republic-os/legislation/us/states/tn/110/hb-1938.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Political Parties - As enacted, specifies that a person who is an honorably discharged veteran of the United States armed forces, a member of the Tennessee national guard, a member of the Tennessee air national guard, or an inactive reservist of any of the United States uniformed military services in good standing must not be disqualified as a candidate for any office if, for service-related reasons, that person was unable to comply with a statewide political party's or recognized minor party's rules for candidacy for nomination for such party, and such service-related reasons are the sole reason the person is unable to qualify. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 13, Part 1."
description: "Political Parties - As enacted, specifies that a person who is an honorably discharged veteran of the United States armed forces, a member of the Tennessee national guard, a member of the Tennessee air national guard, or an inactive reservist of any of the United States uniformed military services in good standing must not be disqualified as a candidate for any office if, for service-related reasons, that person was unable to comply with a statewide political party's or recognized minor party's rules for candidacy for nomination for such party, and such service-related reasons are the sole reason the person is unable to qualify. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 13, Part 1."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "110"
identifier: "HB 1938"
citation: "Tennessee HB 1938 (110)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Political Parties"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Briggs", "Ragan"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 60
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2018-01-18"
last_action: "2018-05-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3efabd15-6c3f-4e56-851d-dc4ea07ac7de"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB1938&GA=110"
source_hash: "2b47369565164c830f153c54facebbd2af5515b141438fac2508d20b4f38f51d"
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 1938 (110) — Political Parties - As enacted, specifies that a person who is an honorably discharged veteran of the United States armed forces, a member of the Tennessee national guard, a member of the Tennessee air national guard, or an inactive reservist of any of the United States uniformed military services in good standing must not be disqualified as a candidate for any office if, for service-related reasons, that person was unable to comply with a statewide political party's or recognized minor party's rules for candidacy for nomination for such party, and such service-related reasons are the sole reason the person is unable to qualify. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 13, Part 1.

## 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/HB1938.pdf)

## Votes

- LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee 3/27/2018 (2) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/2/2018 3/29/2018 (1) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Local Government Committee 3/21/2018 (3) — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Briggs — primary (person)
- Ragan — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-18** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2018-01-22** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2018-01-24** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee
- **2018-01-26** Filed for intro. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2018-01-29** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2018-01-31** Assigned to s/c Local Government Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-31** P2C, ref. to Local Government Committee `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-07** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 2/13/2018
- **2018-02-13** Placed on Senate Consent Calendar 2 calendar for 2/15/2018
- **2018-02-13** Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee
- **2018-02-15** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2018-02-15** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-02-15** Passed Senate, Ayes 31, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2018-02-21** Placed on s/c cal Local Government Subcommittee for 2/28/2018
- **2018-02-22** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2018-02-28** Placed on s/c cal Local Government Subcommittee for 3/7/2018
- **2018-02-28** Action Def. in s/c Local Government Subcommittee to 3/7/2018
- **2018-03-07** Action Def. in s/c Local Government Subcommittee to the Election Calendar
- **2018-03-14** Placed on s/c cal Local Government Subcommittee for 3/21/2018
- **2018-03-21** Placed on cal. Local Government Committee for 3/27/2018
- **2018-03-21** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Local Government Committee `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-27** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-03-28** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 3/29/2018
- **2018-03-29** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/2/2018
- **2018-04-02** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-04-02** Reset on cal. for 4/11/2018
- **2018-04-06** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/11/2018
- **2018-04-11** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/12/2018
- **2018-04-11** Reset on cal. for 4/12/2018
- **2018-04-12** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/16/2018
- **2018-04-12** Reset on cal. for 4/16/2018
- **2018-04-12** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-04-17** Sponsor(s) Added.
- **2018-04-17** Comp. SB subst.
- **2018-04-17** Placed on Senate Message Calendar calendar for 4/18/2018
- **2018-04-17** Passed H., as am., Ayes 90, Nays 3, PNV 2 `passage`
- **2018-04-17** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 3 - HA1209) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2018-04-17** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA1059) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2018-04-17** H. adopted am. (Amendment 4 - HA1215) `amendment-passage`
- **2018-04-17** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 2 - HA1198) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2018-04-17** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2018-04-18** H. Placed on Message Calendar for 4/19/2018
- **2018-04-18** Senate refused to concur in amendment (Amendment 4 - HA1215) `amendment-failure`
- **2018-04-19** H. refused to recede from am. no. 4 SB1688
- **2018-04-19** Placed on Senate Message Calendar calendar for 4/23/2018
- **2018-04-23** H. Placed on Message Calendar for 4/24/2018
- **2018-04-23** Conference Committee appointed. (Briggs, Lundberg, Kyle)
- **2018-04-23** Senate refused to recede from its non-concurrence.
- **2018-04-24** Conf. comm. appointed. (Ragan, Van Huss, Pitts)
- **2018-04-25** Conf. comm. report adopted, Ayes 81, Nays 0 PNV 3
- **2018-04-25** Conference Committee report adopted, Ayes 29, Nays 0
- **2018-04-25** Placed on Senate Message Calendar 2 calendar for 4/25/2018
- **2018-04-30** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2018-05-01** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2018-05-08** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2018-05-09** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2018-05-21** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-23** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 992
- **2018-05-23** Pub. Ch. 992
- **2018-05-23** Effective date(s) 05/21/2018

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3efabd15-6c3f-4e56-851d-dc4ea07ac7de`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).