---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Offenses - As enacted, enacts \"April's Law\" to clarify that a person who engages in sexual contact with a corpse commits the offense of abuse of a corpse, a Class E felony. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 3; Title 40, Chapter 11 and Title 40, Chapter 39, Part 2."
description: "Criminal Offenses - As enacted, enacts \"April's Law\" to clarify that a person who engages in sexual contact with a corpse commits the offense of abuse of a corpse, a Class E felony. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 3; Title 40, Chapter 11 and Title 40, Chapter 39, Part 2."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "112"
identifier: "SB 951"
citation: "Tennessee SB 951 (112)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Offenses"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hardaway", "Kyle"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 46
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-11-30"
last_action: "2021-05-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/08b6ecf2-9c60-4845-b398-d0f251c73c77"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0951&GA=112"
source_hash: "93fd1029139343f6a270d00ea0711da4051b03ea7bae133b5b865e6fc7379d50"
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 951 (112) — Criminal Offenses - As enacted, enacts "April's Law" to clarify that a person who engages in sexual contact with a corpse commits the offense of abuse of a corpse, a Class E felony. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 3; Title 40, Chapter 11 and Title 40, Chapter 39, Part 2.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0017** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/HA0017.pdf)
2. **Amendment SA0387** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Amend/SA0387.pdf)
3. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Bill/SB0951.pdf)

## Votes

- FLOOR VOTE: Third Consideration 4/29/2021 Passed (1) — **31–0** (pass) · upper
- SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0 4/20/2021 Passed (2) — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Criminal Justice Subcommittee 2/24/2021 (4) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee 3/3/2021 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR AS AMENDED PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 3/25/2021 Passed (1) — **90–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 3/25/2021 3/18/2021 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hardaway — primary (person)
- Kyle — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-11-30** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-01-12** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2021-01-13** Ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-13** P2C held on desk.
- **2021-01-27** Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-28** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2021-02-10** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-02-11** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2021-02-17** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 2/24/2021
- **2021-02-22** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2021-02-22** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2021-02-24** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Criminal Justice Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-25** Placed on cal. Criminal Justice Committee for 3/3/2021
- **2021-03-03** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-04** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2021-03-17** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 3/18/2021
- **2021-03-18** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 3/25/2021
- **2021-03-25** Engrossed; ready for transmission to Sen.
- **2021-03-25** Passed H., as am., Ayes 90, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2021-03-25** H. adopted am. (Amendment 1 - HA0017) `amendment-passage`
- **2021-03-25** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2021-03-29** Received from House, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2021-03-31** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 4/6/2021
- **2021-04-06** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 4/7/2021
- **2021-04-06** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 4/7/2021
- **2021-04-07** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 4/13/2021
- **2021-04-07** Reset on Final calendar of Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2021-04-13** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 4/14/2021
- **2021-04-14** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 4/20/2021
- **2021-04-14** Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 4/20/2021
- **2021-04-14** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 4/14/2021
- **2021-04-20** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2021-04-27** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/29/2021
- **2021-04-29** Companion House Bill substituted
- **2021-04-29** Passed Senate, Ayes 31, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2021-04-29** Amendment withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - SA0387)
- **2021-04-29** Senate substituted House Bill for companion Senate Bill.
- **2021-04-30** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2021-05-03** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2021-05-03** Enrolled; ready for sig. of H. Speaker.
- **2021-05-04** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2021-05-05** Transmitted to Governor for his action. `executive-receipt`
- **2021-05-12** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-18** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 402
- **2021-05-18** Effective date(s) 07/01/2021
- **2021-05-18** Pub. Ch. 402

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/08b6ecf2-9c60-4845-b398-d0f251c73c77`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).