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The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
Several new state laws, three of which are currently tied up in federal court, will be taking effect on January 1st, 2025.
Here are a few of them.
HB1814/SB1694 was sponsored by former Rep. Dwayne Thompson (D-Cordova-District 96) in the House and Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville-District 21) in the Senate.
This legislation as enacted, “requires a landlord, or a person authorized to enter into a rental agreement on the landlord’s behalf, to disclose to the tenant in writing at or before the commencement of the tenancy certain contact information for the acceptance of service of process, receipt of notices and demands, maintenance services, and landlord-tenant communication.”
Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) signed this bill into law on May 3rd, 2024, and it goes into effect on January 1st, 2025.
HB1870/SB1798 was sponsored by Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville-District 56) in the House and Sen. Yarbro in the Senate.
The legislation as enacted, “requires an applicant for a server permit to have successfully completed a program of alcohol awareness training, for persons involved in the direct service of alcohol, wine, or beer by an entity certified by the commission to have an adequate training curriculum for alcohol awareness, within one year prior to the submission of the application; requires the curriculum to include training on the role of alcohol in sexual assault and harassment and on recognizing and reporting signs of human trafficking; authorizes certain reciprocity with similar programs in other states.”
Gov. Lee signed the bill into law on April 19th, 2024, and it will go into effect on January 1st, 2025.
HB2635/SB1919 was sponsored by Rep. Karen Camper (D-Memphis-District 87) in the House and Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis-District 29) in the Senate.
This legislation requires “a health benefit plan that amends, renews, or delivers a policy of coverage on or after July 1, 2024, and that provides coverage for prescription contraceptives, to provide coverage for a 12-month refill of contraceptives obtained at one time by an insured person, unless the insured requests a smaller supply or the prescriber instructs that the insured must receive a smaller supply.”
Gov. Lee signed this bill into law on April 19th, 2024, and it will take effect on January 1st, 2025.
The three new state laws being challenged in federal court are as follows:
HB1891/SB2097 or the “Protecting Children from Social Media Act” was sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland-District 44) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin-District 27).
Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) signed the bill into law on May 2nd of this year and it will go into effect on January 1st, 2024.
This law requires social media companies to verify a user’s age before they can make an account. If the user is a minor, the social media company has to get “express parental consent” before the minor is allowed to continue setting up their account.
Social media companies will also be required to provide specific parental controls like daily time restrictions and parental viewing of the account’s privacy settings.
Of note, the minor’s parents are allowed to revoke their consent at any time.
A trade association that represents online businesses like Meta (the parent company of Instagram and Facebook) has challenged this law.
The ongoing lawsuit alleges free speech violations and warns against the additional collection of personal user data.
In November of this year, a federal judge scheduled the initial hearing for January of 2025. This means the law will go into effect before the lawsuit reaches a conclusion.
HB1614/SB1792 or the “Protect Tennessee Minors Act” was sponsored by former Rep. Patsy Hazlewood (R-Signal Mountain-District 27) in the House and Sen. Becky Massey (R-Knoxville-District 6) in the Senate.
The bill was signed into law by Gov. Lee on May 28th, 2024.
Once this law goes into effect, adult websites with explicit material will be required to verify the age of any user who tries to access the site and retain user data for seven years.
In order to be regulated under the law, one third or more of the content on the adult website must be considered “harmful to minors,” a term described as containing “explicit nudity and sexual content.”
According to the law, companies can verify a user is over eighteen by either using a “commercially reasonable method relying on public or private transactional data” or by requiring users to upload a photo of themselves with a matching state ID.
Violation of this law will be classified as a felony.
The Free Speech Coalition filed suit against the State of Tennessee over the law earlier this month and the law will take effect before the case has been resolved.
HB2553/SB2639 was sponsored by Rep. Jay Reedy (R-Erin-District 74) in the House and former Sen. Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains-District 8) in the Senate.
According to its summary, the bill “makes changes to law regarding restrictions on land purchases by sanctioned aliens or foreign entities.”
More specifically, this means that residents of China, Iran, North Korea and other countries subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, will be prohibited from owning agricultural land in the State of Tennessee.
This law is not retroactive despite some media portrayal to the contrary.
Gov. Lee signed HB2553/SB2639 into law on May 21st, 2024.
Parts of this law went into effect back in May of this year, all remaining provisions will go into effect on January 1st, 2025.
Several investors filed suit over this law in fall of 2024.
Two of the plaintiffs, American Chief Physician at a Shangai hospital Stephen Misch and Alessandro Silvestroni, an Italian citizen who lives in Hong Kong, both invested a company called Walton Tennessee.
Walton owns interest in over 1,200 acres of Tennessee land.
This lawsuit seems to be based largely on the premise that the law is retroactive and will require current foreign landowners to sell or give up the land they already own.
However, as was established in legislative committee before HB2553/SB2639 was ever passed by the legislature, this law is not retroactive and will not require current foreign landowners to divest ownership.
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office used this point as an argument in a December court filing, along with the argument that Misch is technically a U.S. resident and Silvestroni is technically a resident of Italy.
Italy is not currently subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Therefore, even if the law was retroactive, neither individual would be forced to divest ownership.
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
