# Tennessee HB 0979: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 47; Title 63 and Title 68, relative to health care. Tennessee HB 0979, AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 47; Title 63 and Title 68, relative to health care., is a 114th General Assembly (2025-2026) House bill sponsored by no sponsor on record; status signed, last action 2025-05-27 (Effective date(s) 05/21/2025, 07/01/2025, 01/01/2026); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-11-01). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/TN-HB0979-2025-2026 - As of: 2026-11-01 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Tennessee HB 0979 - State: Tennessee - Session: 114th General Assembly (2025-2026) - Title: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 47; Title 63 and Title 68, relative to health care. - Status: signed - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2025-02-05 - Last action: 2025-05-27, Effective date(s) 05/21/2025, 07/01/2025, 01/01/2026 - Sponsors: no sponsor on record - Cosponsors: 4 - Subjects: Health Care - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 10 (285 yes, 22 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 2 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Stronger patient protections for hospital care: benefit, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, covered hospitals and affiliates cannot interfere with employed doctors' medically appropriate tests or treatment decisions. Referral limits require the doctor's written agreement to the exact limit when signing the contract. The doctor must reasonably judge that the limit w… - Hospital hiring limits with specialty exceptions: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, Tennessee hospitals and affiliates can employ licensed doctors in counties with 105,000 or fewer people. Population counts use the 2020 federal census. In larger counties, they generally cannot employ radiologists, anesthesiologists, pathologists, or emergency physicians. A… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Cosponsor: T.J. Hardaway (Democrat), House - Cosponsor: Antonio Parkinson (Democrat), House - Cosponsor: Rick Scarbrough (Republican), House - Cosponsor: White ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-22 | House | FLOOR VOTE: MESSAGE CALENDAR MOTION TO ADOPT CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT 4/22/2025 | pass | 79 | 10 | | | 2025-04-22 | Senate | FLOOR VOTE: Motion to Adopt Conference Committee Report 4/22/2025 | pass | 31 | 0 | | | 2025-04-21 | Senate | FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 4/21/2025 | pass | 31 | 1 | | | 2025-04-16 | House | FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR AS AMENDED PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/16/2025 | pass | 72 | 5 | | | 2025-04-16 | House | HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE | fail | 0 | 0 | | | 2025-04-15 | House | HOUSE FINANCE, WAYS, AND MEANS COMMITTEE | pass | 23 | 3 | | | 2025-04-14 | House | HOUSE FINANCE, WAYS, AND MEANS SUBCOMMITTEE | pass | 11 | 0 | | | 2025-04-07 | House | HOUSE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE | pass | 11 | 1 | | | 2025-04-01 | House | HOUSE HEALTH COMMITTEE | pass | 21 | 1 | | | 2025-03-19 | House | HOUSE HEALTH SUBCOMMITTEE | pass | 6 | 1 | | ## Actions (48) - 2025-05-27: Effective date(s) 05/21/2025, 07/01/2025, 01/01/2026 - 2025-05-27: Pub. Ch. 509 - 2025-05-21: Signed by Governor. - 2025-05-09: Transmitted to Governor for his action. (House) - 2025-05-08: Signed by Senate Speaker (Senate) - 2025-04-30: Signed by H. Speaker (House) - 2025-04-25: Enrolled; ready for sig. of H. Speaker. (House) - 2025-04-22: Conference Committee report adopted, Ayes 31, Nays 0 (Senate) - 2025-04-22: Conf. comm. report adopted, Ayes 79, Nays 10 PNV 6 (House) - 2025-04-22: Conference Committee appointed. (Senate) - 2025-04-22: Conference Committee appointed (Williams, Terry, Farmer, B. Martin, Shaw) (Senate) - 2025-04-22: H. refused to recede from its non-concurrence in SA 1 & 2 (House) - 2025-04-22: H. Placed on Message Calendar 4 for 4/22/2025 (House) - 2025-04-22: Senate refused to recede from its non-concurrence in House Amendments 1 & 2 (Senate) - 2025-04-22: Sponsor(s) Added. (House) - 2025-04-22: H. nonconcurred in S. am. no. 1 & 2 HB0979 (House) - 2025-04-22: H. Placed on Message Calendar 3 for 4/22/2025 (House) - 2025-04-21: Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 31, Nays 1, PNV 1 (Senate) - 2025-04-21: Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 2 - SA0317) (Senate) - 2025-04-21: Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0264) (Senate) - 2025-04-21: Senate substituted House Bill for companion Senate Bill. (Senate) - 2025-04-17: Received from House, Passed on First Consideration (Senate) - 2025-04-16: Engrossed; ready for transmission to Sen. (House) - 2025-04-16: Passed H., as am., Ayes 72, Nays 5, PNV 11 (House) - 2025-04-16: Sponsor(s) Added. (House) - 