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HB1165 • 2026

Sentencing

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39 and Title 40, relative to criminal sentencing.

Children Crime
Active

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

Sponsor
Parkinson, Lamar
Last action
2025-04-09
Official status
Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 4/14/2025
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The bill does not specify any financial impact or costs associated with its implementation.

Changes in Criminal Sentencing for Offenses Involving Minors

This bill adds a new factor judges can consider when sentencing adults who commit crimes with minors, regardless of whether the minor is charged.

What This Bill Does

  • Adds an enhancement factor to criminal sentencing rules if an adult commits a crime with a minor, even if the minor is not convicted.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Adults who commit crimes with minors
  • Judges who decide sentences for these crimes

Terms To Know

Enhancement factor
A reason that can make a sentence longer or more severe.
Permissible range
The limits within which a judge can decide the length of a criminal sentence.

Limits and Unknowns

  • It is not clear how many cases this new rule will apply to.
  • The bill does not specify what happens if the minor involved in the crime is also an adult at the time of the offense.

Amendments

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

Amendment 1-0 to HB1165

Plain English: The amendment adds a new provision to Tennessee law that requires courts to consider whether an adult defendant committed a crime with a minor when determining the sentence for certain offenses.

  • Adds a new subdivision to Section 40-35-114 of the Tennessee Code Annotated, which directs courts to take into account if an adult offender committed an offense involving a minor.
  • The amendment text does not specify all types of offenses or penalties that would be affected by this new provision.
  • It is unclear how this change will impact existing sentencing guidelines and practices in Tennessee.

Bill History

  1. 2025-04-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 4/21/2025

  2. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 4/15/2025

  3. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rule #83(8) Suspended, to be heard in Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee on 4/15/2025

  4. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  5. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed behind the budget

  6. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 3/19/2025

  7. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  8. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  9. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  10. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  11. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  12. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  13. 2025-02-19 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  14. 2025-02-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee

  15. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee

  16. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to Judiciary Committee

  17. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 2/18/2025

  18. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  19. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  20. 2025-01-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee

  21. 2025-01-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  22. 2025-01-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

Abstract summarizes the bill.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
SENATE BILL 45
By Lamar

HOUSE BILL 1165
By Parkinson

HB1165
000071
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39
and Title 40, relative to criminal sentencing.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-35-114, is amended by adding
the following as a new subdivision:
( ) The defendant was an adult at the time of the offense and committed the
offense with a minor, regardless of whether the minor was convicted of the offense;
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it, and
applies to offenses committed on or after that date.