HOUSE BILL 1053
By McKenzie
SENATE BILL 1119
By Lamar
SB1119
001346
- 1 -
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 40,
Chapter 29, relative to voting rights.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-29-202, is amended by deleting
subsection (c) and substituting:
(c)
(1) Notwithstanding subsection (a), a person is not eligible to apply for a
voter registration card and have the right of suffrage restored unless the person
is current in all child support obligations.
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (c)(1), a person is eligible to apply for a
voter registration card and have the right of suffrage provisionally restored if the
person enters into a payment plan to become current in all unpaid child support
obligations.
(3) If a person willfully fails to adhere to the terms of a payment plan
entered into pursuant to subdivision (c)(2), then the court that provisionally
restored the person's right of suffrage shall revoke the person's provisional right
of suffrage. Prior to revoking a person's provisional right of suffrage, the court
shall provide the person with court-appointed counsel and offer the person the
opportunity to be heard and to submit proof of the person's financial inability to
pay, which may include a signed affidavit of indigency.
SECTION 2. The secretary of state, in consultation with the department of human
services and the administrative office of the courts, is authorized to promulgate rules to
- 2 - 001346
effectuate the purposes of this act. The rules must be promulgated in accordance with the
Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4,
Chapter 5.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it, and
applies to persons applying for a voter registration card on or after that date.