NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Next Tuesday, July 1, Tennessee will see several laws passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in recent years take full effect.

From allowing online boating license exams, to increasing the penalties for drunk driving, to combating AI-generated deepfakes, these are some of the laws set to be fully enforced as of July 1.

Good Samaritan Law Expansion

House Bill 995 by State Rep. Iris Rudder (R-Winchester) extends the immunity provisions for persons seeking medical care for themselves or others in the event of a suspected alcohol overdose. Tennessee already has a Good Samaritan provision for those experiencing a suspected drug overdose who seek medical attention. This law allows for alcohol-related misdemeanors like public intoxication and those drinking under the age of 21 to be covered under the Good Samaritan provision.

The law was inspired by a constituent of Rudder’s who lost her 18-year-old brother to an alcohol overdose at a party. According to House Republicans, the teen’s friends were afraid they would get in legal trouble if they called for help for him since they were under the legal drinking age.

Online boating license exams

House Bill 530 by State Rep. Rick Eldridge (R-Morristown) allows Tennessee citizens to take their boating safety exam online by eliminating the current monitoring requirement. Previously, citizens were required to take the exam in person under the supervision of a proctor.

Part of the new law allows for online testing access for those in rural areas, and also provides working individuals a “flexible solution” if they work during standard business hours, according to a spokesman for the House Republican caucus.

Tackling ‘unfair billing’

House Bill 141 by Rep. Michael Hale (R-Smithville) aims to protect consumers from excessive charges when canceling service contracts for cable, internet or phone plans. The bill prohibits service providers from billing customers for an extra billing cycle if the contract is canceled during the first half of the cycle.

Should a customer cancel their plan in the second half of the billing cycle, providers would be able to charge for the remaining days and one additional billing term.

Companies that fail to comply would be subject to penalties from the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act of 1977.

Regulating lab-grown meat

This bill by Rep. Rusty Grills (R-Newbern) establishes new rules for “alternative proteins” sold in Tennessee. Passed in 2024, the law prohibits any “cell-cultured protein or lab-grown meat” from being marketed as “meat” or “meat food products” in the state.

Though not yet available in Tennessee, state lawmakers followed the path of other states in passing strict rules for the potential protein, including Florida and Alabama.

Only two companies in the U.S. are currently authorized to produce lab-grown chicken.

Increased penalties for exposing children to fentanyl, hemp-derived products

Two laws passed by state Republicans, House Bill 72 and 751, aim to protect children from exposure to substances like fentanyl or hemp-derived products

House Bill 72, by Rep. Dan Howell (R-Cleveland), establishes a minimum sentence of 48 consecutive hours in a county jail or workhouse and a fine of at least $500 for people convicted of selling or distributing products like THC gummies to people under the age of 21.

According to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, more than 250 children were treated for “cannabis poisoning” between July 2023 and June 2024.

House Bill 751 by Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) enhances already established penalties for exposing a child to fentanyl. Specifically, it creates a Class E felony for anyone who does so, and elevates the crime to a Class B felony if the child is under 8 years old.

According to House Republicans, Poison centers in the U.S. managed 539 cases of children under 6 being exposed to fentanyl in 2023.

Business liability for criminal activity

House Bill 1050 by Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis) holds businesses accountable if they enable or ignore criminal activity on their premises. The criminal activity could be “ongoing violence, drug sales, and other public safety hazards,” per the law.

The law also offers relief for neighborhoods plagued by problem establishments by “streamlining the nuisance business closure statutes” and giving residents and other businesses in the same ZIP code the ability to receive statutory damages.

Blocking traffic penalties

Hamilton County Rep. Greg Martin passed House Bill 302, which makes it a Class C misdemeanor to park, stop, or leave a vehicle in a way that impedes traffic. The penalty increases to a Class B misdemeanor if the action contributes to an accident.

State Rep. Jody Barrett (R-Dickson) attempted to make the act of blocking a highway during a protest a felony in February of 2024, but the measure failed due to lack of funding.

Increasing firefighter health coverage

Rogersville Republican Rep. Gary Hicks passed House Bill 482, which adds prostate, breast and pancreatic cancers to the list of diseases covered by the Barry Brady Act of 2019. That law outlined specific cancers presumed to have been caused by employment as a firefighter and required them to be covered under workers’ compensation.

Also covered by the Act are non-Hodgkin lymphoma and colon, skin and multiple myeloma cancers.

Accepting digital copies of vehicle registration

Passed by Memphis State Rep. Karen Camper, House Bill 537 codifies the “Law Enforcement’s Safer Tennessee Electronic Registration Act.” The law clarifies that law enforcement is required to accept a digital copy of vehicle registration as valid proof of insurance.

Tennessee also allows for digital copies of proof of insurance.

New driving penalties for teen bullies

House Bill 1025 by Rep. Lowell Russell (R-Vonore) suspends a juvenile’s driving privileges for one year if they are adjudicated delinquent for harassment, bullying, or cyberbullying.

The legislation expands on a previous law Russell promoted that formally defines bullying, cyberbullying, and harassment in state law.

The law also contains an option for first-time offenders to receive a restricted license for use only to drive to school, work and church.

Fighting AI-generated deepfakes

House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) successfully passed House Bill 1299, which creates a new legal framework for victims of AI deepfakes to take legal action and receive damages.

The law creates a Class E felony offense to “disclose or threaten to disclose intimate digital depictions with the intent to harass, annoy, alarm or cause substantial harm to the finances or reputation of the depicted individual.”

Former Nashville meteorologist Bree Smith championed the effort after she was victimized by such a deepfake.

‘Voyeurism Victims Act’

Introduced by Nashville Rep. Bob Freeman, the law expands the offense of unlawful photography to include any unauthorized photograph that a defendant knows would include the “unclothed intimate area” of a victim or the victim engaged in sexual activity. The law also allows victims to receive orders of protection if they have been subject to, threatened with, or placed in fear of unlawful photography.

The law was inspired by dozens of Nashville women who were victimized by a man who had a hidden camera disguised as an alarm clock in his bedroom. The women all dated Matthew Vollmer and later discovered he had taken photos and videos of their sexual encounters without their knowledge.

Many of the women were unable to press charges against him due to previous statutes of limitations, prompting lawmakers to act.

‘PEACE’ Act

Championed by Lamberth, the PEACE Act makes particular changes to current state law to address “hate littering” and trespassing, as well as police procedure, obstruction and road safety.

The full title is the Protecting Everyone Against Crime and Extremism and it stems from the Neo-Nazi marches in downtown Nashville in 2024, as well as the subsequent targeting of a synagogue by anti-Semitic groups.

The bill makes it illegal to leave a hate-filled flyer in neighborhoods, hang banners from overpasses and bridges, ride in the back of a box truck, refuse to give one’s name or give the wrong name to police, and get within 25 feet of an officer after being asked to back up.

Increased penalties for removing wild animals while trespassing

Nashville State Rep. Caleb Hemmer passed House Bill 24, which increases the penalties for those convicted of certain animal-related crimes.

Specifically, the law makes removing a wild animal, wild fowl, or fish while trespassing on land a Class B misdemeanor rather than a Class C misdemeanor.

The law also increases various fines under $500 to “not more than $500.”