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HB1259 • 2026

Water

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 7; Title 63; Title 65; Title 68 and Title 69, relative to water.

Agriculture Energy Water
Enacted

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

Sponsor
Capley, Walley
Last action
2026-05-27
Official status
Comp. became Pub. Ch. 1055
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

Water

ON MARCH 9, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 639, AS AMENDED.

What This Bill Does

  • ON MARCH 9, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 639, AS AMENDED.
  • AMENDMENT #1 r ewrites this bill to authorize municipal water and sewer systems to undertake certain projects on private property.
  • Present law generally prohibits municipal water and sewer systems from bidding on or constructing any project for a private purpose.
  • Present law specifies that "project for a private purpose” does not include the renewal or replacement of individual wat er or sewage lines behind a meter or onto private property when such rehabilitative maintenance or construction is deemed necessary by the municipal corporation because excessive infiltration and inflow from groundwater or rainwater is resulting in sanita ry sewer overflows or other serious health or system capacity issues.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Amendments

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

Amendment 1-0 to HB1259

Plain English: House Agriculture & Natural Resources 1 Amendment No.

  • House Agriculture & Natural Resources 1 Amendment No.
  • 1 to HB1259 Todd Signature of Sponsor AMEND Senate Bill No.
  • 639* House Bill No.
  • 1259 HA0779 014507 - 1 - by deleting all language after the enacting clause and substituting: SECTION 1.
Amendment 1-0 to SB0639

Plain English: Senate Energy, Ag., and Nat.

  • Senate Energy, Ag., and Nat.
  • Resources 1 Amendment No.
  • 1 to SB0639 Reeves Signature of Sponsor AMEND Senate Bill No.
  • 639* House Bill No.
Amendment 2-0 to SB0639

Plain English: Amendment No.

  • Amendment No.
  • 2 to SB0639 Reeves Signature of Sponsor AMEND Senate Bill No.
  • 639* House Bill No.
  • 1259 SA0616 014507 - 1 - by deleting all language after the enacting clause and substituting: SECTION 1.

Bill History

  1. 2026-05-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 1055

  2. 2026-05-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 07/01/2026

  3. 2026-05-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 1055

  4. 2026-05-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Governor.

  5. 2026-05-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Transmitted to Governor for action.

  6. 2026-05-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by H. Speaker

  7. 2026-04-30 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Senate Speaker

  8. 2026-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled and ready for signatures

  9. 2026-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. SB subst.

  10. 2026-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  11. 2026-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar 2 for 4/22/2026

  12. 2026-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/22/2026

  13. 2026-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., Ayes 89, Nays 0, PNV 1

  14. 2026-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0779)

  15. 2026-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  16. 2026-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Reset on Final cal. 2 of Calendar & Rules Committee

  17. 2026-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 3/26/2026

  18. 2026-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  19. 2026-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  20. 2026-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee for 3/24/2026

  21. 2026-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee

  22. 2026-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  23. 2026-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  24. 2026-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee for 3/18/2026

  25. 2026-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee to 3/18/2026

  26. 2026-03-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  27. 2026-03-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 32, Nays 0

  28. 2026-03-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Amendment withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - SA0592)

  29. 2026-03-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 2 - SA0616)

  30. 2026-03-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  31. 2026-03-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/9/2026

  32. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee for 3/11/2026

  33. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  34. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0

  35. 2026-03-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee

  36. 2026-03-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Ref. to Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee

  37. 2026-02-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Energy, Ag., and Nat. Resources Committee calendar for 3/4/2026

  38. 2026-02-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor change.

  39. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, caption bill, held on desk - pending amdt.

  40. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Energy, Ag., and Nat. Resources Committee

  41. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor change.

  42. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  43. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) withdrawn.

  44. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  45. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  46. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  47. 2025-01-31 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

ON MARCH 9, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 639, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 r
ewrites this bill to authorize municipal water and sewer systems to undertake certain projects on private property.

Present law generally prohibits municipal water and sewer systems from bidding on or constructing any project for a private purpose. Present law specifies that "project for a private purpose”
does not include the renewal or replacement of individual wat
er or sewage lines behind a meter or onto private property when such rehabilitative maintenance or construction is deemed necessary by the municipal corporation because excessive infiltration and inflow from groundwater or rainwater is resulting in sanita
ry
sewer overflows or other serious health or system capacity issues. Municipal corporations are authorized, but not required, to maintain or construct individual lines for this purpose if the property owner consents and agrees to hold the municipal corpor
ation harmless for the work.

This amendment replaces the present law exception to project for a private purpose. This amendment specifies that "project for a private purpose" does not include the renewal or replacement or assessment of:

(1) Private water lines behind a utility-owned meter when such rehabilitative maintenance or construction is deemed necessary by a municipality, utility district, metropolitan government, or other public entity to address lead service lines or galvanize
d requiring replacement lines located on private property, but only for the portion of the service line extending from the utility-owned meter to the exterior building envelope of the structure served for the purpose of addressing serious health issues; o
r

(2) Sewage lines on private property when such rehabilitative maintenance or construction is deemed necessary by a municipality, utility district, metropolitan government, or other public entity because excessive infiltration and inflow from groundwater
or rainwater is resulting in sanitary sewer overflows or other serious health or system capacity issues.

The consent of the owner and a hold-harmless agreement will still be required under (1) and (2).

For purposes of this amendment, a service line is "galvanized requiring replacement" if the service line that is or was at any time downstream of a lead service line, or is currently or was previously connected to a lead service line, and is required to
be replaced pursuant to applicable federal drinking water regulations.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
SENATE BILL 639
By Harshbarger

HOUSE BILL 1259
By Capley

HB1259
002604
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 7;
Title 63; Title 65; Title 68 and Title 69, relative to
water.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 69-3-104(d), is amended by deleting
"five (5) days" and substituting "seven (7) days".
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.