NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Lawmakers will return to the Tennessee state capitol the second week of January after a tumultuous year in the legislature in 2023.
In doing so, some legislators have already filed some of their bills for introduction, getting ahead before the deadline by at least a month.
Here are five bills you may not have seen yet.
Free public college tuition for children of disabled veterans
Rep. Jay Reedy, R-Erin, proposed a bill that would allow the kids of 100% disabled veterans to attend any Tennessee public higher education institution. Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City, is sponsoring the bill in the Senate.
Veterans would have had to have gotten the disability from a service-related injury during a qualifying period of armed conflict, according to the bill's language. The child attending school would also have to be under 23, and the student would have access to a waiver of tuition, maintenance fees and student activity fees.
If passed the program could start as early as the 2024-2025 school year.
A fiscal note for this bill has yet to be calculated.
How you vote in primaries could change
This isn't the first time the legislature has tried to make voters declare a political party before the primary, but the wording of this legislation is certainly different.
Rep. Bryan Richey, R-Maryville, is proposing voters can choose a party or remain unaffiliated before voting for a party primary. No Senate sponsor has taken up the measure.
Unlike bills about partisan voting in the past, those unaffiliated can still participate in primaries.
The designation would be made in the person's voter file with their county election commission.
Richey proposed the act take effect as soon as it was signed into law.
No diaper, wipe tax until 2025
Rep. Martin Greg proposed an idea to not tax infant formula, diapers and wipes for a whole year.
The bill outlines the tax-free period would start July 2024 and sunset the last day of June 2025.
Last year, the legislature approved a grocery tax holiday during the fall.
A Senate sponsor has yet to sign on, nor has a fiscal note been calculated.
Evidence collection for kids accused of crimes
An idea from Rep. Jesse Chism and Sen. London Lamar would enshrine police to take a video or audio recording for any interviews or interrogations including a child.
The Memphis Democrats would add this to an existing state law relative to interrogating juveniles.
A fiscal note concerning the bill indicates the cost wouldn't be significant.
If passed, the law would go into effect July 1.
Undoing the trigger ban on abortion
Freshman lawmaker Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville, filed her first bill in the legislature that would undo the effects of the trigger ban for Tennessee abortion.
Abortion was dialed up to become a hot-button issue in 2023, but The Covenant School shooting and tensions in the legislature placed the topic on a back burner.
Gov. Bill Lee signed off on an incredibly narrow exception in April, which removed affirmative defense for doctors. Early in the abortion conversation, Lee said the law as written was fine as it was, meaning he wasn't catering to any idea of exceptions. He's been quiet on the matter since.
Tennessee's total abortion ban came last summer after the Dobbs decision caused Roe v. Wade to fall in the Supreme Court of the United States. The Republican legislature prepared for the moment. Trigger laws in Tennessee went into effect in less than 30 days following the Human Life Protection Act voted on by the legislature in 2019.
Sen. London Lamar is co-sponsoring the effort.
