---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sexual Offenses - As enacted, revises the penalties for continuous sexual abuse of a child to clarify circumstances under which the offense is a Class A, Class B, or Class C felony; adds to the list of offenses that warrant the Class A felony, trafficking for a commercial sex act if the victim is a minor and promoting prostitution if the victim is a minor. - Amends TCA Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41; Title 53 and Title 55."
description: "Sexual Offenses - As enacted, revises the penalties for continuous sexual abuse of a child to clarify circumstances under which the offense is a Class A, Class B, or Class C felony; adds to the list of offenses that warrant the Class A felony, trafficking for a commercial sex act if the victim is a minor and promoting prostitution if the victim is a minor. - Amends TCA Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41; Title 53 and Title 55."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "112"
identifier: "HB 1855"
citation: "Tennessee HB 1855 (112)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Sexual Offenses"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bell", "Doggett"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 43
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2022-01-19"
last_action: "2022-05-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bd53dc21-e130-4523-88cd-683fac5945a8"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB1855&GA=112"
source_hash: "fee9f94dcb072387ce3464cf90520b1fb4bbf57613ff352c3bd37bf3eb9addfb"
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 1855 (112) — Sexual Offenses - As enacted, revises the penalties for continuous sexual abuse of a child to clarify circumstances under which the offense is a Class A, Class B, or Class C felony; adds to the list of offenses that warrant the Class A felony, trafficking for a commercial sex act if the victim is a minor and promoting prostitution if the victim is a minor. - Amends TCA Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41; Title 53 and Title 55.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0927** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/HA0927.pdf)
2. **Amendment SA0903** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/SA0903.pdf)
3. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Bill/HB1855.pdf)

## Votes

- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/25/2022 Passed (1) — **95–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Criminal Justice Committee 3/29/2022 (4) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee 4/13/2022 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0 4/6/2022 Passed (2) — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/25/2022 4/20/2022 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 4/13/2022 Passed (1) — **32–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bell — primary (person)
- Doggett — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-19** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2022-01-19** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2022-01-20** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2022-01-20** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2022-01-24** P2C, ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-24** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2022-01-25** Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-08** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-03-23** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/29/2022
- **2022-03-23** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/29/2022
- **2022-03-29** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-03-29** Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-29** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 3/30/2022
- **2022-03-30** Placed on cal. Criminal Justice Committee for 4/6/2022
- **2022-03-30** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 4/6/2022
- **2022-03-30** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 4/5/2022
- **2022-03-30** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/30/2022
- **2022-04-06** Placed on cal. Criminal Justice Committee for 4/13/2022
- **2022-04-06** Action def. in Criminal Justice Committee to 4/13/2022
- **2022-04-06** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2022-04-11** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/13/2022
- **2022-04-13** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-04-13** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-04-13** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2022-04-13** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-04-13** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 32, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2022-04-13** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0903)
- **2022-04-14** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2022-04-19** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/20/2022
- **2022-04-20** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/25/2022
- **2022-04-25** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-04-25** Comp. SB subst.
- **2022-04-25** Passed H., Ayes 95, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2022-04-25** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0927) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2022-04-25** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2022-04-27** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2022-04-28** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2022-05-02** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2022-05-02** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2022-05-11** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-05-25** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 1025
- **2022-05-25** Effective date(s) 07/01/2022
- **2022-05-25** Pub. Ch. 1025

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/bd53dc21-e130-4523-88cd-683fac5945a8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).