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HB1038 • 2026

Courts, Juvenile

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 8; Title 16; Title 18 and Title 37, relative to juvenile courts.

Children Education Privacy
Enacted

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

Sponsor
Garrett, Haile
Last action
2025-04-30
Official status
Comp. became Pub. Ch. 179
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on what information needs to be reported or how clerks will adopt and use the new system, leaving these aspects open-ended.

Juvenile Court Information System Act

This act changes how Tennessee's juvenile court records and case management systems are handled by removing them from general requirements and setting up specific standards for juvenile cases.

What This Bill Does

  • Removes juvenile courts from the general requirements for a statewide court information system, focusing on separate standards for juvenile cases.
  • Requires the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to maintain a specialized criminal justice information services (CJIS)-compliant system for managing juvenile cases.
  • Directs all juvenile court clerks to adopt and use this new system within a schedule set by the AOC.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Juvenile court clerks in Tennessee
  • The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) in Tennessee

Terms To Know

Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS)
A system that provides criminal history record information to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)
An agency responsible for managing court operations and providing support services to courts in Tennessee.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify a timeline or exact details on how juvenile court clerks will adopt and use the new system.
  • It is unclear what specific information must be reported through the statewide juvenile case management system, as this detail is left to future regulations.

Amendments

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

Amendment 1-0 to HB1038

Plain English: This amendment changes Tennessee law by making certain records of juveniles who committed school-related homicides and are now deceased available to the public, while protecting the privacy of other juveniles mentioned in those records.

  • Makes files and juvenile court records related to a person who has committed a homicide on school grounds and is now deceased open for public inspection if that person was involved in such an incident, regardless of whether they were officially charged or convicted.
  • Requires redaction of any information that could identify other juveniles mentioned in the records.
  • The amendment does not specify what happens to records if a juvenile is still alive but has committed a school-related homicide.

Bill History

  1. 2025-04-30 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 179

  2. 2025-04-30 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 04/11/2025

  3. 2025-04-30 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 179

  4. 2025-04-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Governor.

  5. 2025-04-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Transmitted to Governor for action.

  6. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by H. Speaker

  7. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Senate Speaker

  8. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled and ready for signatures

  9. 2025-03-31 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  10. 2025-03-31 Tennessee General Assembly

    Concurred, Ayes 22, Nays 5 (Amendment 1 - HA0123)

  11. 2025-03-28 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Message Calendar for 3/31/2025

  12. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. SB subst.

  13. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  14. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., as am., Ayes 88, Nays 4, PNV 2

  15. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. adopted am. (Amendment 1 - HA0123)

  16. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  17. 2025-03-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 3/24/2025

  18. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 3/20/2025

  19. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  20. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Judiciary Committee for 3/19/2025

  21. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Judiciary Committee to 3/19/2025

  22. 2025-03-06 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  23. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Judiciary Committee for 3/12/2025

  24. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Judiciary Committee to 3/12/2025

  25. 2025-03-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  26. 2025-03-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  27. 2025-03-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate, Ayes 29, Nays 1

  28. 2025-02-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/3/2025

  29. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Judiciary Committee for 3/5/2025

  30. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Judiciary Committee

  31. 2025-02-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee

  32. 2025-02-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  33. 2025-02-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  34. 2025-02-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Civil Justice Subcommittee for 2/26/2025

  35. 2025-02-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 2/25/2025

  36. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee

  37. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Civil Justice Subcommittee

  38. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to Judiciary Committee

  39. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  40. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  41. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  42. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  43. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

Present law requires the administrative director of t
he courts to establish criteria, develop procedures, and implement a Tennessee court information system (TnCIS). The system must provide an integrated case management and accounting software system addressing the statutory responsibilities of the clerks
o
f the general sessions, chancery, circuit and juvenile courts. This bill removes juvenile courts from this provision.

Present law provides that the administrative office of the courts (AOC) is directed to define and develop a centralized system of case
management, document management, electronic case filing, electronic payment methods, data reporting, and any other capability deemed necessary for collection and reporting of all state and local court public case level data, pursuant to present law provi
s
ions of quality statewide data collection. This bill requires the AOC to maintain a criminal justice information services (CJIS) compliant centralized statewide juvenile case management system that will be integrated into the system developed pursuant to

present law. The juvenile case management system must be made available to all juvenile court clerks, and the clerks must adopt and convert to the new system on a schedule to be determined in consultation with the AOC.

DUTIES OF CLERK

Under present law
, it is the duty of the clerk of each of the courts to install and maintain the court information system as provided by the AOC that will collect and report electronically all data required under present law, or otherwise statutorily mandated, and the AOC

must provide for the necessary data transfers with other state agencies as defined by the AOC or as statutorily required. This bill requires each juvenile court and juvenile court clerk to use the statewide juvenile case management system designated by t
h
e AOC pursuant to this bill.

REPORTING PROCEDURE

Present law requires each juvenile court, through the juvenile court clerk or juvenile court staff, to, each month, in a format prescribed by the administrative office of the courts, report to the admin
istrative office of the courts certain information described in present law. This bill revises this provision to, instead, require such courts to use the statewide juvenile case management system prescribed by the administrative office of the courts.

ON
MARCH 24, 2025, THE HOUSE SUBSTITUTED SENATE BILL 992 FOR HOUSE BILL 1038, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 992, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 requires
all files and juvenile court records in a delinquency proceeding, including medical reports, ps
ychological evaluations, and any other document, relating to a person
to
be opened to public inspection and their content subject to disclosure to the public if
(i) t
he person has committed a homicide on the grounds of a school
, whether or not the
person
h
as
been adjudicated delinquent for
,
or convicted of
,
a homicide offense; and
(ii) t
he person is deceased.
However, any
information in a file or juvenile court record that directly or indirectly identifies another juvenile
must
be redacted.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
SENATE BILL 992
By Haile

HOUSE BILL 1038
By Garrett

HB1038
001025
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 8;
Title 16; Title 18 and Title 37, relative to juvenile
courts.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 16-3-803(h), is amended by deleting
the language "circuit and juvenile courts" and substituting "and circuit courts".
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 16-3-822, is amended by adding the
following language as a new subsection (b) and redesignating the subsequent subsection
accordingly:
(b) Pursuant to the requirements of § 37-1-187, the AOC must maintain a
criminal justice information services (CJIS) compliant centralized statewide juvenile case
management system that will be integrated into the system developed pursuant to
subsection (a). The juvenile case management system must be made available to all
juvenile court clerks, and the clerks must adopt and convert to the new system on a
schedule to be determined in consultation with the AOC.
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 18-1-105, is amended by adding the
following language as a new subdivision (d)(3) and renumbering the subsequent subdivisions
accordingly:
(3) Each juvenile court and juvenile court clerk shall use the statewide juvenile
case management system designated by the AOC pursuant to § 16-3-822(b).
SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 37-1-187, is amended by deleting
subsection (d) and substituting:

- 2 - 001025

(d) Each juvenile court, through the juvenile court clerk or juvenile court staff,
shall, each month, within the statewide juvenile case management system prescribed by
the administrative office of the courts, report to the administrative office of the courts the
following information:
SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.