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SB1815 • 2026

Criminal Offenses

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39, relative to criminal offenses.

Crime
Active

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

Sponsor
Bailey, Williams
Last action
2026-05-27
Official status
Effective date(s) 07/01/2026
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.

Criminal Offenses

This bill creates a Class D felony offense of coercive suicide for a person who (i) intentionally, in any manner, advises or encourages another person to commit or attempt to commit suicide for the purpose of inciting, persuading, or aiding the other per son to commit or attempt to commit suicide within an imminent period of time, and (ii) knows that the other person has communicated an intent to commit suicide.

What This Bill Does

  • This bill creates a Class D felony offense of coercive suicide for a person who (i) intentionally, in any manner, advises or encourages another person to commit or attempt to commit suicide for the purpose of inciting, persuading, or aiding the other per son to commit or attempt to commit suicide within an imminent period of time, and (ii) knows that the other person has communicated an intent to commit suicide.
  • This bill also creates a Class D felony offense of coercive suicide for a person or entity if such person or entity owns an artificial intelligence system and the artificial intelligence system meets all of the following criteria:  Advises or encourages a person to commit or attempt to commit suicide by inciting, persuading, or aiding the person to commit or attempt to commit suicide within an imminent period of time.
  •  Such person has communicated an intent to commit suicide to the artificial intelligence system.
  •  The person or entity who owns such artificial intelligence system knew or reasonably should have known that the artificial intelligence system could take the action as described above and negligently permitted the artificial intelligence system to be accessible to the person who committed or attempted to commit suicide.

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 HB1951

Plain English: House Judiciary 1 Amendment No.

  • House Judiciary 1 Amendment No.
  • 1 to HB1951 Farmer Signature of Sponsor AMEND Senate Bill No.
  • 1815* House Bill No.
  • 1951 HA0572 013175 - 1 - by deleting all language after the enacting clause and substituting: SECTION 1.
Amendment 2-0 to HB1951

Plain English: Amendment No.

  • Amendment No.
  • 2 to HB1951 Williams Signature of Sponsor AMEND Senate Bill No.
  • 1815* House Bill No.
  • 1951 HA1218 018261 - 1 - by deleting all language after the enacting clause and substituting: SECTION 1.
Amendment 1-0 to SB1815

Plain English: Senate Judiciary 1 Amendment No.

  • Senate Judiciary 1 Amendment No.
  • 1 to SB1815 Gardenhire Signature of Sponsor AMEND Senate Bill No.
  • 1815* House Bill No.
  • 1951 SA0563 013175 - 1 - by deleting all language after the enacting clause and substituting: SECTION 1.

Bill History

  1. 2026-05-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 07/01/2026

  2. 2026-05-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 1098

  3. 2026-05-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 1098

  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. 2026-04-30 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled and ready for signatures

  9. 2026-04-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  10. 2026-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Concurred, Ayes 31, Nays 0 (Amendment 2 - HA1218)

  11. 2026-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Message Calendar for 4/22/2026

  12. 2026-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., as am., Ayes 93, Nays 0, PNV 0

  13. 2026-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. adopted am. (Amendment 2 - HA1218)

  14. 2026-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0572)

  15. 2026-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  16. 2026-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  17. 2026-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. SB subst.

  18. 2026-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/20/2026

  19. 2026-04-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/16/2026

  20. 2026-04-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee

  21. 2026-04-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Finance, Ways, and Means Committee for 4/15/2026

  22. 2026-04-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec for adopt by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee

  23. 2026-04-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 4/15/2026

  24. 2026-04-08 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 4/14/2026

  25. 2026-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed behind the budget

  26. 2026-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  27. 2026-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 3/18/2026

  28. 2026-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee to 3/18/2026

  29. 2026-03-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  30. 2026-03-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  31. 2026-03-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 32, Nays 0

  32. 2026-03-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0563)

  33. 2026-03-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/9/2026

  34. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 3/11/2026

  35. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee to 3/11/2026

  36. 2026-03-03 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  37. 2026-02-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/3/2026

  38. 2026-02-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 3/4/2026

  39. 2026-02-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee

  40. 2026-02-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  41. 2026-02-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee

  42. 2026-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Judiciary Committee for 2/18/2026

  43. 2026-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  44. 2026-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  45. 2026-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 2/11/2026

  46. 2026-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee

  47. 2026-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to Judiciary Committee

  48. 2026-02-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  49. 2026-01-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee

  50. 2026-01-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  51. 2026-01-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  52. 2026-01-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

This bill creates a Class D felony offense of coercive suicide for a person who (i) intentionally, in any manner, advises or encourages another person to commit or attempt to commit suicide for the purpose of inciting, persuading, or aiding the other per
son to commit or attempt to commit suicide within an imminent period of time, and (ii) knows that the other person has communicated an intent to commit suicide.

