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SENATE BILL 2686
By Kyle
HOUSE BILL 2190
By Jones J
HB2190
012469
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4 and
Title 68, relative to climate.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, is amended by adding the following
as a new chapter:
68-206-101. Short title.
This chapter is known and may be cited as the "Climate Resilient Tennessee
Act."
68-206-102. Office of resilience.
There is created the office of resilience, to be administratively attached to the
governor's office.
68-206-103. "Office" defined for this chapter.
As used in this chapter, "office" means the office of resilience created by § 69-
206-102.
68-206-104. Duties and responsibilities.
The office has the following duties and responsibilities:
(1) Coordinate the resilience task force and provide strategic direction for
governmental resilience initiatives to build long-term climate resilience for a
robust, vibrant economy, sustainable natural environment, healthy communities,
and an equitable and just transition to the future climate;
(2) Establish an inter-department resilience coordination team;
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(3) Establish, in collaboration with the inter-department resilience
coordination team, a statewide resilience plan and framework to facilitate
coordination across resilience plans at all levels of government;
(4) Provide technical guidance and assistance or support to departments
and local and regional jurisdictions to integrate statewide resilience goals into
future projects, plans, and programs, and to foster intermunicipal cooperation;
(5) Establish a means of tracking progress toward statewide goals on
climate resilience;
(6) Identify and develop policies necessary to implement a statewide
resilience plan and risk mitigation strategy;
(7) Establish and maintain a website to facilitate the functions and duties
of the office;
(8) Establish and maintain a principal office and other offices within the
state as the office may deem necessary;
(9) Appoint a secretary, counsel, clerks, and other employees and agents
as it may deem necessary, fix compensation within the limitations provided by
law, and prescribe duties; and
(10) Require that state and municipal departments, agencies, public
authorities, task forces, commissions, or other state or municipal government
bodies provide, and the same are hereby authorized to provide, such assistance,
documents, and data as will enable the office to carry out its functions and duties.
68-206-105. Chief resilience officer - Duties and responsibilities.
(a) The head of the office is the chief resilience officer who is appointed by the
governor and who holds office at the pleasure of the governor.
(b) The chief resilience officer has the following duties and responsibilities:
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(1) Employ or allocate the necessary staff, and request the assistance of
personnel of state or municipal departments or agencies, to carry out the
functions, powers, and duties provided in this chapter or as otherwise provided
by law;
(2) Manage the office, the budget for the office, and related functions as
provided by law;
(3) Review and reconcile department comments on federally sponsored
resilience and risk mitigation activities to develop and present an official state
position;
(4) Represent the policy and consensus viewpoint of this state at the
federal, regional, state, and local levels with respect to resilience and risk
mitigation;
(5) Monitor and seek available funds to support resilience priorities,
including coordinating cross-department federal funding applications for
community resilience projects;
(6) Provide strategic direction for inter-department and cross-disciplinary
initiatives to build resilience, in collaboration with other relevant resilience task
force and entities as the chief resilience officer deems appropriate, for the
purposes of climate resilience planning and goal development, tracking and
reporting progress on climate resilience goals, and public engagement on climate
resilience issues;
(7) Appraise the adequacy of statutory and administrative mechanisms
for coordinating the state's policies and programs at both the intrastate and
interstate levels, and between federal, state, and local governments, with respect
to resilience and risk mitigation;
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(8) Develop, where appropriate, intrastate or intergovernmental
agreements to formalize coordination roles for regional resilience projects;
(9) Appraise policy barriers to meet the goals of the state with respect to
resilience and risk mitigation;
(10) Serve as a subject-matter expert for the state on issues related to
resilience and risk mitigation and provide recommendations to the general
assembly and United States congress with respect to policies, programs, and
coordinating mechanisms relative to resilience and risk mitigation;
(11) Assist with the state's planning efforts, including, but not limited to, a
statewide resilience plan, a state hazard mitigation plan, and other relevant state
and regional plans for which there is a state interest, to ensure the incorporation
and alignment of the state's resilience goals and objectives into a unified,
proactive, pre-disaster approach to adaptation and near-, mid-, and long-term
resilience;
(12) Serve as a clearinghouse for the benefit of municipalities regarding
information relating to flooding, extreme heat, and other risk prevention and
mitigation, including impact prevention and mitigation project funding programs,
and other information relating to common problems with respect to these hazards
and the state and federal services available to assist in solving related problems;
and
(13) Take other actions consistent with the law as deemed necessary by
the chief resilience officer to carry out the officer's duties and responsibilities.
68-206-106. Statewide resilience plan.
(a) To coordinate and strengthen efforts to reduce losses from future disasters
across the state, the office shall contribute to all statewide planning efforts related to
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resilience and risk mitigation and develop a strategic statewide resilience plan to protect
the state from climate threats.
(b) The plan must be developed using the best available science, including a
range of future projections, to identify, implement, or reform policies, projects, and
programs to achieve the office's goals and objectives.
(c) The plan must prioritize natural, nature-based, and non-structural
approaches to mitigate climate threats wherever possible, including, without limitation,
use of permeable surfaces; rain gardens; green roofs; tree canopy expansion; wetland
restoration; removing, altering, or right-sizing dams; natural area conservation;
wastewater and stormwater infrastructure upgrades; alteration of structures; buyouts;
and other flood and extreme heat prevention, mitigation, and resiliency strategies or
projects.
