State Government

HOUSE BILL 415
By Davis

SENATE BILL 838
By Pody

SB0838
001620
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4;
Title 9; Title 12; Title 45 and Title 47, relative to the
Tennessee advisory commission on
intergovernmental relations.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
WHEREAS, the United States is now facing and managing growing global competition
for resources and capital, including tariffs and trade wars, the growth of the BRICS alliance and
its increasing control on significant world resources, and developing payment systems that
operate outside the dollar system, the expansion of war and territorial disputes, and changes in
federal government funding and regulation; and
WHEREAS, the adaptation of new technologies creates new opportunities and risks, and
changes the fundamental economics of trade, impacting both what and how Tennessee imports
and exports; and
WHEREAS, increasing dependence on information technology creates growing
vulnerabilities for the functionality and reliability of electronic communications and payment
systems, and the commerce depending on them; and
WHEREAS, these changes and challenges have the potential to impact the wellbeing
and quality of life for the people of Tennessee, including increased prices and shortages of fuel
and electricity, food and water, housing, health care, and commodities; now, therefore,
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. The Tennessee advisory commission on intergovernmental relations
(TACIR) shall conduct and produce a study addressing steps that this state can take to protect

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its financial security and soundness and ensure state sovereignty and resiliency. The study
must address the following matters:
(1) Steps this state can take to improve its sourcing, availability, and quality of
food, oil, medicine, and other essential goods in the event of significant changes in its
relations with its current import and export partners;
(2) Steps this state can take to improve its sourcing, availability, and quality of
food, oil, medicine, and other essential goods in the event of significant price inflation;
(3) Steps this state can take to decrease its dependence on centralized financial,
communications, energy, and transportation systems that, in the event of disruption as
the result of natural disaster or change in the reliability of such systems, may jeopardize
the interests of state residents;
(4) How the state will conduct its financial transactions and related
communications in the event that transactions and communications conducted by
existing electronic means are interrupted, compromised, restricted, or subject to
unaffordable prices or sanctions;
(5) Steps this state should take to ensure it has proper oversight and jurisdiction
concerning its contractual obligations and relations with vendors, contractors, and other
trade contracts, as well as steps it can take to ensure that no agreements adopted for
public or private funding violate the Constitution of the State of Tennessee; and
(6) Opportunities to provide increased local and statewide supply of essential
goods, services, and capital for Tennessee-based banks, manufacturers, businesses,
and farms.
SECTION 2. On or before September 1, 2025, TACIR shall report its findings and
recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to each member of the general assembly
and shall provide a copy to the legislative librarian. The report may be delivered electronically.

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SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.