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HB0816 • 2026

Driver Licenses

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 55, Chapter 50, relative to driving while privilege cancelled, suspended, or revoked.

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Travis, Lowe
Last action
2025-05-27
Official status
Effective date(s) 07/01/2025
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and text do not provide specific details about the impact of treating certain citations as non-moving violations beyond mentioning it is considered such. The effective date is mentioned in the official status but not directly stated within the provided bill text excerpts.

Limit on Points for Driving Without Valid License

This law limits the number of points that can be added to a driver's record to four if they drive while their license is canceled, suspended, or revoked.

What This Bill Does

  • Limits the number of points that may be assessed on a person's driving record for operating a motor vehicle when their driving privilege is canceled, suspended, or revoked to four.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Drivers who have their licenses canceled, suspended, or revoked and continue to drive.
  • The Driver Services Division of the Department of Safety which collects fees for reinstating driver's licenses.

Terms To Know

Points
A system used by the state to track traffic violations on a driver’s record.
Non-moving violation
A type of traffic ticket that does not involve an accident or moving vehicle offense.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The exact amount of money the state will lose from reduced license reinstatement fees is hard to predict.
  • If other laws also require software updates, there might be extra costs for updating the Driver Services Division’s A-List system.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

Amendment 1-0 to HB0816

Plain English: The amendment changes how many points are added to someone's driver record for driving when their license is not valid.

  • Reduces the number of points added to a person's driver record from an unspecified amount to no more than four (4) points if they drive while their license is cancelled, suspended, or revoked.
  • The original bill does not specify how many points were previously assessed for this offense, so the exact change in point value cannot be fully determined from the amendment alone.
Amendment 1-0 to SB0778

Plain English: This amendment adds a new subsection to Tennessee law that prevents points from being added to a driver's record for driving while their license is cancelled, suspended, or revoked.

  • Adds a new subsection (k) to Section 55-50-504 of the Tennessee Code Annotated, which states that no points will be assessed on a person’s driver record if they are caught operating a motor vehicle while their driving privilege is cancelled, suspended, or revoked.
  • The amendment does not specify what happens to other penalties or consequences for driving with a cancelled, suspended, or revoked license besides the removal of point assessments.

Bill History

  1. 2025-05-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 07/01/2025

  2. 2025-05-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 504

  3. 2025-05-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 504

  4. 2025-05-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Governor.

  5. 2025-05-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Transmitted to Governor for his action.

  6. 2025-05-08 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Senate Speaker

  7. 2025-04-30 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by H. Speaker

  8. 2025-04-23 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled; ready for sig. of H. Speaker.

  9. 2025-04-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate, Ayes 27, Nays 5

  10. 2025-04-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Amendment withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - SA0056)

  11. 2025-04-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate substituted House Bill for companion Senate Bill.

  12. 2025-04-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Received from House, Passed on First Consideration

  13. 2025-04-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Companion House Bill substituted

  14. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to Sen.

  15. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., as am., Ayes 90, Nays 0, PNV 0

  16. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. adopted am. (Amendment 1 - HA0161)

  17. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  18. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/17/2025

  19. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate Reset on calendar for 4/17/2025

  20. 2025-04-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/16/2025

  21. 2025-04-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/15/2025

  22. 2025-04-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee

  23. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Finance, Ways, and Means Committee for 4/15/2025

  24. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee

  25. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/16/2025

  26. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate Reset on calendar for 4/16/2025

  27. 2025-04-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/14/2025

  28. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 4/14/2025

  29. 2025-04-08 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee

  30. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee to Driver's License Calendar

  31. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 4/8/2025

  32. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 4/2/2025

  33. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee

  34. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee

  35. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Transportation Committee for 3/25/2025

  36. 2025-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Transportation Committee

  37. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Transportation Subcommittee for 3/18/2025

  38. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  39. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0

  40. 2025-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Taken off notice for cal in s/c Transportation Subcommittee of Transportation Committee

  41. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Transportation Subcommittee for 3/4/2025

  42. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Transportation and Safety Committee calendar for 3/5/2025

  43. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Transportation and Safety Committee

  44. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Transportation Subcommittee

  45. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  46. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to Transportation Committee

  47. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  48. 2025-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  49. 2025-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

ON APRIL 16, 2025, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 816, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 rewrites this bill to limit to four the number of
points
that may
be assessed to a person's driver record for the o
ffense of operating a motor vehicle while the person's driving privilege is canceled, suspended, or revoked.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
SENATE BILL 778
By Lowe

HOUSE BILL 816
By Travis

HB0816
003045
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 55,
Chapter 50, relative to driving while privilege
cancelled, suspended, or revoked.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-50-504(a)(1), is amended by
inserting the following sentence immediately after the language "Class B misdemeanor.":
A traffic citation that is based solely upon a violation of this subdivision (a)(1) is
considered a nonmoving traffic violation.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-50-504(a)(2), is amended by
inserting the following sentence immediately after the language "Class A misdemeanor.":
A traffic citation that is based solely upon a violation of this subdivision (a)(2) is
considered a nonmoving traffic violation.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.