Members of the Tennessee General Assembly have filed more than two dozen bills in advance of Monday’s special session on public safety. More legislation is expected to be filed before the session begins at 4 PM, but bills filed so far deal with mental health facilities, gun locks, and extra penalties for threatening a mass shooting.
Governor Lee issued a proclamation for the August 21 special session earlier this month to address public safety concerns following the Covenant school shooting in Nashville that killed three children and three adults.
Tennessee House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland filed four of the earliest bills for the special session. That includes House Bill 7004 to improve communication with agencies responsible for transporting individuals to mental health treatment facilities if a judge determines the person is a risk to themselves or others.
“We have a moral obligation to support our most vulnerable citizens suffering from mental illness, especially those who pose a serious risk to themselves or others,” said Lamberth. “This legislation creates a practical solution that will help law enforcement respond best to individuals in crisis when they’re back home in their communities.”
Representative Lamberth is also sponsoring the Child Victim’s Privacy Act to keep sensitive information in autopsy reports of minors who are the victims of violent crime from being publicly available.
House Bill 7007 would allow the reports to be released in certain circumstances, including when a parent is not the suspect in the child’s death and gives consent.
“This is an important step we can take to preserve the dignity of a murdered child and protect the privacy of parents and siblings who are suffering an unimaginable loss,” said Lamberth. “Sensitive information obtained in a medical examiner’s report or autopsy should never be used to further victims and traumatize these families.”
Republican lawmakers have also filed bills to create a loan repayment grant program to incentivize students to consider mental healthcare careers along with a bill to use available state funds to contract with additional private service providers to provide inpatient psychiatric services for uninsured residents.
Republican leaders have continued to oppose filing legislation to create a temporary mental health order of protection, sometimes referred to as a Red Flag Law.
Governor Bill Lee initially expressed his support for legislation allowing the orders in April, and he included it 18 topics for lawmakers are authorized to discuss in the special session.
Other legislation filed for the special session includes a bills requiring training on gun locks in enhanced gun carry permit classes and a tax break for purchasing gun safes and safety devices.
Lawmakers from both parties have filed multiple bills to increase the penalty for those who threaten to commit mass violence. This includes two bills by interim Representative Anthony Davis, D-Nashville, to make it a Class E felony to threaten mass violence against healthcare providers who perform abortions or gender-affirming care.
Metro Council appointed Davis to the vacant House District 51 seat but he lost in the recent Democratic primary and will only be serving for the special session.
“I am ready and willing to do the hard work of standing up to the NRA and other pro-gun special interests to protect our kids from future school shootings,” said Davis about the special session.
Representative Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, has filed the only bills so far dealing directly with gun purchases and acquisition. His legislation would make it a Class D felony to coerce a minor into stealing a firearm and make the person who illegally transfers a firearm to a minor criminally responsible for any resulting act of mass violence.
Below is a list of bills filed so far.
House Bill 7001 specifies that enhanced handgun carry permit classes or concealed handgun carry permit classes must include training on the use of gun locks.
House Bill 7002 requires schools to develop safety response procedures that distinguish whether an emergency is a fire, inclement weather, or an active shooter situation.
House Bill 7003 expands the eligibility for filing a petition to obtain a lifetime order of protection to include victims of aggravated stalking and especially aggravated stalking.
House Bill 7004 requires courts to notify local law enforcement agencies when an individual is released from court-ordered emergency evaluation, treatment, or care.
House Bill 7005 clarifies that private schools are authorized to adopt a handgun carry policy.
House Bill 7006 authorizes the Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services to direct available state funds to contract with additional private service providers to provide inpatient psychiatric services for uninsured individuals in this state.
House Bill 7007 specifies that reports of county medical examiners and autopsy reports of victims of violent crime who are minors are not public documents.
House Bill 7008 requires a qualified mental health professional or behavior analyst to take certain steps to warn or protect an identified victim or group of people when the professional determines that a service recipient has made an actual threat of bodily harm or has an intention to commit such harm.
