---
type: "Bill"
title: "Emergency Communications Districts - As enacted, authorizes members of a district's board of directors to participate in board meetings by any electronic means approved by the board; revises provisions governing removal of a member for failure to attend meetings; revises other provisions regarding members of boards of directors. - Amends TCA Section 7-86-314 and Title 8, Chapter 44."
description: "Emergency Communications Districts - As enacted, authorizes members of a district's board of directors to participate in board meetings by any electronic means approved by the board; revises provisions governing removal of a member for failure to attend meetings; revises other provisions regarding members of boards of directors. - Amends TCA Section 7-86-314 and Title 8, Chapter 44."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "110"
identifier: "SB 596"
citation: "Tennessee SB 596 (110)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Emergency Communications Districts"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gardenhire", "Matheny"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 40
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-02-07"
last_action: "2017-05-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cdc56026-1b00-4ba8-908d-7fb4a9a3d84e"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0596&GA=110"
source_hash: "d1023a0590f49244fe33b2f8c741620a6df4dcd4ee1afa0b1c215df00e2644d9"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tn"]
---

# Tennessee SB 596 (110) — Emergency Communications Districts - As enacted, authorizes members of a district's board of directors to participate in board meetings by any electronic means approved by the board; revises provisions governing removal of a member for failure to attend meetings; revises other provisions regarding members of boards of directors. - Amends TCA Section 7-86-314 and Title 8, Chapter 44.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/110/Bill/SB0596.pdf)

## Votes

- SENATE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0 3/28/2017 Passed — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/17/2017 Passed (1) — **94–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: THIRD CONSIDERATION AMENDED 4/10/2017 Passed (1) — **32–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Gardenhire — primary (person)
- Matheny — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-02-07** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-07** Filed for intro. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-08** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2017-02-08** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2017-02-09** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee
- **2017-02-09** P2C, ref. to State Government Committee `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-14** Assigned to s/c State Government Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-01** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/7/2017
- **2017-03-07** Action deferred in Senate State & Local Government Committee to 3/14/2017
- **2017-03-08** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/14/2017
- **2017-03-14** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 3/21/2017
- **2017-03-15** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/21/2017
- **2017-03-15** Placed on s/c cal State Government Subcommittee for 3/22/2017
- **2017-03-21** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 3/28/2017
- **2017-03-22** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/28/2017
- **2017-03-22** Placed on s/c cal State Government Subcommittee for 3/29/2017
- **2017-03-22** Action Def. in s/c State Government Subcommittee to 3/29/2017
- **2017-03-28** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2017-03-29** Placed on cal. State Government Committee for 4/4/2017
- **2017-03-29** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to State Government Committee `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-04** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-06** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar calendar for 4/10/2017
- **2017-04-10** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 32, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2017-04-10** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0216)
- **2017-04-11** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2017-04-12** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/13/2017
- **2017-04-13** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2017-04-13** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/17/2017
- **2017-04-17** Passed H., Ayes 94, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2017-04-17** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0269) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2017-04-17** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2017-04-17** Comp. SB subst.
- **2017-04-18** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2017-04-19** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2017-04-19** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2017-04-20** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2017-04-28** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-05-03** Pub. Ch. 217
- **2017-05-03** Effective date(s) 04/28/2017
- **2017-05-03** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 217

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/cdc56026-1b00-4ba8-908d-7fb4a9a3d84e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).