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HB1349 • 2026

Drugs, Prescription

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 38; Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68, relative to psychotropic drugs.

Healthcare
Enacted

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

Sponsor
Littleton, Crowe
Last action
2025-04-29
Official status
Comp. became Pub. Ch. 272
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not specify the exact actions that should be taken based on drug interaction studies.

Tennessee Act on Psychotropic Drugs in Mass Shooting Investigations

This Tennessee law requires medical examiners to test for and report drug use, including psychotropic drugs, when investigating mass shootings involving four or more deaths.

What This Bill Does

  • Requires county medical examiners to consult the decedent's treating mental health professional or primary care physician if they suspect a mass shooting with at least four deaths.
  • Directs medical examiners to test for all types of drugs, including psychotropic medications, in suspected mass shooters.
  • Informs the University of Tennessee’s health science center and the state department of health about drug use without revealing personal information like names or social security numbers.
  • Requires the university's health science center to study how different drugs interact with each other and report findings every three months.

Who It Names or Affects

  • County medical examiners conducting autopsies on suspected mass shooters.
  • The University of Tennessee’s health science center.
  • State departments involved in public health.

Terms To Know

Psychotropic drug
A medication that affects mental or behavioral health conditions, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, hypnotics, mood stabilizers, hormonal medications for appearance changes, psychomotor stimulants, and stimulants.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The law does not specify what actions should be taken based on the drug interaction studies.
  • It is unclear how this information will be used to prevent future mass shootings or improve public health policies.

Amendments

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

Amendment 1-0 to HB1349

Plain English: This amendment adds a new subsection (c) to Tennessee Code Annotated Section 38-7-109, which requires county medical examiners and regional forensic centers to consult with mental health professionals about suspected mass shooters' psychotropic drug use and report findings to the University of Tennessee's health science center.

  • Adds a new subsection (c) to Tennessee Code Annotated Section 38-7-109, requiring medical examiners to consult with treating mental health professionals when conducting autopsies on suspected mass shooters.
  • Requires testing for psychotropic drugs and reporting drug use information to the University of Tennessee's health science center without disclosing identifying details like names or social security numbers.
  • Directs the health science center to study drug interactions and submit quarterly reports to the state legislature.
  • The amendment does not specify how medical examiners will identify treating mental health professionals for deceased individuals, which may be challenging in some cases.
Amendment 1-0 to SB1146

Plain English: This amendment adds a new subsection (c) to Tennessee Code Annotated Section 38-7-109, which requires county medical examiners and regional forensic centers to consult with mental health professionals and test for psychotropic drugs when conducting autopsies on suspected mass shooters.

  • Requires the county medical examiner or regional forensic center to consult the decedent's treating mental health professional or primary care physician if they are known and reasonably identifiable through next of kin.
  • Directs the county medical examiner to test for drugs, including therapeutic levels of psychotropic drugs, in suspected mass shooters.
  • Specifies that the drug use information must be disclosed to the University of Tennessee’s health science center college of pharmacy and the department of health without revealing identifying details like names or social security numbers.
  • Requires quarterly reports on drug interactions from the health science center to the state legislature.
  • The amendment does not specify how the medical examiner identifies the treating mental health professional if they are unknown, which could be a limitation in practice.

Bill History

  1. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 272

  2. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 07/01/2025

  3. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 272

  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. 2025-04-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled and ready for signatures

  9. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  10. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. SB subst.

  11. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., Ayes 76, Nays 20, PNV 1

  12. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0253)

  13. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  14. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  15. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  16. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  17. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  18. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 27, Nays 5

  19. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0259)

  20. 2025-04-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/7/2025

  21. 2025-04-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/10/2025

  22. 2025-04-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  23. 2025-04-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate Reset on calendar for 4/7/2025

  24. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/3/2025

  25. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  26. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/3/2025

  27. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Health Committee for 4/1/2025

  28. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Health Committee

  29. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  30. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Health Subcommittee for 3/26/2025

  31. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c Health Subcommittee to 3/26/2025

  32. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Health and Welfare Committee calendar for 3/26/2025

  33. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Health Subcommittee for 3/19/2025

  34. 2025-02-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  35. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Health Subcommittee

  36. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to Health Committee

  37. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Health and Welfare Committee

  38. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  39. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  40. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  41. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

This bill provides that if a county medical examiner's office or regional forensic center is conducting an autopsy on a decedent who is suspected to have committed a mass shooting that resulted in the deaths
of four or more individuals, then the county medical examiner or regional forensic center must consult such decedent's treating mental health professional or primary care physician, if known and reasonably able to be identified through the decedent's next

of kin, to obtain information regarding the decedent's psychotropic drug use.

