---
type: "Bill"
title: "Insurance Companies, Agents, Brokers, Policies - As enacted, expands the prohibition, from stage 4 advanced metastatic cancer or metastatic blood cancer to any cancer, against a health benefit plan that provides coverage for cancer requiring the use of a step therapy protocol before the health benefit plan provides coverage for an approved prescription drug to an enrollee who has received a diagnosis of cancer. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71."
description: "Insurance Companies, Agents, Brokers, Policies - As enacted, expands the prohibition, from stage 4 advanced metastatic cancer or metastatic blood cancer to any cancer, against a health benefit plan that provides coverage for cancer requiring the use of a step therapy protocol before the health benefit plan provides coverage for an approved prescription drug to an enrollee who has received a diagnosis of cancer. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "114"
identifier: "HB 1956"
citation: "Tennessee HB 1956 (114)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Agents", "Brokers", "Insurance Companies", "Policies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alexander"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 32
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-22"
last_action: "2026-05-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/79a82da7-d428-4f5b-bb66-1a21be405934"
source_url: "https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default?BillNumber=HB1956&ga=114"
source_hash: "052cb05b5d4249af815a3790b0517dec74dab89ebd480ed97925b828f7cb0436"
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 1956 (114) — Insurance Companies, Agents, Brokers, Policies - As enacted, expands the prohibition, from stage 4 advanced metastatic cancer or metastatic blood cancer to any cancer, against a health benefit plan that provides coverage for cancer requiring the use of a step therapy protocol before the health benefit plan provides coverage for an approved prescription drug to an enrollee who has received a diagnosis of cancer. - Amends TCA Title 8; Title 56; Title 63; Title 68 and Title 71.

## Version chain

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

1. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Bill/HB1956.pdf)

## Votes

- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Consent Calendar 4/2/2026 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/6/2026 Passed (1) — **90–1** (pass) · lower
- INSURANCE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Insurance Committee 3/11/2026 Passed (4) — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: Third Consideration 4/20/2026 Passed (1) — **30–3** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE INSURANCE COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass; ref to Government Operations Committee 3/24/2026 Passed — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee 3/30/2026 Passed (3) — **11–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Alexander — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-22** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2026-02-02** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2026-02-04** Assigned to s/c Insurance Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-04** P2C, ref. to Insurance Committee - Government Operations for Review `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-25** Placed on s/c cal Insurance Subcommittee for 3/4/2026
- **2026-03-04** Placed on s/c cal Insurance Subcommittee for 3/11/2026
- **2026-03-04** Action Def. in s/c Insurance Subcommittee to 3/11/2026
- **2026-03-11** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2026-03-11** Placed on cal. Insurance Committee for 3/17/2026
- **2026-03-11** Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Insurance Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-16** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2026-03-17** Action def. in Insurance Committee to 3/24/2026
- **2026-03-18** Placed on cal. Insurance Committee for 3/24/2026
- **2026-03-23** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2026-03-24** Rec. for pass; ref to Government Operations Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-25** Placed on cal. Government Operations Committee for 3/30/2026
- **2026-03-30** Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-01** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/2/2026
- **2026-04-02** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/6/2026
- **2026-04-06** Engrossed; ready for transmission to Sen. `receipt`
- **2026-04-06** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2026-04-06** Passed H., Ayes 90, Nays 1, PNV 4 `passage`
- **2026-04-09** Received from House, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2026-04-20** Passed Senate, Ayes 30, Nays 3 `passage`
- **2026-04-20** Senate substituted House Bill for companion Senate Bill. `substitution`
- **2026-04-23** Enrolled; ready for sig. of H. Speaker. `enrolled`
- **2026-04-30** Signed by H. Speaker `passage`
- **2026-05-05** Signed by Senate Speaker `passage`
- **2026-05-07** Transmitted to Governor for his action. `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-19** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-26** Effective date(s) 01/01/2027
- **2026-05-26** Pub. Ch. 995

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/79a82da7-d428-4f5b-bb66-1a21be405934`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).