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2025 Tennessee legislative session
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| 2025 Tennessee legislative session |
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| General information |
| Scheduled session start: January 14, 2025 Scheduled session end: April 25, 2025 |
| Leadership |
| Senate President Randy McNally (R) House Speaker |
| Elections |
| Next Election: November 3, 2026 Last Election: November 5, 2024 |
| Previous legislative sessions |
| 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 |
| Other 2025 legislative sessions |
In 2025, the Tennessee General Assembly was scheduled to convene on January 14 and adjourn on April 25.
The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2024 elections. Republicans won a 27-6 majority in the Senate and a 75-24 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta. At the start of the 2025 session, Tennessee was one of 20 state legislatures where Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.
Leadership in 2025
Tennessee State Senate
- Senate president: Randy McNally (R)
- Majority leader: Jack Johnson (R)
- Minority leader: Raumesh Akbari (D)
Tennessee House of Representatives
- Speaker of the House: Cameron Sexton (R)
- Majority leader: William Lamberth (R)
- Minority leader: Karen Camper (D)
Partisan control in 2025
- See also: State government trifectas
Tennessee was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2025 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.
Tennessee was also one of 20 state legislatures where Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.
The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Tennessee General Assembly in the 2025 legislative session.
Tennessee State Senate
| Party | As of January 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 6 | |
| Republican Party | 27 | |
| Total | 33 | |
Tennessee House of Representatives
| Party | As of January 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 24 | |
| Republican Party | 75 | |
| Total | 99 | |
Regular session
The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2025 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation has met these criteria yet in 2025. This information is provided by BillTrack50.
Legislation trackers
- See also: Legislation Trackers
Ballotpedia’s legislation trackers are your go-to resource for staying on top of key legislative topics. We capture any bill introduced on the topic across all of the 50 state legislatures, and we track the movement of the bill every step of the way. We provide real-time updates and translate legislative legalese into easily understandable language. As of the 2025 session, Ballotpedia provided tracking on the following topics. Click on the links below to view related bills from the 2025 session:
Standing legislative committees
A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.
At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session, there were 28 standing committees in Tennessee's state government, including three joint legislative committees, nine state Senate committees, and 16 state House committees.
Joint legislative committees
Senate committees
- Commerce and Labor Committee
- Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
- Finance, Ways and Means Committee
- Health and Welfare Committee
- Senate Education Committee
- Senate Government Operations Committee
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- State & Local Government Committee
- Transportation and Safety Committee
House committees
- Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
- Calendar and Rules Committee
- Civil Justice Committee
- Commerce Committee
- Criminal Justice Committee
- Education Administration Committee
- Education Instruction Committee
- Finance, Ways, and Means Committee
- Health Committee
- House Government Operations Committee
- Insurance Committee
- Local Government Committee
- Naming and Designating Committee
- Naming, Designating and Private Acts Committee
- State Government Committee
- Transportation Committee
Legislatively referred constitutional amendments
In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.
The methods by which the Tennessee Constitution can be amended:
The Tennessee Constitution can be amended in two ways—through the legislative process, or a state constitutional convention.
Legislature
In Tennessee, the state Legislature must pass a constitutional amendment during two successive legislative sessions with an election in between. During the first legislative session, a simple majority vote is required in both legislative chambers. During the second legislative session, a two-thirds vote is required in both legislative chambers. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. In Tennessee, amendments must be placed on general election ballots in which there is also a gubernatorial election.
The required legislative votes per session, assuming no vacancies, are listed below:
| Requirements to refer constitutional amendments in Tennessee | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Session | Requirement | Senate | House | |||
| First | Simple majority vote | 17 | 50 | |||
| Second | Two-thirds vote | 22 | 66 | |||
Convention
According to Section 3 of Article XI of the Tennessee Constitution, the state Legislature can vote to refer a constitutional convention question to voters. A simple majority vote is required in the Legislature.
Historical partisan control
The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Tennessee.
Tennessee Party Control: 1992-2024
Five years of Democratic trifectas • Fourteen years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | S | S | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Historical Senate control
Republicans won control of the Tennessee State Senate in 2004. In 2024, they won a 27-6 majority.
The table below shows the partisan history of the Tennessee Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.
Tennessee State Senate election results: 1992-2024
| Year | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '16 | '18 | '20 | '22 | '24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 19 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Republicans | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 27 |
Historical House control
Republicans won control of the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2008. In 2024, they won a 75-24 majority.
The table below shows the partisan history of the Tennessee House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.
Tennessee House of Representatives election results: 1992-2024
| Year | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '16 | '18 | '20 | '22 | '24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 63 | 59 | 61 | 59 | 57 | 54 | 53 | 53 | 49 | 34 | 27 | 26 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 24 | 24 |
| Republicans | 36 | 40 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 45 | 46 | 46 | 50 | 64 | 71 | 73 | 74 | 73 | 73 | 75 | 75 |
Analysis
Adopted legislation, 2011-2024
- See also: The State Legislative Decade - Tennessee
In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.
See also
| Elections | Tennessee State Government | State Legislatures | State Politics |
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External links
Footnotes
