Bail, Bail Bonds

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide details about all proposed changes, such as the expansion of offenses requiring notification devices or increased penalties for certain thefts.

Bail and Monitoring for Certain Offenses

This bill requires defendants charged with certain offenses to wear a global positioning monitoring system (GPMS) as a condition of bail unless they no longer pose a threat to the victim or public safety.

What This Bill Does

• Requires defendants accused of specific crimes, such as carrying weapons during an offense, causing serious injury, domestic assault, and theft from vehicles, to wear a GPMS device if released on bail.
• Adds monthly reporting requirements for courts that order GPMS devices as bail conditions, with annual reports compiled by the administrative office of the courts.

Who It Names or Affects

• Defendants charged with specific crimes who may be required to wear GPMS devices if released on bail.
• Victims of domestic abuse or those threatened by defendants accused of certain offenses.
• Courts, magistrates, and law enforcement agencies that will enforce these new requirements.

Terms To Know

Global Positioning Monitoring System (GPMS)

A device used to track the location of a person as a condition of bail or release from custody.

Probable Cause

Reasonable grounds for believing that a crime may have been committed by a specific person, justifying a search or arrest.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if a defendant cannot afford the cost of the GPMS device.
• It is unclear how this will affect defendants who are already on bail but were not previously required to wear a GPMS device.
• There may be additional costs for law enforcement and courts to implement these new requirements.

Official Summary Text

Present
law specifies various criminal offenses for which a court or magistrate may, or is required to, order a criminal defendant to wear a global positioning monitoring system (GPMS) as a condition of bail. This bill adds a requirement that a
court or magistrat
e order
a
defendant
who is charged with any of the following offenses
to wear a
GPMS
device as a condition of bail, unless the court or magistrate finds the offender no longer poses a threat to the alleged victim or public safety
:

(
1) An offense, during
the course of which
t
he defendant is alleged to have carried, possessed, or used a firearm or dangerous weapon;

(2)
An offense, during the course of which
a
person was killed or suffered serious bodily injury;

(3)
An offense, during the course of whic
h
t
he defendant is alleged to have used force against the person of another;

(
4
) Domestic assault;

(
5
) Burglary of a freight or passenger car, automobile, truck, trailer, boat, airplane, or other motor vehicle;

(
6
) Reckless driving
;

(
7
) Drag racing
; or

(
8
) A second or subsequent
act of burglary or theft
.

Th
is bill requires the
clerk of each court that orders the use of
a GPMS as a bail condition following an arrest for an offense listed in (1)
–
(8) to
report the number of defendants currently s
ubject to such an order and the offenses for which the defendant is awaiting trial on a monthly basis to the administrative office of the courts. Th
is bill requires the
administrative office of the courts
to
compile an annual report
from the reports it re
ceives from clerks of court and submit the report to certain
committee
s
of the
general assembly
.

Under present law,
if
a
court or magistrate finds probable cause to believe that one or more of the circumstances
listed below in (1)
–
(3)
did occur, then u
nless the court or magistrate finds the offender no longer poses a threat to the alleged victim or public safety and makes such a finding in a written order, the court or magistrate
is required to
order
that
a defendant who is charged with the offense of aggravated assault, in which the alleged victim of the offense is a domestic abuse victim, to
wear and pay the costs associate with monitoring a GPMS and, if consented to by the victim, pay the cost of providi
ng the victim with a receptor that notifies the victim if the alleged offender comes within a certain distance of the victim as a
condition of bail
. The circumstances to which such requirements apply are the presence of
probable cause to believe the respo
ndent:

(
1
) Caused serious bodily injury to the alleged domestic abuse victim;

(
2
) Strangled or attempted to strangle the alleged domestic abuse victim; or

(
3
) Used or displayed a deadly weapon.

This bill adds that the probable cause to believe tha
t
one or more of the
circumstances or offenses listed in (1)
–
(8) also triggers the requirement for GPMS and provision of a receptor for the victim,
unless the court or magistrate finds the offender no longer poses a threat to the alleged victim or public
safety and makes such a finding in a written order
.

