Tennessee House Bill HB0252

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/21/25
• Refer: 2/3/25
• Refer: 2/10/25
• Chaptered: 3/21/25
• Passed: 3/21/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 29 and Title 41, Chapter 23, Part 1, relative to the Interstate Corrections Compact.

Summary

HB0252 amends Tennessee law governing the Interstate Corrections Compact, which is the interstate agreement that allows Tennessee to transfer certain inmates to correctional facilities in other states and to house inmates from other states under compact terms. The bill removes the compact from one of the state’s statutory lists of entities subject to periodic review and adds it to a separate sunset provision in Title 4. Specifically, the bill provides that the Interstate Corrections Compact will terminate on June 30, 2033, unless it is continued, reestablished, or restructured under Tennessee’s sunset-review process. It also makes a conforming change by deleting the compact from Tennessee Code Annotated § 4-29-246(a). The act takes effect immediately upon becoming law.

Impact

The bill changes Tennessee’s administrative law by placing the Interstate Corrections Compact under a sunset date and aligning it with the state’s governmental-entity review framework. It affects Tennessee Code Annotated Title 4, Chapter 29, and Title 41, Chapter 23, Part 1, but does not itself alter the substantive rules of inmate transfers or compact operations before the 2033 termination date. The practical effect is to require future legislative action if Tennessee wants the compact to continue beyond June 30, 2033.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have broad, noncontroversial support. It passed the House Government Operations Committee 10-0 and later passed the House on consent calendar with 89 yeas and 0 nays, indicating little or no opposition in the recorded votes. The available record suggests the measure was treated as a routine administrative update rather than a contested policy change.

Contention

No committee transcript or recorded debate is provided, and the voting history shows no opposition. As a result, there is no documented substantive contention in the available materials. The only likely policy issue implied by the bill is whether the Interstate Corrections Compact should remain subject to sunset review, but no member or stakeholder objection is reflected in the record.