In the final week of Tennessee’s 2026 legislative session, state lawmakers passed legislation to redirect tax dollars generated by tourism to projects in Nashville’s East Bank.
Immigration, school voucher expansion among the defining issues at the state Capitol in 2026
The bill would funnel millions of sales tax dollars from Music City Center’s tourism development zone to the East Bank Development Authority, which could use the funds for high-cost infrastructure projects. The legislation would also create a state board to oversee the funds, which would be made up of nine members, with two being appointed by the speaker of the House, two by the speaker of the Senate and two by the governor. The Nashville mayor or an appointee, the Music City Center president and the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp president would also sit on the board.
The Republican-sponsored bill passed 83-6 in the House and 26-4 in the Senate, garnering support from some of the state’s Democratic lawmakers.
Here’s what else lawmakers passed in their final week at the state Capitol this year.
State lawmakers on the final day of the legislative session, April 23, 2026
Airport Takeover Approved
Also headed to the governor’s desk is a bill that would allow the state to take over local airport authorities within Tennessee’s metro airports. It would allow the state to appoint members to a nine-person commission overseeing certain airports in the state, including the Nashville International Airport. Other appointees would be chosen by local executives like mayors.
Democrats opposed the bill, calling it state overreach into local authorities. Meanwhile, Republicans maintained that the state should have a say in airports due to the tax dollar investments made into airports.
The legislation comes as the Tennessee Supreme Court weighs a lawsuit between Metro Nashville and the state over previous state laws attempting to take over the airport authority.
Testing Requirements Eased, Last-Minute Voucher Expansion Fails
While an expansion of the state’s Education Freedom Scholarship program narrowly passed last week, Republicans were also successful in passing a bill to cut testing requirements for the state’s other school voucher program — the Education Savings Account program for low-income students (currently operating in Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga).
Senate narrowly votes to conform to House bill and expand Education Freedom Scholarship program to offer 35,000 vouchers
The bill allows private schools to administer other national tests instead of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP). Democrats have criticized the measure, saying the legislation makes it more difficult to know if students’ test scores are improving when they transfer to private schools under the voucher program. Lawmakers passed the Senate version of the bill, rejecting a House proposal that would have expanded the program to Knoxville and removed enrollment caps.
Drink-Drug Testing Bill en Route to Governor
This week, a bill from Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) passed, classifying drugging someone as a class-D felony. The bill also requires bars to maintain drink-drug testing devices for customers. As the law stands currently, a person cannot be convicted solely for drugging another person, only for crimes that follow the drugging.
(Disclosure: Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, which publishes the Nashville Scene, the Nashville Post, the Williamson Scene and Nfocus.)
State House Speaker Cameron Sexton on the final day of the legislative session, April 23, 2026
Maternal Health Protections Pass
In a win for Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis), a bill that requires emergency departments to provide care to pregnant women reporting active labor passed this week. Another of Lamar’s bills, which would have raised the damage cap for obstetric negligence victims from $750,000 to $1 million, failed this week.
Anti-LGBTQ Bills Pass
The Tennessee Equality Project has spoken out against a bill passed this week that makes it optional for students and teachers to use an educator’s preferred “honorifics” — including Mr., Mrs. or Teacher as a title.
Additionally, the Tennessee General Assembly passed Senate Bill 468/House Bill 1959, which puts into place more strict rules around biological sex in prisons, forcing trans women into men’s housing. Tennessee Equality Project points out that the law would put in danger gender-nonconforming, trans and intersex people in prisons, detention centers and jails.
Lawmakers on the final day of the legislative session, April 23, 2026
Memphis Schools Takeover Heads to Governor
Much to the dismay of Memphis’ Democratic lawmakers who view it as a form of preemption, Republicans approved a so-called “intervention” of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools district following the release of a 329-page interim forensic audit detailing “systemic problems.” The bill creates a state-appointed oversight board with widespread authority over the school district.
Board appointments will be made in the next several months. The body will have the sweeping authority to do things like control curriculum and fire and hire a superintendent and other employees. It will have a hand in overseeing the district’s nearly $2 billion budget and could close schools in the area and alter school district zoning. Memphis-Shelby County Schools has announced plans to sue over the legislation.
Legislature Passes "FAIR Rx Act”
After much debate, the "Freedom, Access and Integrity in Registered Pharmacy Act" has passed in Tennessee. The legislation (SB 2040/HB 1959), aimed at reducing conflict of interest within Tennessee’s pharmaceutical industry, passed in the state Senate on Monday and the House on Tuesday with bipartisan support.
CVS Health vows to challenge constitutionality of law in federal court
Supporters of the bill see its passage as a victory for independent pharmacies. Major opposition to the bill has come from national pharmacy operator CVS Health, parent company of pharmacy benefits manager Caremark, which spent more than $1.3 million on ads urging Tennesseans to oppose the legislation.
Immigration Bills Move to Governor’s Desk
The General Assembly passed several immigration bills in its final week, including a bill requiring sheriffs’ offices across the state to enter into agreements with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency’s 287(g) program.
287(g) legislation heads to Senate, poised to tie local agencies to immigration enforcement across state
Bills related to driver’s licenses also passed. One requires a restricted temporary license for applicants who don’t speak or read English, with additional requirements to take an English-only written examination after 18 months and prove legal status in the U.S. Another bill makes it a misdemeanor for an undocumented person to operate a commercial vehicle.
Yet another bill passed that will prevent commercial driver’s license holders from operating in the state if law enforcement officials determine the driver is not able to “sufficiently” speak or understand English during a safety inspection. Another bill restricts some public benefits for undocumented people and opens the door for state investigations into violations of the use of public benefits for undocumented people.
These are just a few of the numerous bills targeting immigrants that were passed throughout the session. This week, Gov. Bill Lee signed another bill into law that criminalizes simply existing as an undocumented person in Tennessee following a federal deportation order.
NES Representation Bill Passes House, Senate
The House and Senate agreed on the terms of a bill that would expand the Nashville Electric Service board to represent customers outside of Davidson County during a conference committee on the last day of the session.
The bill applies only to municipal utility companies with a population of more than 485,000 people, with the addition of board representation from a county outside of the utility’s home county only if said county has more than 3,500 customers. This means the legislation would impact only Davidson and Shelby counties — specifically NES and Memphis Light, Gas and Water.
If the legislation is signed into law, NES would see the addition of four new board members, expanding the body from five to nine members. One new seat will be appointed by the county mayor from each of the following: Wilson, Williamson, Rutherford and Sumner.
MLGW currently has a five-member voting board with two non-voting advisory board members, with the bill to expand the board to seven voting members.
The bill also includes a one-year moratorium on annexations related to electric cooperatives, from Sept. 1, 2026, through Sept. 2, 2027. The moratorium reads in part: “The purchase or transfer of cooperative electric distribution properties and service rights must be completed by mutual agreement between the municipality and the cooperative.”
Nashville Democrats have characterized it as another takeover bill that doesn’t actually fix any issues that NES had leading up to and during Winter Storm Fern. Republicans have used the phrase, “No electrification without representation.”
Gov. Bill Lee, joined by Republican leadership, speaks to press on the final day of the legislative session, April 23, 2026
State Rep. G.A. Hardaway Dies After Brief Illness
Democratic Memphis lawmaker G.A. Hardaway died Friday morning, the day after the Tennessee General Assembly gaveled out for the year.
On Thursday evening, the House honored Hardaway with a resolution, noting his “honorable and distinguished service as a member of the House of Representatives."
