This information is provided by 70th District State Rep. Clay Doggett, R-Pulaski, who represents Giles, parts of Lawrence and Lincoln counties.
House Bill 30
House Bill 30 passed the House, 74-23. It was heard in the Senate State and Local Government Committee on March 14.
House Bill 30 requires a person, in jurisdictions with an adult-oriented establishment board (Board), to obtain a valid entertainer permit from the Board prior to performing adult cabaret entertainment for compensation, and it prohibits public, private, and commercial establishments from allowing a person younger than 18 to attend a performance featuring adult cabaret entertainment, with definitions of what constitutes adult cabaret entertainment.
House Bill 47
House Bill 47 seeks to establish the phrase “Send Me.” as an additional motto of the State of Tennessee. It passed the House, and it awaits the Senate Calendar Committee to place it on the Senate floor Calendar.
House Bill 708
House Bill 708 entitles each local unit of government that requires all full-time certified local correctional officers to complete an in-service training course each calendar year to receive from the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI) a pay supplement of $800 for each officer if the training course is: (a) provided or approved by TCI; (b) appropriate to the officer’s rank and responsibility and the size and location of the officer’s department, and; (c) at least 40 hours long.
It was heard in the Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee and placed behind the budget.
House Bill 31
House Bill 31 prohibits probation for any person convicted of rape. It passed in the Criminal Justice Committee and placed behind the budget after being heard in the Finance, Ways, & Means Subcommittee.
House Bill 702
House Bill 702 was also placed behind the budget during the Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee.
The bill addresses the prevalence of fentanyl by enhancing punishment for the sale, manufacture, delivery of, and possession with intent to sell, manufacture, or deliver fentanyl, carfentanil, remifentanil, alfentanil, and thiafentanil, from a Class C felony to a Class B felony. This applies to any amount of 0.5 grams or more but less than 15 grams, and for any amount less than 0.5 grams if a weapon was involved or if the offense resulted in death or bodily injury of another person.
HB 704 authorizes the medicaid fraud control unit of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to investigate misappropriation of funds or property in healthcare facilities receiving payments under the state Medicaid plan and board and care facilities as allowed by federal law, as well as complaints of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of Medicaid recipients in any setting. It also authorizes the Director of the TBI to create additional divisions within the bureau as necessary for its proper functioning.
It was on the House Consent Calendar on Monday, March 13.
House Bill 706
House Bill 706 reduces, from nine to two months, the time a law enforcement officer must be retired before they can accept reemployment without a loss or suspension of retirement benefits.
It extends authorization for a retired law enforcement officer to be reemployed without a loss or suspension of retirement benefits from July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2026.
House B ill 706 passed in the Public Service Subcommittee, and was heard again March 15 in the State Government Committee.
House Bill 705
House B ill 705 requires a court ordering the expunction of a person’s public records of a criminal offense to include the appropriate state control number in the copy of the expunction order it sends to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). HB 705 has passed in both chambers, and it is currently awaiting Governor Lee’s action.
House Bill 701
House Bill 701 “cleans up” Child Sexual Abuse laws, by expanding the offense of solicitation of a minor to include statutory rape by an authority figure and requiring a person convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child be sentenced to community supervision for life. House Bill 701 remains behind the budget.
Rep. Doggett has passed three bills through the House, with four additional bills being behind the budget that might move again, depending on whether they are funded. Keep following along as we watch Doggett’s remaining bills move through the House!