Tennessee Senate Bill SB2061

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/22/26
• Engrossed: 3/5/26
• Enrolled: 4/29/26
• Passed: 5/22/26
• Chaptered: 5/27/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 9, Chapter 4, Part 2, relative to funding for the protection of children.

Summary

SB2061 creates a new state treasury fund called the Children’s Digital Protection Fund. The bill directs money received by the state from the resolution of legal claims involving the effects of social media platforms, online gaming platforms, or other digital technologies on minors’ mental health and wellbeing into that fund, as determined in the sole discretion of the attorney general and reporter. The fund is intended to support programs and services aimed at protecting children from harmful digital impacts. The bill specifies that money in the fund may be used, subject to appropriation by the General Assembly, for mental health supports and treatment for minors, research on the effects of social media and technology, law enforcement resources for civil and criminal enforcement related to those effects, efforts to address exploitation of minors through technology, education on digital harms, deposits into the K-12 mental health endowment fund, and suicide prevention for minors. The bill also defines key terms such as “minor,” “net recovery,” “online gaming platform,” and “social media platform,” and provides that the fund’s interest earnings remain in the fund and do not revert to the general fund at the end of the fiscal year.

Impact

The bill amends Tennessee Code Annotated Title 9, Chapter 4, Part 2 by adding a new section establishing a dedicated special fund in the state treasury. It changes how certain litigation recoveries tied to digital technology harms affecting minors are handled by requiring those net recoveries to be deposited into the Children’s Digital Protection Fund rather than the general fund, and it authorizes the fund’s use only for the enumerated child-protection purposes and only as appropriated by the legislature. It also gives the attorney general and reporter authority to determine the amount of net recovery and direct the deposit, and it makes the fund nonreverting with interest credited back to the fund.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have broad bipartisan support and moved through the legislature without recorded opposition in the available votes. It was recommended for passage unanimously in the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee, then passed the Senate and House on third consideration with no nays recorded. The voting history suggests the measure was viewed favorably as a child-protection and mental-health funding bill.

Contention

There is little visible contention in the available record, but the bill’s structure could raise policy questions about the attorney general’s sole discretion to determine which legal recoveries are covered and how much is deposited into the fund. Another possible point of debate is the earmarking of litigation proceeds for specific programs, including law enforcement resources and the K-12 mental health endowment fund, rather than allowing those funds to flow into the general treasury. No committee transcript is available here, and the recorded votes do not show organized opposition.