---
type: "Bill"
title: "County Government - As enacted, authorizes counties that self-insure their liability for county officials and employees under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act to self-insure their risk of loss in lieu of obtaining bonds or insurance to cover their liability for such persons. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 19."
description: "County Government - As enacted, authorizes counties that self-insure their liability for county officials and employees under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act to self-insure their risk of loss in lieu of obtaining bonds or insurance to cover their liability for such persons. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 19."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "112"
identifier: "SB 1261"
citation: "Tennessee SB 1261 (112)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["County Government"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Baum", "Reeves"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 37
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2021-02-10"
last_action: "2021-05-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/25000d5b-9983-4c2a-9b33-344b070d6347"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB1261&GA=112"
source_hash: "63dcd8162c2778dc4dbba5d309c264cd02512887a488302bf70b8e05b96cc8eb"
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 1261 (112) — County Government - As enacted, authorizes counties that self-insure their liability for county officials and employees under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act to self-insure their risk of loss in lieu of obtaining bonds or insurance to cover their liability for such persons. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 19.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0066** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/HA0066.pdf)
2. **Amendment SA0137** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/SA0137.pdf)
3. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Bill/SB1261.pdf)

## Votes

- HOUSE CITIES SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Local Government Committee 3/9/2021 — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- SENATE STATE & LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0 3/24/2021 Passed (2) — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee 3/16/2021 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR AS AMENDED PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 3/22/2021 Passed (1) — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: Third Consideration 4/5/2021 Passed (1) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 3/22/2021 3/18/2021 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Baum — primary (person)
- Reeves — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-10** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-02-11** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2021-02-11** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-02-11** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2021-02-22** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee
- **2021-02-22** Assigned to s/c Cities & Counties Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-22** P2C, ref. to Local Government Committee `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-24** Placed on s/c cal Cities & Counties Subcommittee for 3/2/2021
- **2021-03-02** Action Def. in s/c Cities & Counties Subcommittee to 3/9/2021
- **2021-03-03** Placed on s/c cal Cities & Counties Subcommittee for 3/9/2021
- **2021-03-09** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Local Government Committee `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-10** Placed on cal. Local Government Committee for 3/16/2021
- **2021-03-16** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/23/2021
- **2021-03-16** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-17** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 3/18/2021
- **2021-03-18** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 3/22/2021
- **2021-03-22** Passed H., as am., Ayes 96, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2021-03-22** H. adopted am. (Amendment 1 - HA0066) `amendment-passage`
- **2021-03-22** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2021-03-23** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/24/2021
- **2021-03-23** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 3/24/2021
- **2021-03-23** Engrossed; ready for transmission to Sen.
- **2021-03-24** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2021-03-25** Received from House, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2021-04-01** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/5/2021
- **2021-04-05** Companion House Bill substituted
- **2021-04-05** Passed Senate, Ayes 32, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2021-04-05** Amendment withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - SA0137)
- **2021-04-05** Senate substituted House Bill for companion Senate Bill.
- **2021-04-06** Enrolled; ready for sig. of H. Speaker.
- **2021-04-08** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2021-04-13** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2021-04-14** Transmitted to Governor for his action. `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-22** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-04** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 232
- **2021-05-04** Effective date(s) 4/22/2021
- **2021-05-04** Pub. Ch. 232

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/25000d5b-9983-4c2a-9b33-344b070d6347`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).