Tennessee House Bill HB2527

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/3/26
• Refer: 2/5/26
• Refer: 3/10/26
• Refer: 3/23/26
• Chaptered: 5/5/26
• Passed: 5/5/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 37, Chapter 1, relative to child abuse investigations.

Summary

HB2527 amends Tennessee’s child abuse investigation statutes to change how multidisciplinary investigative teams are formed and how they operate. The bill requires each team to include a representative from the Department of Children’s Services, the district attorney general’s office, a juvenile court officer or investigator, and a properly trained law enforcement officer with countywide jurisdiction. It also allows, and in some cases requires, additional participation from mental health, medical, child advocacy center, and anti-human-trafficking organizations depending on the case. The bill adds an annual training requirement for team members: fifteen hours of training on severe child abuse and child sexual abuse, to be developed by the department in consultation with courts, child advocacy centers, prosecutors, and law enforcement groups. It also revises deadlines for completing investigations and entering findings into the abuse registry, generally requiring a determination within 90 days, but extending child fatality investigations to 180 days with one possible 180-day extension for good cause. The bill further requires reports to be shared with team members, juvenile court in department-only investigations, and district attorneys when abuse is indicated.

Impact

The bill amends Tennessee Code Annotated sections in Title 37, Chapter 1, affecting the state’s child abuse investigation process, abuse registry reporting, and interagency coordination. It changes the composition of child protective investigative teams, imposes new annual training obligations, and establishes clearer timelines and reporting requirements for indicated or unfounded findings, including special procedures for child fatality cases. It also strengthens the role of child advocacy centers in eligible areas and ensures confidentiality protections remain in place for generated information.

Sentiment

The available voting history shows strong support for the bill, with unanimous or near-unanimous committee approval in both the House Children and Family Affairs Subcommittee and the House Judiciary Committee. No committee transcript is available, but the votes suggest broad agreement that the bill improves child abuse investigation procedures and coordination among agencies. The bill ultimately passed and was enacted, indicating favorable overall sentiment among lawmakers.

Contention

There is little evidence of major opposition in the available record, as the committee votes were unanimous. The most likely points of policy interest are the expanded team membership requirements, the mandatory annual training hours, and the longer investigative deadlines in child fatality cases, which could raise concerns about administrative burden or delays. Another notable issue is the bill’s requirement that human trafficking cases include a nongovernmental anti-exploitation specialist, reflecting a targeted policy choice about specialized expertise in those investigations.