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HB0855 • 2026

Election Laws

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to elections.

Elections
Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Reeves, Johnson
Last action
2025-04-29
Official status
Comp. became Pub. Ch. 259
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on the consequences for counties that do not nominate candidates by primary elections or how it affects counties that did not use primary elections in 2022 or 2024.

Election Rules for Political Parties

This bill changes how statewide political parties in Tennessee choose their candidates for certain offices through primary elections.

What This Bill Does

  • Changes the way statewide political parties nominate candidates for governor, members of the general assembly, United States senators, and representatives. They must now do this through primary elections at regular August or November elections.
  • Allows counties to continue using methods other than primary elections if they were used in 2022 or 2024, but only for offices that are not governor, members of the general assembly, United States senators, and representatives.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Statewide political parties in Tennessee
  • Counties in Tennessee

Terms To Know

primary election
An election where voters choose the candidates who will represent their party in a general election.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify what happens if a county fails to nominate candidates by primary elections.
  • It is unclear how this change will affect the nomination process in counties that did not use primary elections in 2022 or 2024.

Amendments

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

Amendment 1-0 to HB0855

Plain English: This amendment changes how statewide political parties in Tennessee can nominate candidates for certain offices.

  • In counties where a statewide party used a method other than primary elections to nominate candidates in 2022 or 2024, the party must now use primary elections at the regular August election for governor, members of the general assembly, U.S. senator, and members of the U.S. house of representatives.
  • If a statewide political party does not use an alternative method to nominate candidates in any year after this amendment becomes law, they must follow the rules set out in subsection (a) for future nominations.
  • The exact methods that parties used before are not specified, so it's unclear what specific changes each party might need to make.
  • It is not clear from this amendment text alone how this will affect the rules of individual political parties or their internal processes for candidate nominations.
Amendment 1-0 to SB0799

Plain English: This amendment changes how statewide political parties in Tennessee can nominate candidates for certain offices.

  • In counties where a statewide party used methods other than primary elections to nominate candidates in 2022 or 2024, the amendment requires those parties to use primary elections at the regular August election for governor, members of the general assembly, U.S. senator, and members of the U.S. house of representatives.
  • If a party does not use alternative nomination methods after this act's effective date, they must follow the rules set in subsection (a) which generally requires primary elections.
  • The amendment text is technical and may be hard to understand without additional context about current election laws.
  • It’s unclear how many counties are affected by this change or what specific methods were used before the amendment.

Bill History

  1. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 259

  2. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 04/24/2025

  3. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 259

  4. 2025-04-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Governor.

  5. 2025-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Transmitted to Governor for action.

  6. 2025-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by H. Speaker

  7. 2025-04-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Senate Speaker

  8. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled and ready for signatures

  9. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  10. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. SB subst.

  11. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., Ayes 60, Nays 25, PNV 2

  12. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0348)

  13. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  14. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/14/2025

  15. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.

  16. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/10/2025

  17. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  18. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  19. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 26, Nays 3

  20. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0329)

  21. 2025-04-08 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee

  22. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/9/2025

  23. 2025-04-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  24. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. State & Local Government Committee for 4/9/2025

  25. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in State & Local Government Committee to 4/9/2025

  26. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 1 PNV 0

  27. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  28. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 4/2/2025

  29. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 4/2/2025

  30. 2025-03-31 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  31. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. State & Local Government Committee for 4/2/2025

  32. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  33. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 4/1/2025

  34. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to State & Local Government Committee

  35. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  36. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee for 3/25/2025

  37. 2025-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor change.

  38. 2025-03-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor change.

  39. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee

  40. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee

  41. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  42. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to State & Local Government Committee

  43. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  44. 2025-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  45. 2025-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

ON APRIL 9, 2025, THE SENAET ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 799, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, make the following revisions to present law:



Revises the present law provision requiring s
tatewide political parties
to
nominate their candidates for
governor, members of the general assembly, United States senator, and members of the United States house of representatives
by vote of the members of the party in primary elections at the regular August election
to, instead, generally require such parties to nominate their candidates
in primary elections for all offices for which partisan elections are held at the regular August or regular November election.



Authorizes, in
a county in which a statewide political party nominated a candidate by a method other than a primary election for elections held in 2022 or 2024, the statewide political party in such county
to
continue to use such method, except for
governor, members of the general assembly, United States senator, and members of the United States house of representatives
, which must be nominated by vote of the members of the party in primary elections at the regular August election
.



Requires, if
in any year after the effective date of
the bill
a statewide political party in a county subject to
the second bullet point
does not nominate candidates by a method other than a primary election, the statewide political party
to
nominate its candidates pursuant to
the first bullet point.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
SENATE BILL 799
By Hatcher

HOUSE BILL 855
By Reeves

HB0855
002905
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2,
relative to elections.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 2-3-107(c), is amended by adding
the following to the end of the subsection:
When negotiating for the use of private buildings as polling places, the county
election commission shall inquire as to whether the private building may be used
free of charge.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.