannot be prevented from visiting a patient by prohibiting hospitals from restricting or terminating a power of attorney’s visiting rights. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some hospitals suspended or revoked a patient’s power of attorney’s right to visit and make healthcare decisions, resulting in many patients passing away without being able to say goodbye to their loved ones. Visitors would still be required to follow safety protocols, but they cannot be forced to adhere to any protocols such as having a vaccination or medical procedure done before entering the hospital.
• A new law gradually phases out the Certificate of Need (CON) permit requirements to provide nearly a dozen healthcare services in the state during the next five years. The Tennessee Health Facilities Commission currently regulates the healthcare industry statewide through the CON program. That process requires a permit to be issued to establish or modify a healthcare institution, facility or service at a designated location.
  • The timeline for the removal of CON permit requirements is as follows:
    • July 1, 2025: Freestanding emergency departments not located within 10 miles of a competing acute care hospital or other freestanding emergency department would no longer need a CON. Additionally, any county without an actively licensed acute care hospital would also not require a CON for any services except rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies, hospice, methadone clinics and nursing homes.
    • Dec. 1, 2025: Intellectual disability institutional habilitation facilities, burn units, neonatal intensive care units, magnetic resonance imaging services and positron emission tomography
    • Dec. 1, 2027: Ambulatory surgical treatment centers, linear accelerator procedures and long-term care hospitals
    • Dec. 1, 2029: Open heart surgery
• People with disabilities can continue gainfully working without losing their health insurance coverage through TennCare by participating in a buy-in program. The law allows enrollees to pay a monthly premium of 5% of their income to receive the care and benefits needed. Previous income restrictions limited the types of work individuals with disabilities could do without losing health coverage.
• Mental coverage expanded by requiring TennCare to cover mental health services at the same coverage rate for alcoholism and drug-dependent patients.
• Requirements eliminated of recurring in-person doctor visits for telehealth patients. The law gives providers the discretion as to whether patients are required to meet first in person or thereafter.
• New diseases are reported from the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP) within three years for newborn screenings. The RUSP is a list of conditions that should be tested for during newborn screening, and this law ensures a quicker timeline for reporting these rare genetic disorders and diseases.
• TennCare is allowed to cover medical expenses for genetic testing to identify treatments for children with rare diseases. The law offers hope to families by easing the financial burdens of identifying and treating a rare disease by allowing access to testing, potentially saving a child’s life.

When the calendar turns over to July 1, not only will the summer be well underway, but Tennessee will have some new laws going into effect.

Governor Bill Lee signed a slew of bills into law during the latest Legislative session in Nashville. Before July 1, some bills went into immediate effect upon Lee’s signature; for example, the bill allowing armed teachers in the state is already effective.

About 200 laws are taking effect today (July 1):

