---
type: "Bill"
title: "Animal Cruelty and Abuse - As enacted, enacts \"Joker's Law,\" which revises the offense of knowingly and unlawfully killing a police dog, fire dog, search and rescue dog, service animal, or police horse without the owner's effective consent; adds provisions regarding knowingly and unlawfully causing serious injury to such an animal; revises and enacts other related provisions. - Amends TCA Section 37-1-134 and Title 39, Chapter 14."
description: "Animal Cruelty and Abuse - As enacted, enacts \"Joker's Law,\" which revises the offense of knowingly and unlawfully killing a police dog, fire dog, search and rescue dog, service animal, or police horse without the owner's effective consent; adds provisions regarding knowingly and unlawfully causing serious injury to such an animal; revises and enacts other related provisions. - Amends TCA Section 37-1-134 and Title 39, Chapter 14."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "112"
identifier: "SB 2013"
citation: "Tennessee SB 2013 (112)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Animal Cruelty and Abuse"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bell", "Hall"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 55
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-12-01"
last_action: "2022-06-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/393d4e73-6fba-478d-ab7d-c39d925a43f0"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB2013&GA=112"
source_hash: "8c781fb180c234c7c451fb197ea044bfa1642904dcd73a0b9451b8893172f228"
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 2013 (112) — Animal Cruelty and Abuse - As enacted, enacts "Joker's Law," which revises the offense of knowingly and unlawfully killing a police dog, fire dog, search and rescue dog, service animal, or police horse without the owner's effective consent; adds provisions regarding knowingly and unlawfully causing serious injury to such an animal; revises and enacts other related provisions. - Amends TCA Section 37-1-134 and Title 39, Chapter 14.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0504** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/HA0504.pdf)
2. **Amendment HA1021** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/HA1021.pdf)
3. **Amendment SA0905** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/SA0905.pdf)
4. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Bill/SB2013.pdf)

## Votes

- HOUSE FINANCE, WAYS, AND MEANS COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee 4/26/2022 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/27/2022 Passed (1) — **77–6** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/27/2022 4/26/2022 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- HOUSE FINANCE, WAYS, AND MEANS SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee 4/26/2022 (4) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee 2/9/2022 (5) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 1 4/6/2022 Passed — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Criminal Justice Committee 2/2/2022 — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 4/20/2022 Passed (1) — **31–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bell — primary (person)
- Hall — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-12-01** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2022-01-11** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2022-01-12** Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-12** P2C, ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-19** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 1/26/2022
- **2022-01-19** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-01-25** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-01-26** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 2/2/2022
- **2022-01-26** Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 2/2/2022
- **2022-01-27** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2022-01-31** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2022-02-02** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2022-02-02** Placed on cal. Criminal Justice Committee for 2/9/2022
- **2022-02-02** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-02** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-02-09** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-02-09** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-02-16** Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 2/23/2022
- **2022-02-16** Assigned to s/c Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-23** Placed behind the budget
- **2022-02-24** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-03-23** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/29/2022
- **2022-03-29** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 3/30/2022
- **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** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 1
- **2022-04-12** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/14/2022
- **2022-04-14** Senate Reset on calendar for 4/20/2022
- **2022-04-18** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/20/2022
- **2022-04-20** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2022-04-20** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 31, Nays 1 `passage`
- **2022-04-20** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0905)
- **2022-04-20** Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 4/26/2022
- **2022-04-21** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2022-04-21** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-04-26** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/27/2022
- **2022-04-26** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/26/2022
- **2022-04-26** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-04-26** Placed on cal. Finance, Ways, and Means Committee for 4/26/2022
- **2022-04-26** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-27** Passed H., Ayes 77, Nays 6, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2022-04-27** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0504) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2022-04-27** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 2 - HA1021) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2022-04-27** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2022-04-27** Comp. SB subst.
- **2022-04-27** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2022-05-13** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2022-05-18** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2022-05-18** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2022-05-23** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2022-06-01** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-06-03** Effective date(s) 07/01/2022
- **2022-06-03** Pub. Ch. 1106
- **2022-06-03** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 1106

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/393d4e73-6fba-478d-ab7d-c39d925a43f0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).