Tennessee 114th General Assembly Status: Enacted 5 R cosponsors

SB 0540 — AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 36 and Title 37, relative to child custody.

Last action — Effective date(s) 05/02/2025

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

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 29, 2025. Enacted.

Signed by Governor Bill Lee (Republican) on April 21, 2025.

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 80% · moderate confidence

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 5 sponsors

    1 primary, 4 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (5 R).

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 3 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

Child Custody and Support - As enacted, requires the court to consider any failure to pay child support, rather than failure for a period of three years or more, when making a child custody determination; clarifies that the court may preclude or limit any provisions of a parenting plan if the court finds that a parent has failed to pay child support. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 37.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Filed for introduction

  2. Intro., P1C.

  3. P2C, ref. to Judiciary Committee

  4. Assigned to s/c Children and Family Affairs Subcommittee

  5. Placed on s/c cal Children and Family Affairs Subcommittee for 3/4/2025

  6. Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Judiciary Committee

  7. Placed on cal. Judiciary Committee for 3/12/2025

  8. Action def. in Judiciary Committee to 3/19/2025

  9. Placed on cal. Judiciary Committee for 3/19/2025

  10. Action def. in Judiciary Committee to 3/26/2025

  11. Placed on cal. Judiciary Committee for 3/26/2025

  12. Action def. in Judiciary Committee to 4/02/2025

  13. Placed on cal. Judiciary Committee for 4/2/2025

  14. Action def. in Judiciary Committee to 4/9/2025

  15. Placed on cal. Judiciary Committee for 4/9/2025

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

  17. Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/10/2025

  18. H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/14/2025

  19. Comp. SB subst.

  20. Sponsor(s) Added.

  21. Comp. became Pub. Ch. 321

  22. Filed for introduction

  23. Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  24. Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee

  25. Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 2/25/2025

  26. Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 7, Nays 2 PNV 0

  27. Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/6/2025

  28. Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0017)

  29. Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 26, Nays 3, PNV 1

  30. Sponsor(s) Added.

  31. Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

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

  33. Subst. for comp. HB.

  34. Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0378)

  35. Passed H., Ayes 75, Nays 17, PNV 2

  36. Enrolled and ready for signatures

  37. Signed by Senate Speaker

  38. Signed by H. Speaker

  39. Transmitted to Governor for action.

  40. Signed by Governor.

  41. Pub. Ch. 321

  42. Effective date(s) 05/02/2025

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

civil-rights
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 SB 0540 do?
Child Custody and Support - As enacted, requires the court to consider any failure to pay child support, rather than failure for a period of three years or more, when making a child custody determination; clarifies that the court may preclude or limit any provisions of a parenting plan if the court finds that a parent has failed to pay child support. - Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 37.
Who sponsors SB 0540?
SB 0540 is sponsored by Stevens, John (Republican), Bailey, Paul (Republican), Bowling, Janice (Republican), Haile, Ferrell (Republican), and Rose, Paul (Republican).
What is the current status of SB 0540?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 29, 2025. Enacted.
Where can I track SB 0540?
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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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