AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 7; Title 63; Title 65; Title 68 and Title 69, relative to water.
Summary
SB0639 amends Tennessee’s utility and water-related statutes to clarify when public entities may work on certain water and sewer lines on private property. The bill defines “galvanized requiring replacement” to align state law with federal drinking water rules, including the federal Lead and Copper Rule, and it updates the definition of a “project for a private purpose” so that certain line replacement or rehabilitation work is not treated as a prohibited private-purpose project.
Under the bill, municipalities, utility districts, metropolitan governments, and other public entities may address private water lines behind a utility-owned meter when the work is needed to remove lead service lines or galvanized lines requiring replacement, but only for the portion from the utility-owned meter to the exterior building envelope and only to address serious health issues. The bill also allows similar public work on private sewage lines when excessive infiltration and inflow are causing sewer overflows or other serious health or system-capacity problems. Public entities are permitted, but not required, to perform this work if the property owner consents and agrees to hold the entity harmless.
Impact
The bill affects Tennessee Code Annotated Title 7 and related utility provisions by creating a state-law framework that supports lead service line replacement and certain sewer-line rehabilitation on private property without classifying those projects as impermissible private-purpose expenditures. It gives local governments and utility providers clearer authority to participate in targeted infrastructure repairs tied to public health, drinking water compliance, and sewer system performance, while preserving discretion and requiring property-owner consent and indemnification.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the legislative process. It passed the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee unanimously and later cleared both chambers by wide margins, including unanimous or near-unanimous floor votes. The voting history suggests strong agreement that the measure addresses public health and utility infrastructure concerns.
Contention
There is little evidence of significant opposition in the available record. The main policy balance in the bill is between allowing public entities to intervene on private property for health and system reasons and limiting that authority by making the work optional, requiring owner consent, and restricting it to specific line segments and conditions. Any potential concern would likely center on property rights, municipal liability, or the scope of public spending on private infrastructure, but no recorded debate or dissent is shown here.