---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Offenses - As enacted, revises the punishment for the assaultive offenses under certain circumstances; revises provisions governing the reporting of conduct by an inmate against a correctional officer, guard, jailer, or other full-time employee of a penal institution, local jail, or workhouse, that would constitute an assault. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40."
description: "Criminal Offenses - As enacted, revises the punishment for the assaultive offenses under certain circumstances; revises provisions governing the reporting of conduct by an inmate against a correctional officer, guard, jailer, or other full-time employee of a penal institution, local jail, or workhouse, that would constitute an assault. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "110"
identifier: "SB 949"
citation: "Tennessee SB 949 (110)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Offenses"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["DeBerry", "Kelsey"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 55
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2017-02-09"
last_action: "2018-05-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/92c479fd-3d93-4069-ba42-bd56192a23ec"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0949&GA=110"
source_hash: "48bb57364fa66cbe073d7a522d4ece9d6efa3d7604739292121d661f28f6c322"
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 949 (110) — Criminal Offenses - As enacted, revises the punishment for the assaultive offenses under certain circumstances; revises provisions governing the reporting of conduct by an inmate against a correctional officer, guard, jailer, or other full-time employee of a penal institution, local jail, or workhouse, that would constitute an assault. - Amends TCA Title 39 and Title 40.

## 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/SB0949.pdf)

## Votes

- SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0 2/20/2018 Passed — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: AS AMENDED PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/19/2018 PASSED — **93–0** (fail) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: Motion to Concur House Amendment # 1 4/23/2018 PASSED — **32–0** (fail) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 2/26/2018 PASSED — **30–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- DeBerry — primary (person)
- Kelsey — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-09** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2017-02-09** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-09** Intro. `introduction`
- **2017-02-09** Filed for intro. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-13** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2017-02-13** P1C.
- **2017-02-15** P2C, ref. to Criminal Justice Committee-- Agriculture and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-17** Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-22** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/28/2017
- **2017-03-28** Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 4/4/2017
- **2017-03-29** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 4/4/2017
- **2017-04-04** Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 1/1/2018
- **2018-01-10** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 1/16/2018
- **2018-01-16** Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 1/23/2018
- **2018-01-17** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 1/23/2018
- **2018-01-23** Taken off notice for cal in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee of Criminal Justice Committee
- **2018-02-14** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 2/20/2018
- **2018-02-20** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2018-02-21** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 2/27/2018
- **2018-02-23** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar calendar for 2/26/2018
- **2018-02-26** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 30, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2018-02-26** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0613)
- **2018-02-27** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2018-02-27** Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 3/6/2018
- **2018-02-28** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/6/2018
- **2018-03-01** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2018-03-06** Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 3/13/2018
- **2018-03-07** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/13/2018
- **2018-03-13** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-14** Placed on cal. Criminal Justice Committee for 3/21/2018
- **2018-03-21** Placed on cal. Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee for 3/27/2018
- **2018-03-21** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-27** Rec. for pass; ref to Finance, Ways & Means Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-28** Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee for 4/3/2018
- **2018-03-28** Assigned to s/c Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-03** Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways & Means Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-04** Placed on cal. Finance, Ways & Means Committee for 4/9/2018
- **2018-04-09** Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-16** H. Placed on Regular Calendar #2 for 4/17/2018
- **2018-04-16** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/16/2018
- **2018-04-19** Placed on Senate Message Calendar calendar for 4/23/2018
- **2018-04-19** Passed H., as am., Ayes 93, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2018-04-19** H. adopted am. (Amendment 1 - HA0955) `amendment-passage`
- **2018-04-19** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2018-04-19** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-04-19** Comp. SB subst.
- **2018-04-23** Concurred, Ayes 32, Nays 0 (Amendment 1 - HA0955) `passage`
- **2018-04-25** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2018-04-25** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2018-04-25** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2018-05-07** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2018-05-15** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-18** Pub. Ch. 925
- **2018-05-18** Effective date(s) 07/01/2018
- **2018-05-18** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 925

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/92c479fd-3d93-4069-ba42-bd56192a23ec`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).