House Bill 7009 establishes a mental healthcare professionals student loan repayment grant program to incentivize certain mental healthcare providers to provide services in this state.
House Bill 7010 creates the Class D felony of knowingly inducing or coercing a minor under 18 to commit theft of a firearm or a robbery or burglary offense involving theft of a firearm.
House Bill 7011 makes a person who illegally transfers a firearm to a minor criminally responsible for any resulting act of mass violence or a threat of mass violence in which the minor threatens to use the firearm.
House Bill 7012 directs the department of safety to provide free firearm locks to Tennessee residents upon request, requires department-approved handgun safety courses to contain instruction on the safe storage of firearms, and exempts the retail sale of firearm safes and firearm safety devices from sales taxes beginning November 1, 2023.
House Bill 7013 changes from 30 days to 72 hours the time frame within which a clerk of the circuit or general sessions court must notify the TBI of the final disposition of criminal proceedings against a person.
House Bill 7014 requires the commissioner of Finance and Administration to obtain a TennCare new demonstration waiver or amendment to provide medical assistance to members who are receiving care in an institution for mental diseases.
House Bill 7015 expands, from certain violent offenses to any felony offense, the offenses for which a person who has been arrested is required to have a biological specimen taken for DNA analysis to determine identification characteristics specific to the person if probable cause exists for the arrest.
House Bill 7016 creates the criminal offense of recklessly, by any means of communication, threatening to commit an act of mass violence.
House Bill 7017 increases the penalty by one classification for the offenses of stalking, aggravated stalking, or especially aggravated stalking if the offense was committed because of the victim’s status as a healthcare provider who performs abortions and classifies the offense as a hate crime.
House Bill 7018 increases the penalty by one classification for the offenses of stalking, aggravated stalking, or especially aggravated stalking if the offense was committed because of the victim’s status as a healthcare provider who provides gender-affirming care and classifies the offense as a hate crime.
House Bill 7019 creates the Class B felony of knowingly committing an act of mass violence against another; states that the offense is a hate crime, which shall be punished one classification higher than otherwise provided if the defendant committed the act of mass violence against the other person due to the person’s status as a healthcare provider who provides gender-affirming care.
House Bill 7020 creates the Class B felony of knowingly committing an act of mass violence against another; states that the offense is a hate crime, which shall be punished one classification higher than otherwise provided if the defendant committed the act of mass violence against the other person due to the person’s status as a healthcare provider who performs abortions.
House Bill 7021 creates the Class E felony of knowingly threatening to commit an act of mass violence against another and frightening the other person; classifies the offense as a hate crime, to be punished one classification higher than otherwise provided, if the offense was committed due to the other person’s status as a healthcare provider who provides gender-affirming care.
House Bill 7022 creates the Class E felony of threatening to commit an act of mass violence against another; classifies a violation of threats of mass violence as a hate crime, which must be punished one classification higher than otherwise provided, if the defendant threatened to commit the act of mass violence against the other person due to the person’s status as a healthcare provider who performs abortions.
House Bill 7023 authorizes a law enforcement agency to assign a law enforcement officer to serve as a school resource officer at a school within a local board of education’s control that has not entered into a memorandum of understanding with a law enforcement agency to assign a school resource officer to the school.
House Bill 7024 requires each public and private school facility to be equipped with an alarm system to be used in cases of an active shooter.
House Bill 7025 adds categories of victims and geographic targets that are the subject of threats communicated by a service recipient as targets that require certain actions by a qualified mental health professional or behavior analyst and requires reports of certain information about communicated threats to be reported to local law enforcement.
House Bill 7026 requires a court that makes mental health adjudications regarding children to enter a standing and continuing order instructing the juvenile court clerk to collect and report certain information regarding children who have been adjudicated as a mental defective or judicially committed to a mental institution within three business days for the purposes of complying with federal law.
