Tennessee Senate Bill SB1455

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/11/25
• Chaptered: 6/4/25
• Passed: 6/4/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Chapter 55 of the Private Acts of 1993; as amended by Chapter 134 of the Private Acts of 1998; and any other acts amendatory thereto, relative to the City of Bartlett.

Summary

SB1455 is a local private act for the City of Bartlett that revises the city charter’s rules for electing and serving on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. It keeps the city’s nonpartisan at-large municipal elections, but formally sets the board structure at a mayor and six aldermen, each elected to four-year terms, and adds three-term limits for the mayor and for each aldermanic office. The bill also specifies that partial terms generally do not count toward the limit, and that the new term limits will apply prospectively so incumbents are not forced out of their current terms. The bill further requires candidates for alderman to file for a specific numbered seat, preserves the at-large election method, and provides a tie-breaking process in which the incumbent board decides the winner. It also sets the timing for a vice-mayor appointment and a board-elected register, and retains staggered elections for the aldermanic seats. In addition, it adds a “resign to run” rule requiring a sitting mayor or alderman to resign if running for another board seat when their current seat is not up for election.

Impact

The bill amends the Bartlett private charter provisions in Chapter 55 of the Private Acts of 1993, as previously amended in 1998, and changes local law governing municipal elections, term limits, succession, and personnel authority. It also expands the city’s anti-discrimination language for appointments and employment decisions to include race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age 40 and older, disability, and genetic information. The act is contingent on approval by a two-thirds vote of the Bartlett legislative body, meaning it only takes effect locally if the city adopts it.

Sentiment

The available voting history shows strong support, with the House adopting the measure 32-0. No committee transcripts are available, but the unanimous floor vote suggests the bill was broadly accepted and not controversial at the chamber level. The act was also approved and signed into law, indicating final support from both the legislature and the governor.

Contention

The main policy questions in the bill are local governance changes: whether Bartlett should adopt term limits for its mayor and aldermen, whether sitting officials should be required to resign before running for another board seat, and whether the city should formalize numbered aldermanic positions in at-large elections. Another potential point of interest is the expansion of personnel protections, which updates the city’s anti-discrimination rules to include genetic information and age 40 and older. Because the bill is a local private act and requires a supermajority vote of the Bartlett governing body, the key stakeholder group is the city itself rather than the statewide public.