Tennessee House Bill HB2043

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/23/26
• Refer: 2/4/26
• Refer: 4/6/26
• Chaptered: 5/5/26
• Passed: 5/5/26

Caption

AN ACT relative to agency rules scheduled to expire pursuant to the provisions of the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 5.

Summary

HB2043 is a Tennessee administrative rules bill that changes how certain agency rules are treated when they are scheduled to expire under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act. The bill provides that permanent rules filed with the secretary of state on or after January 1, 2025, and otherwise set to expire on June 30, 2026, will not expire on that date. Instead, those rules remain in effect until they are repealed or amended by the issuing agency or superseded by later legislation. The bill also creates a narrow exception for three Tennessee Public Charter School Commission rules related to initial and amended replication applications. Those specific rules expire immediately on the act’s effective date, despite the general extension of other rules. The act takes effect upon becoming law and includes a severability clause.

Impact

The bill amends the practical operation of Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 5, Section 4-5-226 by preventing expiration of a defined set of permanent rules that would otherwise sunset on June 30, 2026. This preserves the legal force of those agency rules unless and until the relevant agency revises them or the General Assembly enacts conflicting legislation. It also directly terminates three recently filed Tennessee Public Charter School Commission rules, affecting charter school replication application procedures and the commission’s regulatory authority in that area.

Sentiment

The available legislative history suggests the bill moved with little opposition. In the House Government Operations Committee, it received a 10-0 recommendation for passage as amended, indicating broad support or at least no recorded dissent. No committee transcript is available, but the vote pattern suggests the measure was viewed as a routine administrative or technical adjustment rather than a highly controversial policy change.

Contention

The main point of potential contention is the bill’s selective treatment of agency rules: it broadly extends expiring rules while specifically causing three charter school commission rules to expire immediately. That carve-out could draw concern from supporters of charter school replication processes or from those who prefer agency rules to remain in effect until formally amended. More generally, the bill may raise separation-of-powers or administrative-law concerns for stakeholders who favor automatic rule sunsets as a check on agency authority, though the recorded committee vote shows no visible opposition.