113th General Assembly to begin Jan. 10

December 20, 2022

Tristyn Stoop,

JACKSON, Tenn. – The 113th Tennessee General Assembly begins next month, and legislators have a lot on the agenda.

In West Tennessee, elected officials have proposed bills regarding transgender youth healthcare, firearms, and resolutions to the US Constitution.

West Tennessee Representatives Kirk Haston, Tandy Darby, and Chris Todd are all co-sponsors of House Bill 0001.

HB001 is aimed at prohibiting “healthcare prescribers from prescribing a course of treatment that involves hormone treatment for gender dysphoric or gender incongruent prepubertal minors.”

Todd is also the sponsor of House Bill 0009, which looks to make it “an offense for a person who engages in an adult cabaret performance on public property or in a location where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is not an adult.”

Todd is also the sponsor of House Joint Resolution 0005, which calls on Congress for a convention for proposing a congressional term limits amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“A critical tool that we the people have to control our federal legislature is Article V of the US Constitution. It is one powerful way for us to return our government to once again be of, by, and for the people,” said Todd in a news release from U.S. Term Limits on December 20.

Additional bills proposed from legislators around the state include:

State Bill 0002 – To remove termination date for various provisions of law concerning COVID-19
State Bill 0004 – To create a deaf mentor and parent advisor program that would be run by Tennessee School for the Deaf and the West Tennessee School for the Deaf
State Bill 0006 – Would require attorney general and a reporter to investigate reports of violations of the Tennessee State Employees Uniform Nepotism Policy Act of 1980; allow the attorney general to levy a civil penalty for violations
State Bill 0008 – To increase the penalty for aggravated assault involving strangulation or attempted strangulation
State Bill 0009 – Adjusts open records law when in relation to deaths; would make body camera footage from inside a home recorded due to death not caused by crime confidential
State Bill 0010 – Would require a person to obtain an enhanced or concealed handgun permit to carry a handgun in certain counties
State Bill 0012 – Would expands the eligibility criteria for an education savings account to include students zoned to attend a school in an LEA with at least five schools, instead of at least 10
State Bill 0013 – Would prohibit a court from requiring a person to pay outstanding court-assessed fines, fees, taxes, or costs arising from a criminal proceeding, excluding restitution owed to a victim, during the 180-day period following the person’s release from jail after a felony offense
State Bill 0014 – Would require the bureau to analyze a sexual assault evidence collection kit within 30 days
State Bill 0017 – Would require certain departments to create programs to reduce gun violence in communities
State Bill 0018 – Would require a person convicted of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape, or rape be sentenced from within at least Range II for the offense; expands requirements for Sex Offender Registry