---
type: "Bill"
title: "Election Laws - As enacted, generally requires statewide political parties to nominate their candidates in primary elections for all offices for which partisan elections are held at the regular August or regular November election; authorizes, in a county in which a statewide political party nominated a candidate by a method other than a primary election in 2022 or 2024, the statewide political party in such county to continue to use such method with certain exceptions. - Amends TCA Title 2."
description: "Election Laws - As enacted, generally requires statewide political parties to nominate their candidates in primary elections for all offices for which partisan elections are held at the regular August or regular November election; authorizes, in a county in which a statewide political party nominated a candidate by a method other than a primary election in 2022 or 2024, the statewide political party in such county to continue to use such method with certain exceptions. - Amends TCA Title 2."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "114"
identifier: "SB 799"
citation: "Tennessee SB 799 (114)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Election Laws"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Johnson"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 25
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2025-02-04"
last_action: "2025-04-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f6746500-8544-4e13-8878-4a84b6a80f8d"
source_url: "https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default?BillNumber=SB0799&ga=114"
source_hash: "40b6204bb2ebc4d423d6d43818fe3fae6edca56e2a23923d53e454df0f041c72"
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 799 (114) — Election Laws - As enacted, generally requires statewide political parties to nominate their candidates in primary elections for all offices for which partisan elections are held at the regular August or regular November election; authorizes, in a county in which a statewide political party nominated a candidate by a method other than a primary election in 2022 or 2024, the statewide political party in such county to continue to use such method with certain exceptions. - Amends TCA Title 2.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0348** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Amend/HA0348.pdf)
2. **Amendment SA0329** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Amend/SA0329.pdf)
3. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Bill/SB0799.pdf)

## Votes

- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/14/2025 Passed (1) — **60–25** (pass) · lower
- SENATE STATE & LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment, refer to Senate Calendar Committee 4/2/2025 Passed (2) — **8–1** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 4/9/2025 Passed (1) — **27–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Johnson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-04** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2025-02-10** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2025-02-12** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-11** Sponsor change. `sponsorship`
- **2025-03-26** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2025-03-26** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 4/1/2025
- **2025-04-01** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 4/2/2025
- **2025-04-01** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 4/2/2025
- **2025-04-02** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 1 PNV 0
- **2025-04-07** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/9/2025
- **2025-04-09** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House `receipt`
- **2025-04-09** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2025-04-09** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 26, Nays 3 `passage`
- **2025-04-09** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0329)
- **2025-04-10** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2025-04-14** Passed H., Ayes 60, Nays 25, PNV 2 `passage`
- **2025-04-14** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0348) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2025-04-14** Subst. for comp. HB. `substitution`
- **2025-04-16** Enrolled and ready for signatures `enrolled`
- **2025-04-17** Signed by Senate Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-21** Transmitted to Governor for action. `executive-receipt`
- **2025-04-21** Signed by H. Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-24** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-04-29** Effective date(s) 04/24/2025
- **2025-04-29** Pub. Ch. 259

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f6746500-8544-4e13-8878-4a84b6a80f8d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).