This bill requires that w
hen a magistrate orders a defendant released pending trial, the magistrate must include in the magistrate's order a written record of the factors considered in determining
whether to release the defendant on recognizance, upon unsecured bond, with conditions of release, or following the deposit of bail.

Under present law, a person who engages in
unlawful sexual penetration of a victim
knowing that the person is infected wi
th HIV commits the Class A felony offense of aggravated rape. This bill expands the offense to include any
disease that is transmitted primarily through sexual practices and is identified in rules and regulations of the department
of health as a sexually
transmitted disease.

Under present law, prior to imposing as a condition of bail providing the victim with a receptor that notifies the victim if the alleged offender comes within a certain distance of the victim, the magistrate is required to provide th
e victim with certain information concerning the GPMS process. Present law requires an arresting officer to supply substantially similar information to the victim. This bill replaces the requirement that the magistrate provide such information with a re
q
uirement that a
magistrate
who
prohibit
s
the defendant from going to or near certain locations as a condition of release at the victim's request, must seal any record of the victim's home address or other exact location provided to the magistrate by the vi
ctim.

If
a
magistrate or other judicial official requires a defendant to be subject to
GPMS a
s a condition of release,
then this bill prohibits
the sheriff's department
from
releas
ing
the defendant until a qualified contract service provider has installe
d the
GPMS
and begun monitoring the defendant's compliance with the conditions of release.

This bill requires
a law enforcement officer in a marked law enforcement vehicle
to do the following in order to initiate a traffic stop
:

(1) Activate the vehic
le's blue lights at the time the officer begins to follow the motor vehicle for the purpose of initiating a traffic stop; and

(2) Notify the law enforcement agency's dispatcher that the officer is initiating a traffic stop.

This bill requires
a law enf
orcement officer to follow the written policies of the law enforcement agency during any traffic stop.

Under present law, criminal offenses involving theft are graded based on the value of the property or services taken. This bill requires that a theft
offense
be punished one classification higher than
otherwise
provided if the violation was committed against the property of a first responder
or law enforcement officer
w
hile
the first responder or law enforcement officer is engaged in official duties.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 1187
By Akbari

HOUSE BILL 1064
By Hardaway

HB1064
003007
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 10;
Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Chapter 969 of the
Public Acts of 2024 and Chapter 1033 of the
Public Acts of 2024, relative to criminal law.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 40, Chapter 11, Part 1, is amended by
adding the following new section:
(a) Following the arrest of a person for an offense listed in subsection (b), the
court or magistrate shall order the defendant to wear a global positioning monitoring
system device as a condition of bail as set forth in § 40-11-152(b)(2), unless the court or
magistrate finds the offender no longer poses a threat to the alleged victim or public
safety.
(b) This section applies to a defendant arrested for:
(1) An offense, during the course of which:
(A) The defendant is alleged to have carried, possessed, or used
a firearm or dangerous weapon;
(B) A person was killed or suffered serious bodily injury; or
(C) The defendant is alleged to have used force against the
person of another;
(2) Domestic assault, under § 39-13-111;
(3) Burglary of a freight or passenger car, automobile, truck, trailer, boat,
airplane, or other motor vehicle, under § 39-13-1002(a)(4);
(4) Reckless driving, under § 55-10-205;

