---
type: "Bill"
title: "Education, Higher - As enacted, requires public higher education institutions in this state to adopt a policy to allow American sign language courses to satisfy any foreign language requirements for admission to an undergraduate degree program. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 8 and Title 49, Chapter 9."
description: "Education, Higher - As enacted, requires public higher education institutions in this state to adopt a policy to allow American sign language courses to satisfy any foreign language requirements for admission to an undergraduate degree program. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 8 and Title 49, Chapter 9."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "110"
identifier: "HB 1533"
citation: "Tennessee HB 1533 (110)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education", "Higher"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kane", "Massey"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 38
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2018-01-10"
last_action: "2018-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/59d375c6-fc4c-47d7-ba10-db3774d72472"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB1533&GA=110"
source_hash: "2f59d4ac074d3c8be1600bc7891a4f3706935385a2bafdf16741bb101af13d90"
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 1533 (110) — Education, Higher - As enacted, requires public higher education institutions in this state to adopt a policy to allow American sign language courses to satisfy any foreign language requirements for admission to an undergraduate degree program. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 8 and Title 49, Chapter 9.

## 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/HB1533.pdf)

## Votes

- EDUCATION INSTRUCTION & PROGRAMS SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Education Instruction & Programs 2/7/2018 — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 2/26/2018 2/22/2018 (1) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- EDUCATION INSTRUCTION & PROGRAMS: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee 2/13/2018 — **0–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Kane — primary (person)
- Massey — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-10** Filed for intro. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2018-01-10** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2018-01-11** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2018-01-11** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2018-01-17** Assigned to s/c Education Instruction & Programs Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-17** P2C, ref. to Education Instruction & Programs `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-17** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Education Committee
- **2018-01-22** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-01-23** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-01-31** Placed on s/c cal Education Instruction & Programs Subcommittee for 2/7/2018
- **2018-01-31** Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 2/7/2018
- **2018-02-07** Placed on cal. Education Instruction & Programs for 2/13/2018
- **2018-02-07** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Education Instruction & Programs `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-07** Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 2/14/2018
- **2018-02-07** Action deferred in Senate Education Committee to 2/14/2018
- **2018-02-13** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-02-14** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2018-02-20** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar calendar for 2/22/2018
- **2018-02-21** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 2/22/2018
- **2018-02-22** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 2/26/2018
- **2018-02-22** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2018-02-22** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-02-22** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 28, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2018-02-22** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0592)
- **2018-02-26** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-02-26** Comp. SB subst.
- **2018-02-26** Passed H., Ayes 96, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2018-02-26** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0681) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2018-02-26** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2018-02-26** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2018-02-27** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2018-02-27** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2018-02-28** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2018-02-28** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2018-03-09** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-03-13** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 546
- **2018-03-13** Pub. Ch. 546
- **2018-03-13** Effective date(s) 03/09/2018

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/59d375c6-fc4c-47d7-ba10-db3774d72472`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).