2025-04-16: H. adopted am. (Amendment 1 - HA0248) (House) - 2025-04-15: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/16/2025 (House) - 2025-04-15: Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/15/2025 (House) - 2025-04-15: Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee (House) - 2025-04-14: Placed on cal. Finance, Ways, and Means Committee for 4/15/2025 (House) - 2025-04-14: Sponsor(s) Added. (House) - 2025-04-14: Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee (House) - 2025-04-09: Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 4/14/2025 (House) - 2025-04-08: Assigned to s/c Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee (House) - 2025-04-07: Rec. for pass; ref to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee (House) - 2025-04-02: Placed on cal. Government Operations Committee for 4/7/2025 (House) - 2025-04-01: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Government Operations Committee (House) - 2025-03-26: Placed on cal. Health Committee for 4/1/2025 (House) - 2025-03-25: Action def. in Health Committee to 4/1/2025 (House) - 2025-03-19: Placed on cal. Health Committee for 3/25/2025 (House) - 2025-03-19: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Health Committee (House) - 2025-03-12: Placed on s/c cal Health Subcommittee for 3/19/2025 (House) - 2025-03-12: Assigned to s/c Health Subcommittee (House) - 2025-03-12: Ref. to Health Committee - Government Operations for Review (House) - 2025-02-24: Sponsor(s) Added. (House) - 2025-02-10: P2C, caption bill, held on desk - pending amdt. (House) - 2025-02-06: Intro., P1C. (House) - 2025-02-05: Filed for introduction (House) ## Bill text - HA0248 (Substitute), 2025-04-16: [PDF](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Amend/HA0248.pdf) - Enrolled / Public Chapter: [PDF](https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/114/pub/pc0509.pdf) - Fiscal Note: [PDF](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Fiscal/SB0764.pdf) - Introduced: [PDF](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Bill/HB0979.pdf) - SA0264: [PDF](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Amend/SA0264.pdf) - SA0317: [PDF](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Amend/SA0317.pdf) ## Related bills - HB 0794: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 12; Title 13; Title 29; Title 54; Title 64; Title 65; Title 68 and… (failed) - HB 0489: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 38; Title 39; Title 40 and Title 55, relative to criminal law. (failed) - HB 0162: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 67, relative to taxes. (failed) - SB 2733: AN ACT to amend Chapter 33 of the Private Acts of 1985; as amended by Chapter 85 of the Private Acts of 2004; and any other acts amendatory thereto, relative t… (failed) - SB 2702: AN ACT to amend Chapter 154 of the Private Acts of 1955; as amended by Chapter 158 of the Private Acts of 1988; Chapter 204 of the Private Acts of 1990; and an… (failed) - SB 2690: AN ACT to make appropriations for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the state government for the fiscal years beginning July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026,… (signed) ## Sources - [HA0248 (Substitute) (PDF)](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Amend/HA0248.pdf) - [Enrolled / Public Chapter (PDF)](https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/114/pub/pc0509.pdf) - [Fiscal Note (PDF)](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Fiscal/SB0764.pdf) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Bill/HB0979.pdf) - [SA0264 (PDF)](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Amend/SA0264.pdf) - [SA0317 (PDF)](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Amend/SA0317.pdf) ## Related - [HB 0794: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; T…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/TN-HB0794-2025-2026) - [HB 0489: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 38; Title 39; Title 40 and Titl…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/TN-HB0489-2025-2026) - [HB 0162: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 67, relative to taxes.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/TN-HB0162-2025-2026) - [SB 2733: AN ACT to amend Chapter 33 of the Private Acts of 1985; as amended by Chapter 8…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/TN-SB2733-2025-2026) - [SB 2702: AN ACT to amend Chapter 154 of the Private Acts of 1955; as amended by Chapter…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/TN-SB2702-2025-2026) - [SB 2690: AN ACT to make appropriations for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/TN-SB2690-2025-2026) - [Tennessee bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/tennessee/bills) - [Tennessee state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/tennessee) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/TN-HB0979-2025-2026 (as of 2026-11-01).