Sen. Jack Johnson

Maddy summarySB 1312 transfers governance of the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) from its separate board to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, effective July 1, 2025. It renames the "Wilder-Naifeh technical skills grant" program to "TennesseeWORKS scholarship" throughout state code, updating all references to this existing scholarship. The bill makes no changes to program eligibility, funding, or student benefits - only administrative structure and the program's official name.

Maddy summarySB 691 requires Tennessee's comptroller of the treasury to report to the state legislature which counties adjusted voting precinct boundaries to prevent precincts from being split across multiple legislative districts. This bill amends three sections of Tennessee law (2-16-103, 3-1-102, and 3-1-103) to establish this reporting requirement. It directly affects counties that redraw precinct lines under redistricting rules, ensuring transparency about how local election boundaries align with legislative districts. The bill does not change district maps or voting rules but mandates a formal report on precinct boundary adjustments. This is a procedural measure focused on administrative transparency in redistricting compliance.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires Tennessee's Department of Safety to submit an annual report by February 1 to the governor and legislative leaders. The report must detail how many times courts increased penalties for two specific scenarios: convictions involving violent crimes with undocumented immigrants as defendants, or convictions involving deadly weapons with undocumented immigrants as defendants. It mandates statewide totals and county-by-county breakdowns for these cases. The bill does not change existing penalty laws but establishes a new data-collection requirement for transparency.

Maddy summarySJR 6005 is a procedural resolution that permanently adjourns (ends) the First Extraordinary Session of Tennessee's 104th General Assembly. It sets the session's final date as January 30, 2025, at the close of business. This resolution directly affects the General Assembly itself by concluding its current extraordinary session. The resolution was enacted into law after receiving approval from both legislative chambers and the Governor.

Maddy summaryThis procedural resolution (SJR 29) schedules a 10-day recess for Tennessee's One Hundred Fourteenth General Assembly, setting the break from January 16, 2025, through January 26, 2025. It directs the House of Representatives to reconvene on Monday, January 27, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. CST and the Senate to reconvene at 3:00 p.m. CST, with no substantive policy changes or affected constituents beyond the legislative calendar.

Maddy summarySB 1, the "Education Freedom Act of 2025," creates a state-funded scholarship program allowing eligible Tennessee students to use public funds for private school tuition. It directly affects low-income families (with household income under 300% of free/reduced lunch thresholds) and students in specific categories, prioritizing them for 20,000 scholarships in the 2025-2026 school year. The program, administered by the Tennessee Department of Education, sets income-based eligibility, reserves half the scholarships for targeted groups, and expands on existing education savings accounts. Private schools must be state-approved, and scholarship availability increases annually based on funding and application demand.