Tennessee House Bill HB1630

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/14/26
• Refer: 1/21/26
• Refer: 2/11/26
• Refer: 2/18/26
• Refer: 3/11/26
• Refer: 3/17/26
• Chaptered: 5/5/26
• Passed: 5/5/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 50, Chapter 6, Part 2, relative to workers' compensation.

Summary

HB1630 amends Tennessee’s workers’ compensation laws in Title 50, Chapter 6, Part 2. The bill makes several technical and substantive changes to the administration of the workers’ compensation system, including renaming and clarifying the use of the “subsequent injury and vocational recovery fund.” It specifies that money in that fund may be used not only for compensation-related purposes, but also for legal defense of the administrator in fund-related actions, vocational recovery assistance for eligible employees, and computer system costs for the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. The bill also revises procedures for certain workers’ compensation filings and hearings by changing terminology from “petition” to “motion,” “request for hearing” to “petition for benefit determination,” and requiring compliance with a court order rather than a timely response to a petition. In addition, it updates eligibility language for vocational recovery benefits by allowing combined impairment ratings from authorized treating physicians to meet the 10% threshold, rather than requiring a single physician’s rating and certification.

Impact

The bill amends multiple provisions of Tennessee Code Annotated sections 50-6-208, 50-6-235, 50-6-239, and 50-6-242. Its practical effect is to broaden and clarify how the subsequent injury and vocational recovery fund may be spent, modernize procedural terminology in workers’ compensation disputes, and adjust how impairment ratings are counted for vocational recovery eligibility. The changes affect the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, the fund administrator, injured employees seeking benefits, and employers and insurers involved in workers’ compensation claims.

Sentiment

The available voting history shows strong, unanimous support at each committee stage, with no recorded opposition in the House Banking and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee, House Commerce Committee, House Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee, or House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee. No committee transcripts were provided, but the unanimous votes suggest the bill was viewed as a largely noncontroversial update to workers’ compensation administration and benefit procedures.

Contention

No explicit opposition or debate is reflected in the provided materials. The most likely points of interest are the expanded authorized uses of the fund, especially the inclusion of legal defense and computer system costs, and the change allowing impairment ratings from multiple authorized treating physicians to satisfy the vocational recovery threshold. These provisions could matter to injured workers, employers, insurers, and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, but the recorded votes indicate no visible committee-level contention.