---
type: "Bill"
title: "Children - As enacted, amends the requirements for what is to be included in a petition filed in juvenile court; clarifies the requirement that a court conducting a termination of parental rights hearing admit evidence pursuant to the Tennessee Rules of Evidence. - Amends TCA Section 36-1-113; Section 37-1-120; Section 37-1-129 and Section 37-1-183."
description: "Children - As enacted, amends the requirements for what is to be included in a petition filed in juvenile court; clarifies the requirement that a court conducting a termination of parental rights hearing admit evidence pursuant to the Tennessee Rules of Evidence. - Amends TCA Section 36-1-113; Section 37-1-120; Section 37-1-129 and Section 37-1-183."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "110"
identifier: "HB 840"
citation: "Tennessee HB 840 (110)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Children"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["DeBerry", "Norris"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 33
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-02-08"
last_action: "2017-05-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d967b0e6-b8a1-4978-8e50-9981fc0aa789"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB0840&GA=110"
source_hash: "c0688034186a4d6672e3801fe12b4cf1178be4485b61dd638caaacabad4fcd2b"
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 840 (110) — Children - As enacted, amends the requirements for what is to be included in a petition filed in juvenile court; clarifies the requirement that a court conducting a termination of parental rights hearing admit evidence pursuant to the Tennessee Rules of Evidence. - Amends TCA Section 36-1-113; Section 37-1-120; Section 37-1-129 and Section 37-1-183.

## 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/HB0840.pdf)

## Votes

- CIVIL JUSTICE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Civil Justice Committee 4/5/2017 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/26/2017 4/20/2017 (1) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- CIVIL JUSTICE COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee 4/11/2017 (2) — **0–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- DeBerry — primary (person)
- Norris — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-08** Filed for intro. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-09** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2017-02-09** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2017-02-09** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-13** P2C, ref. to Civil Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2017-02-14** Assigned to s/c Civil Justice Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-22** Placed on s/c cal Civil Justice Subcommittee for 3/29/2017
- **2017-03-22** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/28/2017
- **2017-03-28** Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee
- **2017-03-29** Placed on s/c cal Civil Justice Subcommittee for 4/5/2017
- **2017-03-29** Action Def. in s/c Civil Justice Subcommittee to 4/5/2017
- **2017-03-30** Placed on Senate Consent Calendar 2 calendar for 4/3/2017
- **2017-04-03** Passed Senate, Ayes 31, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2017-04-04** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2017-04-05** Placed on cal. Civil Justice Committee for 4/12/2017
- **2017-04-05** Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Civil Justice Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-06** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2017-04-11** Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-19** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/20/2017
- **2017-04-20** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/26/2017
- **2017-04-26** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2017-04-26** Comp. SB subst.
- **2017-04-26** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2017-04-26** Passed H., Ayes 92, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2017-04-26** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2017-04-27** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2017-04-27** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2017-04-27** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2017-05-02** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-05-11** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 263
- **2017-05-11** Pub. Ch. 263
- **2017-05-11** Effective date(s) 07/01/2017

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d967b0e6-b8a1-4978-8e50-9981fc0aa789`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).