SB 1146 - HB 1349
FISCAL NOTE
Fiscal Review Committee
Tennessee General Assembly
March 12, 2025
Fiscal Analyst: Chris Higgins | Email: chris.higgins@capitol.tn.gov | Phone: 615-741-2564
SB 1146 - HB 1349
SUMMARY OF BILL: Requires a county medical examiner's office or regional forensic
center, when conducting an autopsy on a decedent who is suspected to have committed a mass
shooting that resulted in the deaths of four or more individuals, to consult such decedent's treating
mental health professional or primary care physician, if known, to obtain information regarding the
decedent's psychotropic drug use. Requires the county medical examiner to test the decedent for the
presence of any drugs, including psychotropic drugs.
Requires the county medical examiner's office or regional forensic center to disclose the drug use of
the decedent to the University of Tennessee's Health Science Center (HSC) and the Department of
Health (DOH). Requires the HSC to study the drug interactions between the psychotropic drugs
and any other drugs that were present in the decedent's system.
Requires the HSC to submit quarterly reports of all data obtained pursuant to the legislation to the
Chairs of certain legislative committees.
FISCAL IMPACT:
NOT SIGNIFICANT
Assumptions:
• Pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-7-103(c), the chief medical examiner shall have
investigative authority for certain types of death that are in the interests of the state,
including mass fatality incidents, for the identification, examination and disposition of
victims' remains, and instances that represent a threat to the public health or safety, or both.
• Pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-7-106(a), a county medical examiner may perform or
order an autopsy on the body of any person in a case involving a homicide, suspected
homicide, a suicide, a violent, unnatural or suspicious death, an unexpected apparent natural
death in an adult, sudden unexpected infant and child deaths, deaths believed to represent a
threat to public health or safety, and executed prisoners.
• Autopsies ordered by county medical examiners are performed at one of five regional
forensic centers across the state.
• The proposed legislation requires a county medical examiner to test a decedent who is
suspected of committing a mass shooting for the presence of any drugs, including
psychotropic drugs, when conducting an autopsy.
• According to information in the Gun Violence Archive database, there have been eight mass
shootings in Tennessee since 2015 that resulted in the death of four or more individuals.
SB 1146 - HB 1349 2
• Based on information provided by the Department of Health, the proposed legislation is
not excepted to have a significant impact on the duties of medical examiners or the regional
forensic centers in the state.
• It is assumed that the HSC can conduct the required studies and submit quarterly reports
utilizing existing personnel and resources, without a significant increase in expenditures;
therefore, any fiscal impact is estimated to be not significant.
CERTIFICATION:
The information contained herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
Bojan Savic, Executive Director