2025-26 LEGISLATIVE SESSION

After the Gavel: Tennessee

Republicans hold 27 of 33 Senate seats and 75 of 99 House seats this session, a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

After the Gavel analyzed bills from Tennessee's 114th General Assembly, 2025-2026 Regular Session, organized into 9 posts. Some are grouped by theme, because a single bill rarely tells the whole story and related bills, read together, usually do.

This is our read of the bill. We encourage every reader to read the legislation for themselves and reach their own conclusions.

Every post links to the enacted text and cites the Public Chapter it became under the 114th General Assembly. Every claim here traces to the bill text, the Public Chapter, or a named outside source.

PC471 · PC1117 · PC662
Tennessee's Attorney General Can Demand the File Before Filing the Lawsuit.

Three laws move civil-rights enforcement into the Attorney General's office, create broad pre-suit demand power, and expand the investigative material that office may use.

3 Bills, One Pattern PC297
Tennessee Put a Driver License on the Phone and Kept the Plastic Card in Charge.

Tennessee already had digital-driver-license infrastructure. Public Chapter 297 places limits around that existing system by making the credential voluntary, restricting data retention and tracking, and keeping it out of the voting booth.

1 Bill PC249 · PC259 · PC434 · PC690 · PC415
Tennessee's Election Changes Will Be Felt in Court Filings, Party Rules, and Records Rooms.

Five laws change how constitutional challenges are heard, candidates are nominated, political spending is reported, voter records are kept, and ethics cases are investigated.

5 Bills, One Pattern PC473 · PC775 · PC394 · PC371
Tennessee Checked the Voter Before Registration and Cut the Voting Machine Off From the Internet.

Four laws create eligibility-verification portals, add federal SAVE access, train poll workers on noncitizen IDs, and prohibit internet-connected voting machines.

4 Bills, One Pattern PC953 · PC1001 · PC1015 · PC686
Tennessee Put Every County Sheriff on the Federal Immigration Line.

Four laws carry federal immigration cooperation through courtrooms, sheriff's offices, jail release desks, and confidential operations.

4 Bills, One Pattern PC1 · PC323
Tennessee Gave Immigration Enforcement Its Own Office, Budget, and Chain of Command.

Public Chapter 1 creates a permanent state enforcement division. Public Chapter 323 requires that division to tell lawmakers what it is finding.

2 Bills, One Pattern PC771 · PC288 · PC772
Tennessee Put Immigration Status Into the Traffic Stop, the Hiring Office, and the Criminal File.

Three laws connect federal status to removal-order enforcement, recognition of certain out-of-state licenses, and every new public hire.

3 Bills, One Pattern PC1070 · PC955 · PC1106 · PC733
Tennessee Added an Immigration Check at Four Government Counters.

Four laws govern who may drive a commercial truck, receive a professional license or local benefit, and acquire land when foreign control is involved.

4 Bills, One Pattern Data-Center Act · PC606 · PC228
Tennessee Sent Three Bills to Three People Who Had Been Carrying Someone Else's Cost.

The session protected utility customers from data-center infrastructure costs, tenants from firearm bans, and regulated citizens from unsupported numeric rules.

3 Bills, One Pattern

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