More than 20 new laws, passed by the Tennessee General Assembly earlier last year, officially took effect on January 1, impacting many residents throughout the state.
The new laws range in scope from criminal justice reform to protections for college athletes.
One piece of legislation, The Reentry Success Act of 2021, will alter the state’s current parole and probation process. The reforms decrease the maximum amount of time between parole hearings from 10 years to six. The Tennessee Star reported, “it creates three levels of punishment for non-felonious parole violations: 15 days’ imprisonment for the first violation, 30 days for the second, 90 days for the third, and either one year or the remainder of the sentence for the fourth.”
The legislation was a priority of Governor Bill Lee.
“As you all know, it’s a very important season in Tennessee, particularly as we talk about this issue of criminal justice reform. And that we have legislation before our general assembly right now, that is I believe life-changing for our state and a very important piece of work that we’re in the middle of looking at as a state legislature,” Lee said of the bill at a criminal justice reform roundtable.
Additionally, college athletes in the state will be allowed to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness (NIL), as Tennessee followed a nationwide trend by state legislators. More than a dozen states have passed similar legislation.
“Name Image and Likeness has been a big topic over the last several years and #startingtoday TN becomes one of the first states to change our laws to support the ability of student athletes to profit from NIL just like every nonstudent athlete has the freedom to do so,” explained Tennessee State Representative William Lamberth (R-Portland).
Name Image and Likeness has been a big topic over the last several years and #startingtoday TN becomes one of the first states to change our laws to support the ability of student athletes to profit from NIL just like every nonstudent athlete has the freedom to do so. #capitalism
— William Lamberth (@WilliamLamberth) January 1, 2022
Other laws influence TennCare, discipline actions carried out by teachers, and dual enrollment educational opportunities.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
