---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Offenses - As enacted, increases the punishment for intentionally desecrating a place of worship or burial from a Class A misdemeanor to Class E felony. - Amends TCA Title 39."
description: "Criminal Offenses - As enacted, increases the punishment for intentionally desecrating a place of worship or burial from a Class A misdemeanor to Class E felony. - Amends TCA Title 39."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "110"
identifier: "HB 1402"
citation: "Tennessee HB 1402 (110)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Offenses"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Clemmons", "Dickerson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 50
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2017-02-09"
last_action: "2017-05-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0be67a54-7d38-4d97-8a11-5719c5d21c31"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB1402&GA=110"
source_hash: "174224b75710a1ea500f78ef9f1b677ad8d63fc530d297380b7909c78603d62c"
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 1402 (110) — Criminal Offenses - As enacted, increases the punishment for intentionally desecrating a place of worship or burial from a Class A misdemeanor to Class E felony. - Amends TCA Title 39.

## Version chain

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

1. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/110/Bill/HB1402.pdf)

## Votes

- CRIMINAL JUSTICE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Criminal Justice Committee 4/4/2017 (5) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- FINANCE, WAYS & MEANS SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways & Means Committee 5/8/2017 (2) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Finance, Ways & Means Committee 4/26/2017 (4) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- FINANCE, WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee 5/8/2017 (1) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 5/9/2017 5/8/2017 (3) — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Clemmons — primary (person)
- Dickerson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-09** Intro. `introduction`
- **2017-02-09** Filed for intro. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-09** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2017-02-09** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-13** P1C.
- **2017-02-13** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2017-02-15** P2C, ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-17** Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-23** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2017-03-27** Sponsor(s) withdrawn.
- **2017-03-27** Sponsor change.
- **2017-03-29** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 4/4/2017
- **2017-04-04** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-05** Placed on cal. Criminal Justice Committee for 4/12/2017
- **2017-04-12** Reset on Final cal. of Criminal Justice Committee
- **2017-04-12** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 4/18/2017
- **2017-04-18** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2017-04-19** Placed on cal. Criminal Justice Committee for 4/26/2017
- **2017-04-19** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2017-04-20** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2017-04-24** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar calendar for 4/26/2017
- **2017-04-25** Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee for 4/26/2017
- **2017-04-25** Assigned to s/c Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-25** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Finance, Ways & Means Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-26** Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee for 5/2/2017
- **2017-04-26** Placed behind the budget
- **2017-04-26** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2017-04-26** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2017-04-26** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 31, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2017-04-26** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0480)
- **2017-04-27** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2017-05-03** Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee for 5/8/2017
- **2017-05-08** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 5/8/2017
- **2017-05-08** Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-05-08** Placed on cal. Finance, Ways & Means Committee for 5/8/2017
- **2017-05-08** Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways & Means Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-05-09** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2017-05-09** Comp. SB subst.
- **2017-05-09** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 5/9/2017
- **2017-05-09** Passed H., Ayes 86, Nays 3, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2017-05-09** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0530) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2017-05-09** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2017-05-10** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2017-05-10** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2017-05-10** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2017-05-11** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2017-05-18** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-05-23** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 432
- **2017-05-23** Pub. Ch. 432
- **2017-05-23** Effective date(s) 07/01/2017

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0be67a54-7d38-4d97-8a11-5719c5d21c31`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).