---
type: "Bill"
title: "Mental Illness - As enacted, requires, in certain circumstances, the instant check unit of the TBI to contact the chief law enforcement officer of a jurisdiction where a person who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or judicially committed to a mental institution attempts to purchase a firearm; requires the reporting of certain other information of persons involuntarily committed. - Amends TCA Title 16; Title 33 and Section 38-6-109."
description: "Mental Illness - As enacted, requires, in certain circumstances, the instant check unit of the TBI to contact the chief law enforcement officer of a jurisdiction where a person who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or judicially committed to a mental institution attempts to purchase a firearm; requires the reporting of certain other information of persons involuntarily committed. - Amends TCA Title 16; Title 33 and Section 38-6-109."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "110"
identifier: "SB 834"
citation: "Tennessee SB 834 (110)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Mental Illness"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Farmer", "Haile"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 53
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2017-02-08"
last_action: "2018-05-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/463bdb79-0bd3-497c-b47a-894803f1c69b"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0834&GA=110"
source_hash: "5eb7bf82484f70d1cd28b6f8403dea643661995d0e10ce8cbb714f303e6340e2"
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 834 (110) — Mental Illness - As enacted, requires, in certain circumstances, the instant check unit of the TBI to contact the chief law enforcement officer of a jurisdiction where a person who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or judicially committed to a mental institution attempts to purchase a firearm; requires the reporting of certain other information of persons involuntarily committed. - Amends TCA Title 16; Title 33 and Section 38-6-109.

## 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/SB0834.pdf)

## Votes

- SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0 3/20/2018 Passed — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 3/29/2018 PASSED (1) — **29–0** (fail) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 3/29/2018 PASSED — **29–0** (fail) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/12/2018 PASSED — **95–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Farmer — primary (person)
- Haile — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-08** Filed for intro. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-09** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2017-02-09** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-09** Intro. `introduction`
- **2017-02-13** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2017-02-13** P1C.
- **2017-02-15** Assigned to s/c Civil Justice Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-15** P2C, ref. to Civil Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-10** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-01-24** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-02-07** Placed on s/c cal Civil Justice Subcommittee for 2/14/2018
- **2018-02-14** Action Def. in s/c Civil Justice Subcommittee to 2/28/2018
- **2018-02-16** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-02-21** Placed on s/c cal Civil Justice Subcommittee for 2/28/2018
- **2018-02-28** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/6/2018
- **2018-02-28** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-02-28** Placed on s/c cal Civil Justice Subcommittee for 3/7/2018
- **2018-02-28** Action Def. in s/c Civil Justice Subcommittee to 3/7/2018
- **2018-03-06** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 3/13/2018
- **2018-03-06** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-03-07** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/13/2018
- **2018-03-07** Reset on Final cal. of Civil Justice Subcommittee
- **2018-03-13** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 3/20/2018
- **2018-03-13** Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Judiciary Committee `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-14** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/20/2018
- **2018-03-14** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-03-20** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2018-03-20** Sponsor change.
- **2018-03-27** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar calendar for 3/29/2018
- **2018-03-28** Placed on s/c cal Civil Justice Subcommittee for 4/3/2018
- **2018-03-29** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2018-03-29** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-03-29** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 29, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2018-03-29** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0901)
- **2018-04-02** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2018-04-03** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-03** Placed on cal. Civil Justice Committee for 4/3/2018
- **2018-04-03** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Civil Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-04** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/5/2018
- **2018-04-05** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/12/2018
- **2018-04-12** Passed H., Ayes 95, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2018-04-12** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA1118) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2018-04-12** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2018-04-12** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-04-12** Comp. SB subst.
- **2018-04-13** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2018-04-16** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2018-04-17** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2018-04-18** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2018-04-24** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-04** Pub. Ch. 799
- **2018-05-04** Effective date(s) 07/01/2018
- **2018-05-04** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 799

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/463bdb79-0bd3-497c-b47a-894803f1c69b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).