Tennessee Senate Bill SB1453

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/10/25
• Chaptered: 6/4/25
• Passed: 6/4/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Chapter 67 of the Private Acts of 1953; as amended by Chapter 53 of the Private Acts of 2016; and any other acts amendatory thereto, relative to the charter for the City of Gallatin.

Summary

SB1453 is a local private act affecting the charter of the City of Gallatin. The bill amends the city’s private charter by deleting a provision that required all city officers, except the city attorney, to devote all of their time to their offices. In practical terms, this removes the charter’s blanket full-time service requirement for municipal officers other than the city attorney. The act is structured as a local option measure: it does not take effect unless approved by a two-thirds vote of Gallatin’s legislative body. The bill becomes effective immediately for the limited purpose of allowing that local approval or rejection process to occur, while the substantive charter change takes effect only if the city council adopts it by the required supermajority and the result is certified to the secretary of state.

Impact

The bill amends a specific private act governing the City of Gallatin’s municipal charter, rather than changing general state law. Its legal effect is to remove a charter restriction on the time commitment of city officers, giving the city more flexibility to structure municipal offices and potentially allowing certain officers to serve on a part-time or less-than-full-time basis, subject to local approval. The measure affects Gallatin’s governing body and city officials directly, but only if the city’s legislative body approves it by a two-thirds vote.

Sentiment

The available voting record shows strong support for the measure, with the House adopting it 33-0 on April 17, 2025. No committee transcripts are available, so there is no recorded debate in the provided materials. The unanimous floor vote suggests the bill was broadly noncontroversial among legislators who voted on it.

Contention

No explicit opposition or substantive controversy appears in the provided record. The only built-in point of procedural contention is the requirement that Gallatin’s legislative body approve the charter amendment by a two-thirds vote before it can take effect locally. That supermajority condition means the city council, rather than the General Assembly, will determine whether the charter change is ultimately implemented.