This bill also creates a Class D felony offense of coercive suicide for a person or entity if such person or entity owns an artificial intelligence system and the artificial intelligence system meets all of the following criteria:



Advises or encourages a person to commit or attempt to commit suicide by inciting, persuading, or aiding the person to commit or attempt to commit suicide within an imminent period of time.



Such person has communicated an intent to commit suicide to the artificial intelligence system.



The person or entity who owns such artificial intelligence system knew or reasonably should have known that the artificial intelligence system could take the action as described above and negligently permitted the artificial intelligence system to be accessible to the person who committed or attempted to commit suicide.

This bill applies to offenses committed on or after July 1, 2026.

ON MARCH 9, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1815, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 removes the Class D felony offense of coercive suicide, as established in the bill, for a person or entity who owns an artificial intelligence system and such system meets all of the following criteria:



Advises or encourages a person to commit or attempt to commit suicide by inciting, persuading, or aiding the person to commit or attempt to commit suicide within an imminent period of time.



Such person has communicated an intent to commit suicide to the artificial intelligence system.



The person or entity who owns such artificial intelligence system knew or reasonably should have known that the artificial intelligence system could take the action as described above and negligently permitted the artificial intelligence system to be accessible to the person who committed or attempted to commit suicide.

ON APRIL 21, 2026, THE HOUSE SUBSTITUTED SENATE BILL 1815 FOR HOUSE BILL 1951, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2, AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1815, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #2 adds the short title the "Grace Anne Sparks Coercive Suicide Prevention Law of 2026."

ON APRIL 22, 2026, THE SENATE CONCURRED IN HOUSE AMENDMENT #2.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HOUSE BILL 1951
By Williams

SENATE BILL 1815
By Bailey
SB1815
010357
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39,
relative to criminal offenses.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39, Chapter 13, Part 2, is amended by
adding the following as a new section:
(a) A person commits the offense of coercive suicide who:
(1) Intentionally, in any manner, advises or encourages another person
to commit or attempt to commit suicide for the purpose of inciting, persuading, or
aiding the other person to commit or attempt to commit suicide within an
imminent period of time; and
(2) Knows that the other person has communicated an intent to commit
suicide.
(b)
(1) A person or entity commits the offense of coercive suicide if such
person or entity owns an artificial intelligence system and the artificial intelligence
system:
(A) Advises or encourages a person to commit or attempt to
commit suicide by inciting, persuading, or aiding the person to commit or
attempt to commit suicide within an imminent period of time;
(B) Such person has communicated an intent to commit suicide to
the artificial intelligence system; and
(C) The person or entity who owns such artificial intelligence
system knew or reasonably should have known that the artificial

- 2 - 010357

intelligence system could take the action as described in subdivision
(b)(1)(A) and negligently permitted the artificial intelligence system to be
accessible to the person who committed or attempted to commit suicide.
(2) As used in this subsection (b):
(A) "Artificial intelligence":
(i) Means a machine-based system that:
(a) Can, for a given set of human-defined
objectives, make predictions, recommendations, or
decisions; influence real and virtual environments without
significant human oversight; or that can learn from
experience in an automated manner and improve such
performance when exposed to data sets; or
(b) Is developed in any context, including software
or physical hardware, and solves tasks requiring human-
like perception, cognition, planning, learning,
communication, or physical action; and
(ii) Includes generative artificial intelligence; and
(B) "Generative artificial intelligence" means an artificial
intelligence system that is capable of creating new content or data,
including text, images, audio, or video, when prompted by an individual.
(c) A violation of this section is a Class D felony.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it, and
applies to offenses committed on or after that date.