Tennessee General Assembly Ends Controversial 2025 Legislative Session

The 2025 Tennessee legislative session concluded with significant changes in education, public safety, immigration, and civil rights. Lawmakers passed a universal school voucher program, offering taxpayer funds for private school tuition and increased K-12 infrastructure funding, while also phasing out the state-run Achievement School District in favor of a more flexible local intervention model. Legislation was enacted banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in hiring for public entities and dismantling demographic-based board requirements. The session also saw the creation of a new division for centralized state immigration enforcement and criminal penalties for those facilitating undocumented immigration for financial gain. Additional measures included new taxes on vape and hemp products, clarification of the abortion ban's scope, and the passage of a bill mandating bathroom use based on sex assigned at birth, which has drawn legal scrutiny. While some efforts to expand legal protections for birth control and in-vitro fertilization advanced, significant barriers remain for restoring voting rights to felons and for repealing the state grocery tax.