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(5) Drag racing, under § 55-10-502; or
(6) A second or subsequent offense under title 39, chapter 13, part 10 or
title 39, chapter 14, part 1.
(c) The clerk of each court that orders the use of global positioning monitoring
pursuant to subsection (a) shall report the number of defendants currently subject to
such an order and the offenses for which the defendant is awaiting trial on a monthly
basis to the administrative office of the courts. The administrative office of the courts
shall compile an annual report of the number of defendants subject to such an order,
including totals for each county, to be submitted to the committee of the house of
representatives with jurisdiction over subject matters pertaining to criminal justice and
the judiciary committee of the senate by July 1 of each year.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-11-152(b)(2), is amended by
deleting the language:
Pursuant to § 40-11-150(n), if the court or magistrate finds probable cause to
believe that one (1) or more of the circumstances in § 40-11-150(n)(1) did occur, then
unless the court or magistrate finds the offender no longer poses a threat to the alleged
victim or public safety and makes such a finding in a written order, the court or
magistrate shall order a defendant who is charged with the offense of aggravated
assault, as defined in § 39-13-102(a)(1)(A)(i), (a)(1)(A)(iii), or (a)(1)(A)(iv), in which the
alleged victim of the offense is a domestic abuse victim, as defined in § 36-3-601, to do
the following as a condition of bail:
and substituting instead:
Pursuant to § 40-11-150(n) and SECTION 1, if the court or magistrate finds
probable cause to believe that one (1) or more of the circumstances in § 40-11-150(n)(1)
or SECTION 1(b) did occur, then unless the court or magistrate finds the offender no

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longer poses a threat to the alleged victim or public safety and makes such a finding in a
written order, the court or magistrate shall order the defendant to do the following as a
condition of bail:
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-11-115(a), is amended by adding
the following new subdivision:
(3) When a magistrate orders a defendant released pending trial, the magistrate
must include in the magistrate's order a written record of the factors considered in
determining whether to release the defendant on recognizance, upon unsecured bond,
with conditions of release, or following the deposit of bail.
SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-13-502(a)(4), is amended by
deleting the subdivision and substituting:
(4) The defendant knows that the defendant is infected with a sexually
transmitted disease, and the sexually transmitted disease is transmitted to the victim. As
used in this subdivision (a)(4), "sexually transmitted disease" means the same as
defined in § 68-10-101.
SECTION 5. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-11-152(d), is amended by
deleting the subsection and substituting:
(d) If the magistrate prohibited the defendant from going to or near certain
locations as a condition of release at the victim's request, the court must seal any record
of the victim's home address or other exact location provided to the magistrate by the
victim.
SECTION 6. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-11-152, is amended by deleting
the language "subsection (d)" wherever it appears and substituting instead "subsection (l)".
SECTION 7. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-11-152(l), is amended by adding
the following new subdivisions:

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( ) Any sanctions that the magistrate may impose on the defendant for violating
a condition of bond imposed under this section;
( ) The procedure that the victim is to follow, and support services available to
assist the victim, if the defendant violates a condition of bond or if the global positioning
monitoring system equipment fails;
( ) Community services available to assist the victim in obtaining shelter,
counseling, education, child care, legal representation, and other assistance available to
address the consequences of domestic violence;
SECTION 8. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 40, Chapter 11, Part 1, is amended by
adding the following new section:
If the magistrate or other judicial official requires a defendant to be subject to a
global positioning monitoring system as a condition of release pursuant to § 40-11-
150(n), § 40-11-152, SECTION 1(b), or another provision of law, then the sheriff's
department shall not release the defendant until a qualified contract service provider has
installed the global positioning monitoring system and begun monitoring the defendant's
compliance with the conditions of release.
SECTION 9. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 38, Chapter 8, Part 1, is amended by
adding the following new section:
(a) In order to initiate a traffic stop, a law enforcement officer in a marked law
enforcement vehicle must:
(1) Activate the vehicle's blue lights at the time the officer begins to follow
the motor vehicle for the purpose of initiating a traffic stop; and
(2) Notify the law enforcement agency's dispatcher that the officer is
initiating a traffic stop.

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(b) In order to ensure the safety of all motorists, pedestrians, and property
located near highways and streets, a law enforcement officer is required to follow the
written policies of the law enforcement agency during any traffic stop.
SECTION 10. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-14-105, is amended by adding
the following new subsection:
(e) A violation of this part for which the punishment is determined pursuant to
this section shall be punished one (1) classification higher than provided in this section if
the violation was committed against the property of a first responder, as defined by first
responder or law enforcement officer, as those terms are defined in § 39-13-116, while
the first responder or law enforcement officer is engaged in official duties.
SECTION 11. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.