Tennessee Senate Bill SB0451

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/29/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 40, Chapter 39, Part 2, relative to sexual and violent sexual offenders.

Summary

SB0451 amends Tennessee’s sex offender registration and reporting laws to require certain sexual and violent sexual offenders to disclose membership in a church, temple, or other religious group or organization in Tennessee. The bill adds this information to the list of items offenders must provide to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement, including the name, physical address, mailing address if different, and phone number of the religious organization where the offender is a registered member. It also adds the religious organization to the information that must be included in offender registration records. The act takes effect July 1, 2025, and would expand the scope of information collected and maintained under Tennessee’s offender registry statutes in Title 40, Chapter 39, Part 2. In practical terms, it would create a new reporting obligation for covered offenders and a corresponding data field for state and local registry authorities to track religious affiliation or membership location.

Impact

The bill would amend Tennessee Code Annotated sections 40-39-203, 40-39-206, and 40-39-214 to add religious organization membership information to sex offender registration requirements and records. This would affect sexual and violent sexual offenders subject to registration, as well as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement agencies that collect, maintain, and publish registry information. The bill broadens the statutory reporting framework by requiring disclosure of church, temple, or other religious group membership details, effective July 1, 2025.

Sentiment

No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate, support, or opposition in the available materials. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears to be a targeted public-safety and registry-expansion proposal rather than a broad policy overhaul. Because it concerns sex offender reporting and religious affiliation, it may attract both support from those favoring additional monitoring and concern from those worried about privacy or constitutional issues, but those views are not documented in the provided record.

Contention

The main potential point of contention is the requirement that offenders disclose membership in religious organizations, which raises privacy, associational, and possible First Amendment concerns. Critics could argue that collecting and recording church or temple membership goes beyond ordinary residence or employment reporting and may chill religious participation. Supporters would likely frame the change as an added identification and monitoring tool for law enforcement. No specific legislators, witnesses, or committee members are identified in the provided materials.