New laws effective January 1 include law enforcement training academy bill

As 2026 fast approaches, there are some laws that will soon take effect in Tennessee. Some were presented by representatives of White County.

Senator Paul Bailey, who covers the district including White County, introduced a few bills that take effect the upcoming year. One is SB0032, which allows a taxpayer to annually elect to take a bonus depreciation deduction of 40 percent of the cost of assets purchased on or after Jan. 1, 2026, during the tax year in which the assets were purchased. The House bill was HB0477, by Representative Kevin Vaughan.

SB0790 was also pushed by Senator Bailey. A Law Enforcement Training Academy bill requires the peace officer standards and training commission to issue a certificate of compliance to a person appointed as a private special deputy on or after Jan. 1, 2026. The House equivalent was HB1095 by Representative Sexton.

Other bills of interest include SB0870, a Department of Education bill that will require various measurements and analysis of teacher evaluation practices in the state. This will be performed by an advisory committee that must present the committee’s findings and final report by Jan. 31, 2026.

SB0959 by Senator Lamar, or HB1363 by Representative Chism, permits someone that has served at least eight years for a crime before Jan. 1 to request for resentencing if they are a victim of domestic abuse. The person must include in their request proof of incarceration and the eligible offenses for resentencing. The court can approve or dismiss the request depending on if it finds the person has or has not met the requirements. There also must be two pieces of evidence to back the applicant’s claim that they were victim of domestic abuse at the time.

HB0484 by Brock Martin requires TennCare health benefit plans to cover biomarker testing on and after the New Year. Biomarker testing is a lab test on the blood, tissue, or other fluids that test for things such as cancer. HB0169 or SB0589 also deals with health benefits. This bill changes a few things with health benefit plans regarding contraceptives, such as removing that the contraceptive must be one that is legally marketed under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The bill also tweaks some of the present law definitions of a health benefit plan.

Tennessee General Assembly’s website has a “Bill Search” where residents can put in a date or keyword to find out what their legislators are passing. The website is capitol.tn.gov.