AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68 and Title 70, relative to the "Tennessee Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund."
SB2572 creates the Tennessee Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund and adds a new chapter to Title 70 governing how the fund is administered and spent. The bill defines key terms such as conservation land, permanently protected conservation areas, project proposal, and nongovernmental entity, and establishes a special fund in the state treasury that can receive appropriations and other designated deposits. Unspent balances generally remain in the fund, investment earnings are credited back to the fund, and only amounts above $20 million in unobligated year-end balances revert to the general fund if not appropriated.
The bill authorizes the fund to support grants and loans to counties, municipalities, state agencies, and qualifying nonprofit conservation organizations for a wide range of outdoor stewardship projects. Eligible uses include improving state park recreation features and trails, restoring working agricultural lands and forests, acquiring and improving local parks and trails, improving access to public waters and protected lands, restoring wetlands and habitats, and acquiring critical areas for clean water, wildlife, hunting and fishing, military buffering, and outdoor recreation. Land acquisition is limited by specific conditions and may not be done through eminent domain or condemnation.
SB2572 also creates a 12-member board of trustees to review applications and recommend funding. The board includes several ex officio state officials and appointed members drawn from forestry, conservation, agriculture, marine resources, hunting, or fishing, with conflict-of-interest restrictions and annual reporting requirements. The Department of Finance and Administration is responsible for disbursing funds based on the board’s recommendations, while the Department of Revenue is directed to promulgate implementing rules in consultation with the board.
The bill’s impact on state law is to establish a new dedicated conservation and outdoor recreation financing structure, along with a governance and application process for distributing state money to public and nonprofit recipients. It also sets spending priorities, deadlines for using awarded funds, and limits on administrative expenses, while preserving the fund for its intended purposes. The act takes effect immediately for board appointments and on July 1, 2026 for all other purposes.
Because no committee transcripts or votes were provided, there is no recorded legislative debate or voting history to gauge sentiment. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears to be framed as a broad conservation and outdoor recreation initiative with support for parks, trails, habitat restoration, water quality, and access to public lands, but the absence of discussion records means no specific opposition or controversy can be confirmed from the supplied materials.
This bill would add a new chapter to Title 70 establishing the Tennessee Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund, a dedicated state treasury fund for conservation, recreation, habitat, water-quality, and related land-acquisition projects. It creates a board of trustees to evaluate applications and recommend grants or loans to counties, municipalities, state agencies, and certain nonprofit conservation entities, and it directs the Department of Finance and Administration and Department of Revenue to administer and implement the program. The bill also imposes restrictions on eligible land acquisitions, spending timelines, administrative-cost caps, reporting duties, and conflict-of-interest rules, thereby creating a new statutory framework for outdoor stewardship funding in Tennessee.
No committee transcripts or votes were provided, so there is no documented public debate or recorded vote to assess legislative sentiment. From the bill text, the measure appears generally favorable toward conservation, outdoor recreation, and local infrastructure support, with a policy design that emphasizes broad stakeholder participation and targeted funding priorities. The lack of discussion records means any support or opposition beyond the text itself cannot be confirmed.
The bill text suggests several potential areas of contention, though none are documented in the provided transcripts or votes. These include the creation of a dedicated fund with year-end balance rules, the use of state money for land acquisition and nonprofit grants, the prohibition on eminent domain for acquisitions, and the composition of the board, which gives appointed seats to private-sector conservation and outdoor-use interests. Another possible point of debate is the prioritization of projects tied to hunting, fishing, military buffering, and conservation easements, as well as the threshold allowing unobligated funds above $20 million to revert to the general fund.