New Tennessee Laws Effective January 1, 2023
New laws related to various issues—from private security to professional counselors—took effect January 1, 2023. Below are further descriptions of the legislation approved by the Tennessee General Assembly.
–Dallas’ Law And Private Security: This law adds requirements for some private security guards in Tennessee.Security guards in places that serve alcohol will need to be trained in de-escalation techniques and CPR. They will also need to get training on emergency procedures and the law will add some limits on their authority. It is named after 22-year-old Dallas Barrett who was killed by several security guards at a bar in downtown Nashville after they held him down and restrained him until he died of suffocation.
–Healthcare Communications: Requires a health insurance entity, a health services provider, or a healthcare facility to notify a patient of communication among the entity, a health services provider, and a healthcare facility concerning the patient’s medical claim; requires a utilization review agent to notify the provider or healthcare facility, as well as the enrollee, when additional information is needed for a prior authorization request. Per the new law, that communication must be given to the enrollee within two business days after that communication has occurred and must include a summary of said communication.
–Online Subscription Services: Requires a business that allows someone to sign up for a service or subscription online to provide the option to cancel the service or subscription online without additional steps; also creates certain exceptions to this rule, including FDIC-insured banks, NCUA-insured credit unions, local government services, state-regulated public utilities, the FCC or the FERC or businesses licensed by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance.
–Tennessee Abortion-Inducing Drug Risk Protocol Act.” This bill requires any abortion-inducing drug to be provided only by a doctor in a medical facility and cannot be provided through the mail. The law also requires that physician to set up a follow-up appointment around seven to 14 days after the administration of the drug to confirm the pregnancy is “completely terminated” as well as to “assess the degree of bleeding.” The criminal penalty for violating this law will be a Class E felony and carries a fine up to $50,000. There are also civil penalties for violations of the law, including malpractice action for actual and punitive damages; professional discipline for the doctor, including license suspension or revocation; wrongful death action background; injunctive relief against the doctor from doing it again. There is no liability for the patient per the law; only the doctor.
Unlisted Property: Authorizes an assessor property to display “unlisted” for the first and last name in the ownership field of an online searchable database of property when certain conditions are met. Those conditions include: the property owner files a written request with the property assessor to have their name put as “unlisted” and the written request contains information identifying the property in question as the primary residence of the property owner. The law does not exempt the records from the open records laws.
–Emergency Communications: Makes emergency communications personnel eligible for early service retirement when the employing entity has elected to offer this benefit; requires the employing entity to be responsible for 100% of any increased cost necessary to provide this benefit to the emergency communications personnel. The law applies to an emergency communications worker, public safety dispatcher, emergency communications telecommunicator or emergency call taker.
–Farm Sales Tax ……………
……………FOR COMPLETE STORY, PLEASE READ 1/11/23 ISSUE OF THE REVIEW……