Tennessee legislation · 114th General Assembly
Tennessee HB1796: AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 9; Title 12 and Title 67, relative to local government.
Status: Chaptered, May 27, 2026
Fiscal Summary NOT SIGNIFICANT Bill Summary ON APRIL 16, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENTS #1 AND #2 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1849, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, redefine "regional retail tourism development district," for purposes of the Regional Retail Tourism Development District Act, to mean one or more parcels of real property located within the following counties, and where it borders a county that has two border region retail tourism development districts certified under present law, and for which some boundary of the district is no more than 1/2 mile from an existing federally designated interstate exit, is no more than 20 miles from the state border of two neighboring states as measured by a straight line, is no larger than a total area of 950 acres, and is designated as a regional retail tourism development district by a municipal ordinance and certified by the commissioner: Blount County Davidson County Hamilton County Knox County Montgomery County Rutherford County Shelby County Sullivan County Sumner County Washington County Williamson County Wilson County AMENDMENT #2 revises the bill to also enact the "Essential Governmental Employee Housing Act of 2026," which authorizes local governments to engage in all of the following: Acquire, own, develop, lease, operate, and maintain one or more essential housing developments primarily within the jurisdiction of the local government. Lease essential housing developments from one or more persons determined by the governing body to have demonstrated the ability to develop, operate, and maintain housing developments of a similar nature. Enter into contracts providing for the operation and maintenance of essential housing developments with private entities or oth
What the bill says
From the amended text:
Senate Finance, Ways, and Means 1 Amendment No. 2 to SB1849 Watson Signature of Sponsor AMEND S e n ate Bill No. 1849* House Bill No. 1796 by deleting the effective date section and substituting instead: SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 9, is amended by adding the following as a new chapter: 9-6-101. Short title. This chapter is known and may be cited as the "Essential Governmental Employee Housing Act of 2026." 9-6-102. Chapter definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise: (1) "Essential employee" means an employee of a local government or public school system whose duties and responsibilities to the local government or public school system are determined by the governing body to be critical to the effective delivery of services by the local government or public school system; (2) "Essential housing development" means any development consisting of not less than one hundred (100) single- or multi-family dwelling units, located on one (1) or more contiguous parcels of property, identified by the governing body as being suitable for the provision of housing to essential employees in the manner described in this chapter; (3) "Governing body" means the body in which the general legislative powers of a local government are vested; and (4) "Local government" means a county, municipality, or metropolitan government rated in the …