republic-os/legislation/us/states/tn/111/hb-1278.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Election Laws - As enacted, provides that if an incumbent member of the general assembly who has filed a petition for reelection is disqualified by the political party executive committee, then the incumbent member of the general assembly may file a new petition for the same office as a candidate for another political party or as an independent candidate. - Amends TCA Title 1; Title 2; Title 3; Title 4; Title 8 and Title 10."
description: "Election Laws - As enacted, provides that if an incumbent member of the general assembly who has filed a petition for reelection is disqualified by the political party executive committee, then the incumbent member of the general assembly may file a new petition for the same office as a candidate for another political party or as an independent candidate. - Amends TCA Title 1; Title 2; Title 3; Title 4; Title 8 and Title 10."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "111"
identifier: "HB 1278"
citation: "Tennessee HB 1278 (111)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Election Laws"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Haile", "Holt"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 57
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-02-06"
last_action: "2020-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/099f2f01-c757-440f-aa7e-77e692003995"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB1278&GA=111"
source_hash: "824eb786e5a34a00fd4f038646ffab381047c760909649b0e47b6f6ee57a294c"
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 1278 (111) — Election Laws - As enacted, provides that if an incumbent member of the general assembly who has filed a petition for reelection is disqualified by the political party executive committee, then the incumbent member of the general assembly may file a new petition for the same office as a candidate for another political party or as an independent candidate. - Amends TCA Title 1; Title 2; Title 3; Title 4; Title 8 and Title 10.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0330** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Amend/HA0330.pdf)
2. **Amendment HA0777** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Amend/HA0777.pdf)
3. **Amendment SA0262** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Amend/SA0262.pdf)
4. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Bill/HB1278.pdf)

## Votes

- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 4/18/2019 Passed (2) — **29–3** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR AS AMENDED PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 6/3/2020 Passed (1) — **85–6** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/18/2019 4/17/2019 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- HOUSE LOCAL COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee 4/10/2019 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: Concur in House Amend# 2 6/11/2020 Passed (1) — **29–1** (pass) · upper
- SENATE STATE & LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 7, Nays 1 PNV 1 4/9/2019 Passed (3) — **7–1** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE ELECTIONS & CAMPAIGN FINANCE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Local Committee 4/3/2019 (4) — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Haile — primary (person)
- Holt — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-06** Intro. `introduction`
- **2019-02-06** Filed for introduction `reading-1, introduction`
- **2019-02-06** Filed for introduction `reading-1, introduction`
- **2019-02-07** P1C.
- **2019-02-07** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2019-02-11** P2C, caption bill, held on desk - pending amdt.
- **2019-02-11** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee
- **2019-02-12** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 2/19/2019
- **2019-02-19** Action deferred in Senate State & Local Government Committee to 2/26/2019
- **2019-02-20** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 2/26/2019
- **2019-02-26** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/5/2019
- **2019-02-26** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 3/19/2019
- **2019-03-05** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/12/2019
- **2019-03-05** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 3/12/2019
- **2019-03-12** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/19/2019
- **2019-03-12** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 3/19/2019
- **2019-03-19** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 3/26/2019
- **2019-03-19** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 3/26/2019
- **2019-03-26** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 4/2/2019
- **2019-03-27** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 4/2/2019
- **2019-04-01** Placed on s/c cal Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee for 4/3/2019
- **2019-04-01** Assigned to s/c Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-01** Ref. to Local Committee `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-02** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 4/9/2019
- **2019-04-02** Action deferred in Senate State and Local Government Committee to 4/9/2019
- **2019-04-03** Placed on cal. Local Committee for 4/10/2019
- **2019-04-03** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Local Committee `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-09** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 7, Nays 1 PNV 1
- **2019-04-10** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-16** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/17/2019
- **2019-04-16** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/18/2019
- **2019-04-17** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/18/2019
- **2019-04-18** Reset on final cal.
- **2019-04-18** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2019-04-18** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 29, Nays 3 `passage`
- **2019-04-18** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0262)
- **2019-05-01** H. Placed on Final Calendar for 5/2/19
- **2020-06-02** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 6/3/20
- **2020-06-03** Comp. SB subst.
- **2020-06-03** Passed H., as am., Ayes 85, Nays 6, PNV 3 `passage`
- **2020-06-03** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0330) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2020-06-03** H. adopted am. (Amendment 2 - HA0777) `amendment-passage`
- **2020-06-03** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2020-06-05** Placed on Senate Message Calendar for 6/8/2020
- **2020-06-08** Senate Reset on calendar for 6/10/2020
- **2020-06-09** Placed on Senate Message Calendar for 6/10/2020
- **2020-06-10** Placed on Senate Message Calendar for 6/11/2020
- **2020-06-10** Senate Reset on calendar for 6/11/2020
- **2020-06-11** Concurred, Ayes 29, Nays 1 (Amendment 2 - HA0777) `passage`
- **2020-06-12** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2020-06-17** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2020-06-17** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2020-06-18** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2020-06-22** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2020-07-02** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 713
- **2020-07-02** Pub. Ch. 713
- **2020-07-02** Effective date(s) 06/22/2020

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/099f2f01-c757-440f-aa7e-77e692003995`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).