HOUSE BILL 415 By Davis SENATE BILL 838 By Pody SB0838 001620 - 1 - AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4; Title 9; Title 12; Title 45 and Title 47, relative to the Tennessee advisory commission on intergovernmental relations. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE: WHEREAS, the United States is now facing and managing growing global competition for resources and capital, including tariffs and trade wars, the growth of the BRICS alliance and its increasing control on significant world resources, and developing payment systems that operate outside the dollar system, the expansion of war and territorial disputes, and changes in federal government funding and regulation; and WHEREAS, the adaptation of new technologies creates new opportunities and risks, and changes the fundamental economics of trade, impacting both what and how Tennessee imports and exports; and WHEREAS, increasing dependence on information technology creates growing vulnerabilities for the functionality and reliability of electronic communications and payment systems, and the commerce depending on them; and WHEREAS, these changes and challenges have the potential to impact the wellbeing and quality of life for the people of Tennessee, including increased prices and shortages of fuel and electricity, food and water, housing, health care, and commodities; now, therefore, BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE: SECTION 1. The Tennessee advisory commission on intergovernmental relations (TACIR) shall conduct and produce a study addressing steps that this state can take to protect - 2 - 001620 its financial security and soundness and ensure state sovereignty and resiliency. The study must address the following matters: (1) Steps this state can take to improve its sourcing, availability, and quality of food, oil, medicine, and other essential goods in the event of significant changes in its relations with its current import and export partners; (2) Steps this state can take to improve its sourcing, availability, and quality of food, oil, medicine, and other essential goods in the event of significant price inflation; (3) Steps this state can take to decrease its dependence on centralized financial, communications, energy, and transportation systems that, in the event of disruption as the result of natural disaster or change in the reliability of such systems, may jeopardize the interests of state residents; (4) How the state will conduct its financial transactions and related communications in the event that transactions and communications conducted by existing electronic means are interrupted, compromised, restricted, or subject to unaffordable prices or sanctions; (5) Steps this state should take to ensure it has proper oversight and jurisdiction concerning its contractual obligations and relations with vendors, contractors, and other trade contracts, as well as steps it can take to ensure that no agreements adopted for public or private funding violate the Constitution of the State of Tennessee; and (6) Opportunities to provide increased local and statewide supply of essential goods, services, and capital for Tennessee-based banks, manufacturers, businesses, and farms. SECTION 2. On or before September 1, 2025, TACIR shall report its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to each member of the general assembly and shall provide a copy to the legislative librarian. The report may be delivered electronically. - 3 - 001620 SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.