(d) The plan must include, but is not limited to:
(1) The state's resilience goals and objectives;
(2) Department-specific recommendations for strategic actions, including
criteria for prioritization based on a vulnerability assessment of the risks from
multiple environmental threats to department mission areas, assets, services,
and populations served;
(3) Resilience indicators to be tracked and reported to the public over
time in an annual report; and
(4) A framework for resilience project development, funding, and
implementation. The framework must include, but is not limited to, the following:
(A) Spatial analysis of projected climate threat exposure and
vulnerability, including, but not limited to, flood, extreme heat and
precipitation, storm events, wildfires, and other risks. The analysis and
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resulting maps must delineate risks geographically and by social and
ecological vulnerability using statewide or regional, peer-reviewed, or best
available scientific sources;
(B) An accessible, updated database or inventory of critical
infrastructure vulnerable to current and future flooding, developed in
collaboration with municipalities. This includes infrastructure that is
essential for critical government and business functions, national security,
transportation, utilities, public health and safety, the economy, flood and
storm protection, water quality management, and wildlife habitat
management;
(C) Maps or accessible visual representations of federal, state,
and local municipal and county projects planned to reduce risks, along
with identifying the federal, state, or local departments and agencies
leading those projects and the funding source; and
(D) A strategic plan for developing, funding, and financing
projects that address risks through federal, state, local, and private
sources. The strategic plan must:
(i) Include a strategy with the goal of ensuring that
disadvantaged communities, as identified using the affordability
criteria created pursuant to § 68-221-1205, receive forty percent
(40%) of the benefits of proposed plans and projects; provided,
however, that disadvantaged communities must receive no less
than thirty-five percent (35%) of such benefits; and
(ii) Seek to build alignment and efficiencies across
vulnerability assessments and resilience strategies.
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68-206-107. Resilience task force.
(a) There is created within the office a resilience task force to provide strategic
direction to resilience efforts across the state and make recommendations to the office.
(b) The task force is composed of:
(1) The chief resilience officer, who serves as chair and represents the
views of the inter-department resilience coordination team;
(2) The commissioner of environment and conservation or the
commissioner's designee;
(3) The commissioner of safety or the commissioner's designee;
(4) The commissioner of economic and community development or the
commissioner's designee;
(5) The secretary of state or the secretary's designee;
(6) The commissioner of finance and administration or the
commissioner's designee;
(7) The commissioner of health or the commissioner's designee;
(8) The chair of the state energy policy council, created pursuant to § 68-
204-101, or the chair's designee;
(9) The commissioner of transportation or the commissioner's designee;
(10) The commissioner of agriculture or the commissioner's designee;
and
(11) A member of the general public with expertise in resilience planning
selected by the governor.
68-206-108. Department resilience coordinators.
Each department included in the resilience task force, and any other departments
to be included in resilience planning as designated by the chief resilience officer or
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resilience task force, shall appoint a resilience coordinator to work with the chief
resilience officer to ensure resilience is integrated into department missions and
priorities, and otherwise coordinate with the chief resilience officer. The coordinators
serve on the inter-department resilience coordination team established by this chapter.
Each coordinator is appointed with the exclusive role of focusing on climate resilience
through the respective department's mission and activities.
68-206-109. Inter-department resilience coordination team.
(a) There is created within the office an inter-department resilience coordination
team to maintain awareness, communication, and alignment with regard to the state's
resilience and risk mitigation needs, progress, and priorities and to oversee development
of the statewide resilience plan.
(b) The team must:
(1) Be composed of resilience coordinators from each department
included on the resilience task force or otherwise designated by the chief
resilience officer or resilience task force;
(2) Meet upon the call of the chief resilience officer, with a minimum of
four (4) meetings annually;
(3) Develop strategic plans for departments and collaborate in the
development of a statewide resilience plan; and
(4) Develop and implement a plan for public engagement, review key
products of the statewide resilience plan, and track and report progress.
(c) The chief resilience officer shall convene the first meeting of the inter-
department resilience coordination team on or before the ninetieth day after July 1,
2026.
68-206-110. Public engagement and reporting.
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(a) The resilience task force shall develop a statewide resilience plan and hold at
least six (6) public meetings on the draft plan that include periods for public comment,
including two (2) meetings in each of the state's grand divisions. The task force shall
allow at least one hundred twenty (120) days for public comment. The task force shall
provide meaningful opportunities for public comment from all segments of the population
that will be impacted by the plan, including persons living in disadvantaged communities,
as identified using the affordability criteria created pursuant to § 68-221-1205.
(b) Beginning July 1, 2027, and every five (5) years thereafter, the office shall
complete and submit an updated statewide resilience plan to the governor and the
legislative librarian and make the plan publicly available.
SECTION 2. The headings in this act are for reference purposes only and do not
constitute a part of the law enacted by this act. However, the Tennessee Code Commission is
requested to include the headings in any compilation or publication containing this act.
SECTION 3. For purposes of carrying out administrative duties necessary to effectuate
this act, this act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it. For all other
purposes, this act takes effect July 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it.