republic-os/legislation/us/states/tn/113/sb-159.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Ethics - As enacted, requires assistant director and general counsel of the bureau of ethics and campaign finance, if any, to be employed upon the recommendation of the executive director and approval by the board of directors of the bureau; requires persons and entities required to register with the registry of election finance or the Tennessee ethics commission to provide an email address, or alternatively, a mailing address if no email address is available, for the purpose of serving notice upon the registrant. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 55."
description: "Ethics - As enacted, requires assistant director and general counsel of the bureau of ethics and campaign finance, if any, to be employed upon the recommendation of the executive director and approval by the board of directors of the bureau; requires persons and entities required to register with the registry of election finance or the Tennessee ethics commission to provide an email address, or alternatively, a mailing address if no email address is available, for the purpose of serving notice upon the registrant. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 55."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "113"
identifier: "SB 159"
citation: "Tennessee SB 159 (113)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Ethics"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Briggs"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 27
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-01-12"
last_action: "2023-03-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/87dbdd7d-187d-487b-8b46-dd36890fff26"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0159&GA=113"
source_hash: "c51af7a849f8baa8d83b078619be3c6a68831bd6a7e522d6ab5aea71e5717ba4"
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 159 (113) — Ethics - As enacted, requires assistant director and general counsel of the bureau of ethics and campaign finance, if any, to be employed upon the recommendation of the executive director and approval by the board of directors of the bureau; requires persons and entities required to register with the registry of election finance or the Tennessee ethics commission to provide an email address, or alternatively, a mailing address if no email address is available, for the purpose of serving notice upon the registrant. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 55.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0033** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/113/Amend/HA0033.pdf)
2. **Amendment SA0005** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/113/Amend/SA0005.pdf)
3. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/113/Bill/SB0159.pdf)

## Votes

- SENATE STATE & LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0 2/7/2023 Passed — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- SENATE STATE & LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0 2/7/2023 Passed (2) — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 2/13/2023 Passed (1) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 2/27/2023 Passed — **94–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 2/27/2023 Passed (1) — **94–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Briggs — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-12** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2023-01-19** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2023-01-20** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2023-01-21** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee `passage`
- **2023-01-25** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 1/31/2023
- **2023-01-31** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 2/7/2023
- **2023-01-31** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 2/7/2023
- **2023-02-02** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2023-02-07** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2023-02-09** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2023-02-09** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 2/13/2023
- **2023-02-13** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 32, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2023-02-13** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0005)
- **2023-02-13** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2023-02-13** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House `receipt`
- **2023-02-14** Sponsor(s) Added. `sponsorship`
- **2023-02-16** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2023-02-27** Passed H., Ayes 94, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2023-02-27** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0033) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2023-02-27** Subst. for comp. HB. `substitution`
- **2023-02-28** Enrolled and ready for signatures `enrolled`
- **2023-03-01** Signed by Senate Speaker `passage`
- **2023-03-02** Signed by H. Speaker `passage`
- **2023-03-06** Transmitted to Governor for action. `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-14** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-03-23** Effective date(s) 03/14/2023; 01/01/2024
- **2023-03-23** Pub. Ch. 38

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/87dbdd7d-187d-487b-8b46-dd36890fff26`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).