Tennessee 114th General Assembly Status: Enacted Bipartisan · 4 R · 1 D cosponsors

HB 2179 — AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 50, Chapter 6, relative to workers' compensation.

Last action — Comp. became Pub. Ch. 845

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed House
  4. ✓
    Passed Senate
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 22, 2026. Enacted.

Signed by Governor Bill Lee (Republican) on April 16, 2026.

Odds of enactment

High chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a high chance of becoming law.

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A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 96% · high confidence

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 5 sponsors

    1 primary, 4 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Bipartisan support

    Sponsored across 2 parties (4 R · 1 D) — cross-party backing.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 4 recorded votes so far.

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

Summary

Workers Compensation - As enacted, adds a requirement that an award of attorneys' fees and costs incurred when an employer unreasonably denies a workers' compensation claim or unreasonably fails to timely initiate any of the benefits associated with the claim must be based on a finding by the workers' compensation judge that the employer's conduct was unreasonable; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 50, Chapter 6.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Filed for introduction

  2. Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  3. Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Commerce and Labor Committee

  4. Placed on Senate Commerce and Labor Committee calendar for 3/3/2026

  5. Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0

  6. Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/12/2026

  7. Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0581)

  8. Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 33, Nays 0

  9. Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  10. Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.

  11. Subst. for comp. HB.

  12. Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0961)

  13. H. adopted am. (Amendment 2 - HA0962)

  14. Passed H., as am., Ayes 94, Nays 0, PNV 0

  15. Placed on Senate Message Calendar for 4/13/2026

  16. Concurred, Ayes 32, Nays 0 (Amendment 2 - HA0962)

  17. Enrolled and ready for signatures

  18. Signed by Senate Speaker

  19. Signed by H. Speaker

  20. Transmitted to Governor for action.

  21. Signed by Governor.

  22. Pub. Ch. 845

  23. Effective date(s) 07/01/2026

  24. Filed for introduction

  25. Intro., P1C.

  26. P2C, ref. to Commerce Committee

  27. Assigned to s/c Banking & Consumer Affairs Subcommittee

  28. Placed on s/c cal Banking & Consumer Affairs Subcommittee for 3/11/2026

  29. Sponsor(s) Added.

  30. Action Def. in s/c Banking & Consumer Affairs Subcommittee to 3/18/2026

  31. Placed on s/c cal Banking & Consumer Affairs Subcommittee for 3/18/2026

  32. Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Commerce Committee

  33. Placed on cal. Commerce Committee for 3/25/2026

  34. Action def. in Commerce Committee to 4/1/2026

  35. Placed on cal. Commerce Committee for 4/1/2026

  36. Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee

  37. Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/2/2026

  38. H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/7/2026

  39. Comp. SB subst.

  40. Sponsor(s) Added.

  41. Comp. became Pub. Ch. 845

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 4 co-sponsors · 128 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (4)

Not signed on (128)

128 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 128 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

Subjects

labor
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does HB 2179 do?
Workers Compensation - As enacted, adds a requirement that an award of attorneys' fees and costs incurred when an employer unreasonably denies a workers' compensation claim or unreasonably fails to timely initiate any of the benefits associated with the claim must be based on a finding by the workers' compensation judge that the employer's conduct was unreasonable; makes related changes. - Amends TCA Title 50, Chapter 6.
Who sponsors HB 2179?
HB 2179 is sponsored by Lafferty, Justin (Republican), Russell, Lowell (Republican), Bricken, Rush (Republican), Davis, Elaine (Republican), and Chism, Jesse (Democrat).
What is the current status of HB 2179?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 22, 2026. Enacted.
Where can I track HB 2179?
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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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