---
type: "Bill"
title: "Children - As enacted, redefines \"adversely affect the child's health and welfare\" for purposes of the offense of knowingly abusing or neglecting a child under 18 years of age, so as to adversely affect the child's health and welfare; revises the offense of a person or entity operating a child care agency without being licensed or continuing to operate such agency while a suspension of the license is in effect, or operating a child care agency following the effective date of a denial or revocation of a license. - Amends TCA Title 37, Chapter 5; Title 39, Chapter 15, Part 4 and Title 71, Chapter 3, Part 5."
description: "Children - As enacted, redefines \"adversely affect the child's health and welfare\" for purposes of the offense of knowingly abusing or neglecting a child under 18 years of age, so as to adversely affect the child's health and welfare; revises the offense of a person or entity operating a child care agency without being licensed or continuing to operate such agency while a suspension of the license is in effect, or operating a child care agency following the effective date of a denial or revocation of a license. - Amends TCA Title 37, Chapter 5; Title 39, Chapter 15, Part 4 and Title 71, Chapter 3, Part 5."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "112"
identifier: "HB 2583"
citation: "Tennessee HB 2583 (112)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Children"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eldridge", "White"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 48
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2022-02-02"
last_action: "2022-05-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/aad5eb21-9026-4ccf-8061-29c12a0f5990"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB2583&GA=112"
source_hash: "75d0c69bca403e039febed2a9e482ccc54dee16592b073d477c95da960a66d9e"
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 HB 2583 (112) — Children - As enacted, redefines "adversely affect the child's health and welfare" for purposes of the offense of knowingly abusing or neglecting a child under 18 years of age, so as to adversely affect the child's health and welfare; revises the offense of a person or entity operating a child care agency without being licensed or continuing to operate such agency while a suspension of the license is in effect, or operating a child care agency following the effective date of a denial or revocation of a license. - Amends TCA Title 37, Chapter 5; Title 39, Chapter 15, Part 4 and Title 71, Chapter 3, Part 5.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0899** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/HA0899.pdf)
2. **Amendment SA0901** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/SA0901.pdf)
3. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Bill/HB2583.pdf)

## Votes

- HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee 4/6/2022 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/18/2022 4/14/2022 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 4/14/2022 Passed (1) — **26–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/18/2022 Passed (1) — **93–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Criminal Justice Committee 3/30/2022 (4) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 1 4/6/2022 Passed (2) — **8–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Eldridge — primary (person)
- White — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-02** Intro. `introduction`
- **2022-02-02** Sponsor change.
- **2022-02-02** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2022-02-02** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2022-02-03** P1C.
- **2022-02-03** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2022-02-07** P2C, caption bill, held on desk - pending amdt.
- **2022-02-07** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2022-03-01** Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-01** Ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-02** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/9/2022
- **2022-03-09** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/16/2022
- **2022-03-09** Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 3/16/2022
- **2022-03-16** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/23/2022
- **2022-03-16** Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 3/23/2022
- **2022-03-23** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/30/2022
- **2022-03-23** Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 3/30/2022
- **2022-03-23** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/29/2022
- **2022-03-29** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 3/30/2022
- **2022-03-30** Placed on cal. Criminal Justice Committee for 4/6/2022
- **2022-03-30** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-30** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 4/6/2022
- **2022-03-30** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 4/5/2022
- **2022-03-30** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/30/2022
- **2022-04-06** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-04-06** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 1
- **2022-04-07** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-04-12** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/14/2022
- **2022-04-13** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/14/2022
- **2022-04-14** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/18/2022
- **2022-04-14** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2022-04-14** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 26, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2022-04-14** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0901)
- **2022-04-18** Comp. SB subst.
- **2022-04-18** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-04-18** Passed H., Ayes 93, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2022-04-18** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0899) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2022-04-18** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2022-04-18** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2022-04-18** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-04-19** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2022-04-19** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2022-04-19** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2022-04-21** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2022-05-03** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-05-06** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 985
- **2022-05-06** Effective date(s) 07/01/2022
- **2022-05-06** Pub. Ch. 985

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/aad5eb21-9026-4ccf-8061-29c12a0f5990`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).