---
type: "Bill"
title: "Education, Higher - As enacted, caps at $10 million per fiscal year the total amount of funds in the lottery for education account that may be transferred to the Tennessee Promise scholarship special reserve account. - Amends TCA Section 49-4-708."
description: "Education, Higher - As enacted, caps at $10 million per fiscal year the total amount of funds in the lottery for education account that may be transferred to the Tennessee Promise scholarship special reserve account. - Amends TCA Section 49-4-708."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "114"
identifier: "SB 2159"
citation: "Tennessee SB 2159 (114)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education", "Higher"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Watson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 25
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2026-02-02"
last_action: "2026-05-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3279d873-dc01-4e53-9d96-6970c3252401"
source_url: "https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default?BillNumber=SB2159&ga=114"
source_hash: "69da56587b7c55f716d28b2bcd1858ae29e219a066ceda94eccddc509b651daa"
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 2159 (114) — Education, Higher - As enacted, caps at $10 million per fiscal year the total amount of funds in the lottery for education account that may be transferred to the Tennessee Promise scholarship special reserve account. - Amends TCA Section 49-4-708.

## Version chain

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

1. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Bill/SB2159.pdf)

## Votes

- FLOOR VOTE: Motion to Adopt 3/30/2026 Passed (1) — **33–0** (pass) · upper
- SENATE FINANCE, WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee 3/24/2026 Passed (2) — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee 3/4/2026 Passed — **9–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Watson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-02** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2026-02-02** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2026-02-05** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Education Committee `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-18** Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 2/25/2026
- **2026-02-25** Action deferred in Senate Education Committee to 3/4/2026
- **2026-02-26** Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 3/4/2026
- **2026-03-04** Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee
- **2026-03-10** Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 3/17/2026
- **2026-03-17** Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 3/24/2026
- **2026-03-17** Action deferred in Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee to 3/24/2026
- **2026-03-24** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2026-03-24** Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee
- **2026-03-27** Placed on Senate Consent Calendar 2 for 3/30/2026
- **2026-03-30** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House `receipt`
- **2026-03-30** Passed Senate, Ayes 33, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2026-04-02** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2026-04-20** Passed H., Ayes 96, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2026-04-20** Subst. for comp. HB. `substitution`
- **2026-04-23** Enrolled and ready for signatures `enrolled`
- **2026-04-23** Signed by Senate Speaker `passage`
- **2026-05-01** Signed by H. Speaker `passage`
- **2026-05-05** Transmitted to Governor for action. `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-13** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-18** Effective date(s) 05/13/2026
- **2026-05-18** Pub. Ch. 975

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3279d873-dc01-4e53-9d96-6970c3252401`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).