Tennessee Senate Bill SB2626

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/2/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2; Title 8; Title 39 and Title 40, relative to persons convicted of felonies.

Summary

SB2626 amends Tennessee law governing the civil and political consequences of felony convictions, with a particular focus on public office eligibility and public retirement-related provisions. The bill revises the rule that disqualifies certain people from holding public office after conviction for bribery or another “infamous” offense, and it adds a specific permanent disqualification for a person whose infamous crime was committed in the person’s official capacity or involved the duties of the office. It also states that a person is forever disqualified from public office if the restoration of citizenship came through a presidential pardon. In addition to the public-office changes, the bill removes repeated references in several Tennessee Code sections to offenses or conduct “arising out of” an employee’s or official’s employment or official capacity and to conduct “constituting malfeasance in office.” These edits appear in provisions in Title 8 that relate to state employee and official retirement or benefit consequences, suggesting a broader cleanup of statutory language tied to felony convictions and official misconduct. The act takes effect July 1, 2026, and applies only to felony convictions on or after that date.

Impact

The bill would amend multiple sections of Tennessee Code Annotated, primarily in Title 8, to narrow and clarify how felony convictions affect eligibility for public office and certain state employment/retirement-related consequences. It creates a permanent bar to holding public office for specified infamous crimes committed in an official capacity or involving official duties, and it treats presidentially pardoned restorations of citizenship differently from other restorations. The bill also removes malfeasance-in-office language from several statutes, which may change how those provisions are applied to future felony convictions.

Sentiment

Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes in the provided materials, the overall sentiment appears procedural and reform-oriented rather than overtly contentious. The measure seems aimed at clarifying and tightening the consequences of felony convictions for public officials and employees, with an emphasis on official misconduct. No opposition, amendments, or recorded floor/committee concerns are available in the provided context.

Contention

The main potential point of contention is the bill’s permanent disqualification from public office for crimes committed in an official capacity and for cases where citizenship was restored through a presidential pardon. That could raise questions about fairness, scope, and whether the law should distinguish between different forms of restoration of rights. Another possible issue is the removal of malfeasance-in-office language from several statutes, which may affect how broadly or narrowly those provisions reach future cases involving public employees and officials.