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SB0799 • 2026

Election Laws

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, relative to elections.

Elections
Active

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

Sponsor
Johnson, Reeves
Last action
2025-04-29
Official status
Effective date(s) 04/24/2025
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The provided candidate explanation includes details about partisan elections which are not directly addressed in the official summary.

Election Law Changes for Tennessee

This bill changes how statewide political parties in Tennessee must nominate candidates for certain offices through primary elections.

What This Bill Does

  • Requires statewide political parties to use primary elections to choose their candidates for governor, members of the general assembly, United States senators, and representatives.
  • Allows counties that used a method other than primary elections to pick candidates in 2022 or 2024 to continue using this method, except for certain important offices.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Statewide political parties in Tennessee
  • Counties that nominated candidates using methods other than primary elections in 1922 or 2024

Terms To Know

primary election
An election where voters choose the party's candidate for an office.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify what happens if a county fails to nominate candidates by the required method.
  • It is unclear how this change will affect voter participation or candidate selection processes in Tennessee.

Amendments

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

Amendment 1-0 to HB0855

Plain English: This amendment changes how statewide political parties in Tennessee can nominate candidates for certain offices.

  • In counties where a statewide party used a method other than primary elections to nominate candidates in 2022 or 2024, the party must now use primary elections at the regular August election for governor, members of the general assembly, U.S. senator, and members of the U.S. house of representatives.
  • If a statewide political party does not use an alternative nomination method after this amendment's effective date, it must follow the rules set in § 2-13-202 to nominate candidates.
  • The exact methods used by parties for nominations before 2022 or 2024 are not specified and may vary.
  • Details about how this amendment will be enforced or monitored are not provided in the text.
Amendment 1-0 to SB0799

Plain English: This amendment changes how statewide political parties in Tennessee can nominate candidates for certain offices.

  • In counties where a statewide party used methods other than primary elections to nominate candidates in 2022 or 2024, the amendment requires those parties to use primary elections at the regular August election for governor, members of the general assembly, U.S. senator, and members of the U.S. house of representatives.
  • If a party does not use alternative nomination methods after this act's effective date, they must follow the rules set in subsection (a) which generally requires primary elections.
  • The amendment text is technical and may be hard to understand without additional context about current election laws.
  • It’s unclear how many counties are affected by this change or what specific methods were used before the amendment.

Bill History

  1. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 04/24/2025

  2. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 259

  3. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 259

  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. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled and ready for signatures

  9. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., Ayes 60, Nays 25, PNV 2

  10. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0348)

  11. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  12. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  13. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. SB subst.

  14. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  15. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/14/2025

  16. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  17. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  18. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 26, Nays 3

  19. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0329)

  20. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/10/2025

  21. 2025-04-08 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  22. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/9/2025

  23. 2025-04-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  24. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  25. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. State & Local Government Committee for 4/9/2025

  26. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in State & Local Government Committee to 4/9/2025

  27. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 4/2/2025

  28. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 4/2/2025

  29. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  30. 2025-03-31 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  31. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  32. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 4/1/2025

  33. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. State & Local Government Committee for 4/2/2025

  34. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to State & Local Government Committee

  35. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  36. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee for 3/25/2025

  37. 2025-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor change.

  38. 2025-03-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor change.

  39. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee

  40. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  41. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee

  42. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to State & Local Government Committee

  43. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  44. 2025-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  45. 2025-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

ON APRIL 9, 2025, THE SENAET ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 799, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, make the following revisions to present law:



Revises the present law provision requiring s
tatewide political parties
to
nominate their candidates for
governor, members of the general assembly, United States senator, and members of the United States house of representatives
by vote of the members of the party in primary elections at the regular August election
to, instead, generally require such parties to nominate their candidates
in primary elections for all offices for which partisan elections are held at the regular August or regular November election.



Authorizes, in
a county in which a statewide political party nominated a candidate by a method other than a primary election for elections held in 2022 or 2024, the statewide political party in such county
to
continue to use such method, except for
governor, members of the general assembly, United States senator, and members of the United States house of representatives
, which must be nominated by vote of the members of the party in primary elections at the regular August election
.



Requires, if
in any year after the effective date of
the bill
a statewide political party in a county subject to
the second bullet point
does not nominate candidates by a method other than a primary election, the statewide political party
to
nominate its candidates pursuant to
the first bullet point.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HOUSE BILL 855
By Reeves

SENATE BILL 799
By Johnson

SB0799
002905
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2,
relative to elections.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 2-3-107(c), is amended by adding
the following to the end of the subsection:
When negotiating for the use of private buildings as polling places, the county
election commission shall inquire as to whether the private building may be used
free of charge.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.