---
type: "Bill"
title: "Motor Vehicles - As enacted, revises various provisions governing towing of vehicles and liens of garagekeepers and towing firms; expands the towing advisory board from nine to 11 members by adding a member appointed by the Tennessee Trucking Association and a member appointed by the American Car Rental Association. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 16 and Title 55, Chapter 23."
description: "Motor Vehicles - As enacted, revises various provisions governing towing of vehicles and liens of garagekeepers and towing firms; expands the towing advisory board from nine to 11 members by adding a member appointed by the Tennessee Trucking Association and a member appointed by the American Car Rental Association. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 16 and Title 55, Chapter 23."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "111"
identifier: "HB 538"
citation: "Tennessee HB 538 (111)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Motor Vehicles"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bailey", "Howell"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 37
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-02-04"
last_action: "2019-05-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f8c5e7fb-eaa2-4f4e-bebc-ff195a52e848"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB0538&GA=111"
source_hash: "5d5be9d45b0e0f7909a526d2ce48b320fea9e07d1e88c1b7dbe446729fb167ff"
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 538 (111) — Motor Vehicles - As enacted, revises various provisions governing towing of vehicles and liens of garagekeepers and towing firms; expands the towing advisory board from nine to 11 members by adding a member appointed by the Tennessee Trucking Association and a member appointed by the American Car Rental Association. - Amends TCA Title 55, Chapter 16 and Title 55, Chapter 23.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0171** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Amend/HA0171.pdf)
2. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Bill/HB0538.pdf)

## Votes

- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/4/2019 3/28/2019 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- HOUSE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee 3/26/2019 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE SAFETY & FUNDING SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Transportation Committee 3/12/2019 (4) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- TRANSPORTATION AND SAFETY COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee 3/6/2019 Passed (3) — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: Motion to Concur House Amendment # 1 4/15/2019 Passed (1) — **33–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR AS AMENDED PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/10/2019 Passed (1) — **93–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: Motion to Adopt 3/11/2019 Passed (2) — **30–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bailey — primary (person)
- Howell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-04** Filed for introduction `reading-1, introduction`
- **2019-02-06** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2019-02-07** P2C, ref. to Transportation Committee `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-07** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2019-02-07** Filed for introduction `reading-1, introduction`
- **2019-02-11** Assigned to s/c Safety & Funding Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-11** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Transportation and Safety Committee
- **2019-02-27** Placed on Senate Transportation and Safety Committee calendar for 3/6/2019
- **2019-03-06** Placed on s/c cal Safety & Funding Subcommittee for 3/12/2019
- **2019-03-06** Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee
- **2019-03-08** Placed on Senate Floor Session calendar for 3/11/2019
- **2019-03-11** Passed Senate, Ayes 30, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2019-03-12** Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Transportation Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-12** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2019-03-13** Placed on cal. Transportation Committee for 3/19/2019
- **2019-03-14** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2019-03-19** Action def. in Transportation Committee to 3/26/2019
- **2019-03-20** Placed on cal. Transportation Committee for 3/26/2019
- **2019-03-26** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-27** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 3/28/2019
- **2019-03-28** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/4/2019
- **2019-04-04** Comp. SB subst.
- **2019-04-04** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/10/19
- **2019-04-04** Reset on next avail. cal.
- **2019-04-04** H. adopted am. (Amendment 1 - HA0171) `amendment-passage`
- **2019-04-04** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2019-04-10** Passed H., Ayes 93, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2019-04-12** Placed on Senate Message Calendar for 4/15/2019
- **2019-04-15** Concurred, Ayes 33, Nays 0 (Amendment 1 - HA0171) `passage`
- **2019-04-17** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2019-04-17** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2019-04-17** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2019-04-18** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2019-04-25** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-05-01** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 209
- **2019-05-01** Pub. Ch. 209
- **2019-05-01** Effective date(s) 04/25/2019

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f8c5e7fb-eaa2-4f4e-bebc-ff195a52e848`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).