---
type: "Bill"
title: "Domestic Violence - As enacted, creates Class A misdemeanor offense for a criminal defendant in a domestic assault case, or a person acting at the defendant's direction, by persuasion or any other means that do not constitute coercion to intentionally influence or attempt to influence a witness or prospective witness to engage in certain behavior. - Amends TCA Title 29; Title 35; Title 36; Title 37; Title 38; Title 39 and Title 40."
description: "Domestic Violence - As enacted, creates Class A misdemeanor offense for a criminal defendant in a domestic assault case, or a person acting at the defendant's direction, by persuasion or any other means that do not constitute coercion to intentionally influence or attempt to influence a witness or prospective witness to engage in certain behavior. - Amends TCA Title 29; Title 35; Title 36; Title 37; Title 38; Title 39 and Title 40."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "111"
identifier: "HB 973"
citation: "Tennessee HB 973 (111)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Domestic Violence"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Littleton", "Massey"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 35
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-02-05"
last_action: "2019-04-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6f83564e-f16a-4c4f-9c10-1be78cdfd772"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB0973&GA=111"
source_hash: "154ed4fb741cf761708379a5c2b8f29cce647f0a6aadf5474a87983cbec0080b"
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 973 (111) — Domestic Violence - As enacted, creates Class A misdemeanor offense for a criminal defendant in a domestic assault case, or a person acting at the defendant's direction, by persuasion or any other means that do not constitute coercion to intentionally influence or attempt to influence a witness or prospective witness to engage in certain behavior. - Amends TCA Title 29; Title 35; Title 36; Title 37; Title 38; Title 39 and Title 40.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0131** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Amend/HA0131.pdf)
2. **Amendment SA0042** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Amend/SA0042.pdf)
3. **Amendment SA0067** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Amend/SA0067.pdf)
4. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Bill/HB0973.pdf)

## Votes

- SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0 3/5/2019 Passed (2) — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/1/2019 3/28/2019 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Judiciary 3/13/2019 (4) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/1/2019 Passed (1) — **75–7** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 3/11/2019 Passed (1) — **30–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee 3/20/2019 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Littleton — primary (person)
- Massey — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-05** Filed for introduction `reading-1, introduction`
- **2019-02-05** Filed for introduction `reading-1, introduction`
- **2019-02-06** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2019-02-06** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2019-02-07** P2C, ref. to Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-07** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2019-02-11** Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-20** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 2/26/2019
- **2019-02-26** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 3/5/2019
- **2019-02-27** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/5/2019
- **2019-03-05** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2019-03-06** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/13/2019
- **2019-03-08** Placed on Senate Floor Session calendar for 3/11/2019
- **2019-03-11** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 30, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2019-03-11** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 2 - SA0067)
- **2019-03-11** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0042)
- **2019-03-12** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2019-03-13** Placed on cal. Judiciary for 3/20/2019
- **2019-03-13** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-14** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2019-03-20** 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 4/1/2019
- **2019-04-01** Comp. SB subst.
- **2019-04-01** Passed H., Ayes 75, Nays 7, PNV 9 `passage`
- **2019-04-01** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0131) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2019-04-01** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2019-04-02** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2019-04-02** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2019-04-03** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2019-04-03** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2019-04-11** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-04-15** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 104
- **2019-04-15** Pub. Ch. 104
- **2019-04-15** Effective date(s) 07/01/2019

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6f83564e-f16a-4c4f-9c10-1be78cdfd772`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).