Tennessee House Bill HB2373

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/2/26
• Refer: 2/5/26
• Refer: 3/10/26
• Refer: 3/24/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 38, Chapter 8, Part 1 and Title 41, relative to pay supplements for local correctional officers.

Summary

HB2373 creates a new state-funded pay supplement program for certified local correctional officers employed by local governments in Tennessee. A local unit of government that requires full-time certified local correctional officers to complete at least 40 hours of approved annual in-service training would be eligible to receive an $800 annual supplement for each qualifying officer, to be paid in addition to regular salary. The bill also sets eligibility rules tied to completion of eight months of full-time service, with exceptions for death, retirement, or medical disability, and it allows active military service time to count toward the service requirement. The bill further provides that officers who miss training because of active-duty military service during a period of armed conflict must still receive the supplement, and that if an officer dies in the line of duty before completing training, the designated beneficiary receives the payment. It defines how the funds may be used, prohibits using them to replace existing salaries or normal raises, and states that the supplement is not part of salary for future supplement calculations or retirement purposes. The act takes effect July 1, 2026, and applies to local correctional officers as defined in the bill, including jail administrators, jailers, deputy sheriffs, guards, and correctional officers working solely in a correctional capacity and certified by the institute.

Impact

The bill amends Tennessee law governing correctional officer compensation by adding a new statutory pay supplement for local correctional officers and by tying eligibility to annual in-service training and certification standards. It creates a new funding and administration framework involving the institute and local governments, restricts the use of the funds to cash salary supplements, and excludes certain employees and dual-eligible officers from receiving both training supplements. It also clarifies that the supplement is not part of base salary for retirement or future supplement purposes, and it authorizes counties to work with the board to implement the program.

Sentiment

The available voting history shows strong support for the bill in committee, with unanimous or near-unanimous favorable recommendations at both the House Departments & Agencies Subcommittee and the House State & Local Government Committee. No committee transcript is available, but the votes suggest the proposal was viewed positively as a workforce support measure for local correctional officers. The bill’s structure also indicates an effort to balance compensation incentives with training, certification, and fiscal controls.

Contention

There is little evidence of overt opposition in the available record, but the bill’s main policy tensions are implicit. One point of concern is cost and administration, since the supplement depends on specific appropriations and requires local compliance with training and certification rules. Another possible area of debate is eligibility: the bill excludes officers who have not completed eight months of service, limits payments for those who terminate employment, and bars support/non-facility support employees and officers already receiving a comparable training supplement through the peace officer standards and training commission. The bill also distinguishes the supplement from salary and retirement benefits, which may matter to employees and local governments alike.