• Prohibits the purchase or possession of a gun by someone under 25 if they’ve committed certain crimes.
  • HB1600: As enacted, prohibits the purchase or possession of a firearm by a person under 25 if the person was previously adjudicated delinquent for an act that, if committed by an adult, would have constituted certain offenses; allows the TBI access to juvenile court records for the limited purpose of performing a background check prior to the transfer of a firearm or to determine eligibility for a handgun carry permit pursuant to existing law.
• Jillian’s Law.
  • HB1640: As enacted, enacts “Jillian’s Law,” which makes various changes relative to being adjudicated as a mental defective or judicially committed to a mental institution, including requiring a person judicially committed to remain committed until the competency of the person to stand trial is restored or, if competency is unable to be restored but the person no longer meets the standard, until the court with criminal jurisdiction over the charges approves a mandatory outpatient treatment plan that accounts for the safety of the community.
• HB1675: As enacted, expands the eligibility for reimbursement as a relative caregiver by removing the income limitations and including a relative caregiver who meets the eligibility requirements and has been awarded custody by an order of any court.
• Bolsters the juvenile court’s ability to take children into custody or remove them from parent/guardian who can’t be excluded as perpetrator of abuse. Adds more possible charges.
  • HB1676: As enacted, specifies that a juvenile court proceeding may be commenced by the taking of a child into custody or the removal of custody from a parent or legal guardian; requires the juvenile court in a dependency and neglect proceeding to determine whether a parent, guardian, relative, or caregiver of the child cannot be excluded as a perpetrator of severe child abuse against the child; prohibits a juvenile court from returning a child victim of severe child abuse to the custody of a person who cannot be excluded as the perpetrator unless certain circumstances are met; makes various other changes.
• HB1817: As enacted, increases the penalty from a Class D felony to a Class B felony for a person who negligently, by act or omission, engages in conduct that places a child eight years of age or less in imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment.
• HB1906: As enacted, makes changes to the law relative to statutes of limitations for bringing actions for injury or illness based on certain child sexual abuse offenses, including trafficking offenses.
• Laken Riley Act of 2024.
  • HB1909: As enacted, enacts the “Laken Riley Act of 2024,” which generally prohibits a public institution of higher education from prohibiting adults lawfully present on the institution’s property from carrying a nonlethal weapon for purposes of self-defense; allows certain exceptions.
• Law enforcement agencies must report to appropriate federal officials regarding the immigration status if someone is found not lawfully present in the U.S.
  • HB2124: As enacted, requires, rather than authorizes, law enforcement agencies to communicate with the appropriate federal official regarding the immigration status of any individual, including reporting knowledge that a particular alien is not lawfully present in the United States or otherwise cooperate with the appropriate federal official in the identification, apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the United States.
  • SB0757: As enacted, generally requires, when a person is arrested, booked, or confined in the jail of a county or municipality, the arresting law enforcement agency and the keeper of a jail to collaborate to verify the citizenship status of the person and the sheriff to report the status of those who are not lawfully present, or whose status cannot be determined, to the district attorneys general conference.
• Teens 15 or older can be tried as an adult for committing certain crimes.
  • HB2126: As enacted, allows a juvenile court to transfer a child, who is 15 or older, to be tried as an adult in criminal court for the offense of organized retail crime, theft of a firearm, or an attempt to commit such offense; revises law with regard to confinement of a child in a local juvenile detention facility, a juvenile detention facility. or an adult detention facility.
• HB2198: As enacted, increases the penalty for the offense of threatening to commit an act of mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony.
• HB2323: As enacted, enacts the “Chris Wright Act,” which increases the penalty for a third or subsequent domestic assault conviction from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony; upgrades the offense classification for certain qualifying misdemeanor offenses to a Class E felony upon a defendant’s conviction for a sixth or subsequent qualifying misdemeanor.
• HB2590: As enacted, makes bullying and cyberbullying offenses subject to the same penalties as harassment; requires an officer to make a report of bullying and notify a parent or guardian when victim is a minor.
• SB0378: As enacted, regulates the production and sale of hemp-derived cannabinoids, including products known as delta-8 and delta-10.
• SB1738: As enacted, enacts the “Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act,” which generally prohibits the department of children’s services from requiring a current or prospective adoptive or foster parent to affirm, accept, or support any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the parent’s sincerely held religious or moral beliefs; makes related changes.
• Death penalty is authorized for those convicted of charges including rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child, or especially aggravated rape of a child.
  • SB1834: Amends TCA Title 39; Title 40 and Chapter 1062 of the Public Acts of 2022. As introduced, authorizes the death penalty as a punishment for rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child, or especially aggravated rape of a child.
• The Debbie and Marie Domestic Violence Protection Act: Domestic violence offenders to wear GPS monitors in Tennessee
  • SB1972: As enacted, enacts “The Debbie and Marie Domestic Violence Protection Act,” which makes revisions to law related to global positioning monitoring system devices, including requiring the court to order an offender to wear such a device under certain circumstances unless the court finds the offender no longer poses a threat to the alleged victim or public safety, requiring a cellular device application or electronic receptor device provided to the victim to be capable of notifying the victim if the offender is within a prescribed proximity of the victim’s cellular device or electronic receptor device, and making other revisions.
• SB2570: As enacted, authorizes a person who suffers loss or injury as a result of a defendant intentionally obstructing a highway, street, or other place used for the passage of vehicles or conveyances to bring a cause of action against such person to recover compensatory damages from the loss or injury.
• SB2691: As enacted, prohibits the intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight.
• SB2782: As introduced, creates a civil cause of action against any person who intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports an unemancipated minor within this state for the purpose of receiving a prohibited medical procedure, regardless of where the medical procedure is to be procured.
• SB2929: As enacted, requires the department of children’s services, county medical examiners, chief medical examiners, and facilities that perform autopsies to establish policies and procedures for the prioritization of the completion of final autopsy reports for fatalities of certain children.

Story courtesy of WVLT