The Tennessee House Finance, Ways and Means Subcommittee on April 17 approved a broad consent calendar and referred more than 30 bills to the full Finance Committee for further consideration.

The committee, chaired during the session by Chairman Hicks, opened with a roll call and, after objections to several consent-calendar items were noted, voted to adopt the calendar. Chairman Hicks recognized individual bill sponsors to offer brief descriptions before the committee voted to advance each bill.

Why it matters: The subcommittee’s routine referral sends multiple substantive bills — spanning criminal justice, environmental permitting, transportation funding and social-services pilot programs — to the full Finance Committee, where fiscal considerations will be examined before final floor action.

The most substantial items included:

House Bill 5 76 (Chairman Doggett) — creates a Board of Professional Bondsmen to be housed in the Department of Commerce and Insurance. The committee adopted one short amendment (drafting code 7,254) and voted to send the bill to full finance, 13-0.

House Bill 12 78 (Chairman Hill) — as amended, allows certain loan charges (origination, application, appraisal fees) to be included in the hurricane interest payment fund application requests for counties. The committee voted to move the bill to full finance, 12-0.

House Bill 40 (Chairman Reedy) — establishes a task or study to assess juvenile detention bed needs for the state rather than earmark funding immediately. The committee advanced the bill to full finance, 13-0.

House Bill 10 89 (Sexton and Chairman Hicks) — requires mental-health evaluations for individuals convicted of certain offenses as part of the court’s sentencing process. The committee approved an amendment (drafting code 6,500) and moved the bill to full finance, 13-0.

House Bill 55 (Leader Lambert) — a package of criminal-justice provisions described by the sponsor; the bill was advanced with a reported minimal local fiscal impact (approximately $3,900). The committee voted 11-0 to send it to full finance.

House Bill 9 69 (Chairman Hawk), as amended — creates a recurring transportation funding stream dedicated from a sales tax on tires. The amendment (drafting code 6,997) was adopted and the bill moved to full finance, 11-0.

House Bill 7 61 (Chairlady Littleton) — removes the definition of “content harmful to minors” from the Protect Tennessee Miners Act; the committee advanced the bill, 12-0.

House Bill 5 41 (Chairman Vaughn) — revises the state’s isolated-wetlands permitting and mitigation framework, differentiates wetland types by quality and value, and presumes a wetland resource inventory prepared under TDEC standards to be correct if properly performed. The committee moved the bill to full finance, 13-0.

House Bill 13 26 (Chairman Vaughn) — a permissive bill to streamline land-use planning by establishing vesting upon acceptance of a complete application and allowing local governments to authorize administrative processing of conditional-use permits; advanced 12-0.

House Bill 9 30 (Chairman White) — addresses a revolving loan fund for low-income housing, described as containing roughly $3.2 million in previously inaccessible funds; advanced 13-0.

House Bill 24 (Representative Hemmer) — modernizes wildlife penalties and increases maximum fines; a timely amendment (drafting code 6,818) was added, and the bill moved to full finance, 13-0.

House Bill 7 17 (Representative Jones, amendment carried by Chairman Hicks) — extends the Alzheimer’s and dementia respite-care pilot program termination date from December 2025 to Dec. 31, 2026, and the committee advanced the measure, 13-0.

House Bill 33 and House Bill 34 (Chairman Gillespie) — two measures adjusting bail and pretrial processes: HB 33 establishes a presumption against release on personal recognizance in certain firearm or serious-injury cases unless a judge notes written findings (12-0); HB 34 permits a five-year juvenile-record lookback for certain young adults in the bail process (13-0).

House Bill 11 81 and House Bill 6 53 (Chairman Hicks of Washington) — HB 11 81, as amended by drafting code 7,417, extends the sales-tax exemption for equipment used by broadband providers; HB 6 53 makes changes intended to improve the Tennessee registry of elections and finance. Both bills were advanced to full finance (HB 11 81: 13-0; HB 6 53: 13-0).

House Bill 132 (Speaker Zachary) — would allow the General Assembly to terminate a state of emergency at any time by joint resolution; the committee moved the bill to full finance, 13-0.

House Bill 12 32 (Leader Lambert) — a fentanyl-related bill creating a 30-day mandatory minimum for possession of fentanyl and other provisions aimed at treating overdoses as crime scenes; advanced 13-0.

House Bill 3 22 (Chairman Todd) — creates the crime of human smuggling and provides tools for law enforcement to prosecute smuggling separate from trafficking. The bill advanced to full finance on an 11-2 vote; the sponsor and members debated the distinction between smuggling and trafficking during discussion.

House Bill 8 94 (Chairman Todd) — reconstitutes the Groundwater Management Board that oversees certain well-driller matters; the bill moved to full finance, 11-1.

House Bill 3 70 (Representative Scarborough) — clarifies the statutory term “communicate” to include contacting a person in physical presence; moved to full finance, 11-0.

House Bill 9 15 (Representative Sparks, as amended) — expands existing six-week paid leave for state employees to add family caregiving and end-of-life support for certain relatives, with implementation details to be set by the Department of Human Resources; advanced 10-0.

House Bill 11 63 (Representative Stevens) — changes the treatment of the state portion of base student funding for charter schools so that the state portion is a direct allocation to charters rather than passing through the local LEA; moved to full finance, 12-0.

Leader Camper’s House Bill 9 40 (amended) — changes related to watercraft operation and insurance requirements, with an effective date of January 2026; moved to full finance, 12-0.

House Bill 9 19 (carried by Chairman Sopicki) — adds appointments to boards of regents and university trustees for the speaker of the house and the lieutenant governor; moved to full finance, 12-0.

Votes at a glance: The committee recorded unanimous or near‑unanimous votes to move the listed bills to full Finance, with one split vote on House Bill 3 22 (11 ayes, 2 nos) and a single no on House Bill 8 94 (11 ayes, 1 no). Other tallies are included with each bill above.

Quotes from sponsors and members were limited to brief bill descriptions and expressions of support. Representative Jones thanked colleagues for the respite-program extension; Chairman Vaughn and others described technical changes to wetlands and land-use law. Deputy Speaker Zachary described House Bill 132 as restoring a legislative check on executive emergency powers.

What's next: Each bill will be considered by the full Finance Committee for fiscal review and potential amendments before any floor votes.

Ending: The committee recessed at the end of the calendar after advancing the listed items.