Tennessee House Bill HB0887

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/4/25
• Refer: 2/6/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 3, Chapter 6; Title 4; Title 39, Chapter 16, Part 5 and Title 58, Chapter 2, relative to lobbying regulation.

Summary

HB0887 creates a new chapter in Tennessee law called the “Tennessee Foreign Adversary and Chinese Military Company Disclosure and Accountability Act.” The bill is aimed at increasing transparency around lobbying activities conducted in Tennessee on behalf of foreign adversary principals and Chinese military companies. It defines those covered entities by reference to federal lists and categories, and it applies to lobbyists who are paid to lobby for those principals. Under the bill, a lobbyist who lobbies for a foreign adversary principal or a Chinese military company must file an affidavit certifying that the lobbying is being done voluntarily and under the lobbyist’s free will. For lobbying on behalf of a Chinese military company, the affidavit must also include acknowledgments about the Chinese Communist Party’s strategic goals and the role of Chinese military companies in those goals. The bill makes it unlawful to engage in such lobbying without the required disclosures and imposes a civil penalty of $50,000 per violation, with each day of noncompliance treated as a separate violation, up to 20 violations per year.

Impact

The bill would add a new disclosure and enforcement regime to Tennessee’s lobbying laws, supplementing existing requirements in Title 3 and related provisions. It would create new statutory definitions for foreign adversary principals and Chinese military companies, tie those definitions to federal lists, and authorize civil penalties for noncompliant lobbying activity. The practical effect would be to impose additional compliance obligations on lobbyists, lobbying firms, and any entities or individuals representing covered foreign principals in Tennessee.

Sentiment

No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate, amendments, or formal support/opposition in the available record. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears strongly adversarial toward foreign influence operations, especially those connected to China, and is framed as a public transparency and accountability measure. The overall tone is restrictive and enforcement-oriented rather than neutral or facilitative.

Contention

The most likely points of contention are the bill’s broad treatment of foreign adversaries and its especially pointed language regarding Chinese military companies and the Chinese Communist Party. Supporters would likely view the bill as a national-security and transparency measure, while critics may argue that it is politically charged, potentially overbroad, or burdensome for lobbyists and businesses with foreign ties. The mandatory affidavit language and steep per-violation penalties may also be controversial, particularly because each day of noncompliance counts as a separate violation.