This bill requires the county medical examiner to test the decedent for the presence of any drugs, including psychotropic drugs. Further, the county medical examiner's office
or regional forensic center must disclose the drug use of the decedent to the University of Tennessee's health science center and to the department of health, without disclosing the decedent's name or social security number.

This bill requires the Unive
rsity of Tennessee's health science center to study the drug interactions between the psychotropic drugs and any other drugs that were present in the decedent's system as provided by the county medical examiner as described in this bill. The University o
f
Tennessee's health science center must submit quarterly reports of all data obtained pursuant to this bill to the committees in the general assembly having jurisdiction over health-related matters.

ON APRIL 7, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND P
ASSED SENATE BILL 1146, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 makes the following revisions:



Clarifies that "drugs," as used in the provision requiring t
he county medical examiner
to
test the decedent for the presence of any drugs
,
includ
es
therapeutic levels of psychotropic drugs.



Requires the
county medical examiner
to
send only a blood sample of the decedent to the health science center.



Requires the quarterly reports of data obtained pursuant to the bill to be submitted to the chief clerk of each house of the general assembly instead of to specific legislative committees.



Clarifies that the "health science center" referred to in the bill means the
University of Tennessee's health science center college of pharmacy
.



Clarifies that the reference to "antidepressants" in the definition for "psychotropic drug" includes
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
.



Clarifies that the term "psychotropic drug" includes b
enzodiazepines
.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
SENATE BILL 1146
By Crowe

HOUSE BILL 1349
By Littleton

HB1349
002688
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 38;
Title 53; Title 63 and Title 68, relative to
psychotropic drugs.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 38-7-109, is amended by adding the
following as a new subsection:
(c)
(1)
(A) If a county medical examiner's office or regional forensic center is
conducting an autopsy on a decedent who is suspected to have committed a
mass shooting that resulted in the deaths of four (4) or more individuals, then the
county medical examiner or regional forensic center shall consult such
decedent's treating mental health professional or primary care physician, if
known and reasonably able to be identified through the decedent's next of kin, to
obtain information regarding the decedent's psychotropic drug use.
(B) The county medical examiner shall test the decedent for the
presence of any drugs, including psychotropic drugs.
(2)
(A) The county medical examiner's office or regional forensic center shall
disclose the drug use of the decedent to the University of Tennessee's health
science center and to the department of health.
(B) The county medical examiner's office or regional forensic center shall
not disclose any identifying information including the decedent's name or social

- 2 - 002688

security number when disclosing the drug use of the decedent to the University
of Tennessee's health science center and to the department of health.
(3) The University of Tennessee's health science center shall study the drug
interactions between the psychotropic drugs and any other drugs that were present in
the decedent's system as provided by the county medical examiner as described in
subdivision (c)(2)(A).
(4) The University of Tennessee's health science center shall submit quarterly
reports of all data obtained pursuant to this section to the chair of the health and welfare
committee of the senate and the chair of the house of representatives committee having
jurisdiction over health-related matters.
(5) As used in this subsection (c), "psychotropic drug" means a medication
prescribed for the treatment of mental or behavioral health conditions or a drug
prescribed for any condition that exercises a direct effect upon the central nervous
system and that is capable of influencing and modifying mood, perceptions, and
behavior, including:
(A) Agents for control of mania and depression;
(B) Antidepressants;
(C) Antipsychotics;
(D) Anxiolytics;
(E) Hypnotics;
(F) Mood stabilizers;
(G) Hormonal medication with the primary goal of altering a person's
physical appearance and sexual characteristics existing at the person's birth;
(H) Psychomotor stimulants; and
(I) Stimulants.

- 3 - 002688

(6) The county medical examiner, regional forensic center, department of health,
and the University of Tennessee's health science center must follow all relevant state
and federal privacy laws related to the implementation of this section.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.