(The Center Square) – A bill on whether schools should check student immigration status and one on artificial intelligence are in the hopper for Tennessee lawmakers when they return to session Jan. 13.
A bill that would make it a class A felony to train artificial intelligence to encourage suicide or homicide is one of the new bills lawmakers will consider. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Mary Littleton, R-Dickson, in the House of Representatives and Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, in the Senate. A class A felony is punishable by up to 60 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.
Sen. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, wants Tennessee to follow the lead of Florida and Illinois in creating a disabled parking permit for expectant mothers in their second or third trimester.
“Expectant mothers often experience mobility issues and other side effects that can make daily tasks physically demanding,” Bulso said in a statement. “This legislation recognizes the importance of welcoming new life into the world by helping alleviate some of the hardships associated with pregnancy.”
The Legislature is also expected to take up some bills that didn’t pass last year.
The Senate greenlighted legislation that would allow schools to question a student’s immigration status before enrolling them. The House of Representatives did not take up the bill.
“It simply gives local governments the authority to make decisions about whether they would charge tuition or not charge tuition,” Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, one of the bill’s sponsors, told TCS in a previous interview. “And if a school board comes out early and says we’re not going to do it, that’s fine. It’s not a mandate.”
Democrats and Republicans introduced bills cutting the state’s grocery tax during the 2025 session. Both parties have indicated the issue will likely surface again this year.
“We still have some other taxes out there that we have discussed eliminating like the professional privilege tax has long been on the Republican agenda to try and be eliminated,” Watson said.
Both sides also agree that tough choices are ahead. The state budget will be the tightest since Gov. Bill Lee took office.
“Even this budget, with all the needs we are talking about doesn’t account for a lot of the federal cuts we are seeing made to education,” Sen. Jeff Yarbro said in a previous interview with TCS. “Tennessee is going to be in worse shape because health care is going to be more expensive, child care is going to be more expensive. We’re putting less into education.”
Republicans have indicated that they want to expand the Education Freedom Scholarships by 20,000, in addition to the 5,000 allowed by state law.
Yarbro said, “The voucher dollars, the expansion that speaker and governor have been talking about is doubling the size of this brand new program so that at the very least it would be a $300 million line item for the state and would be one that would continue growing into the future where it’s going to be a billion problem for the state.”
