republic-os/legislation/us/states/tn/111/sb-559.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Adoption - As enacted, provides that if a court appoints a guardian ad litem in a pending adoption proceeding, there will be a rebuttable presumption that the guardian ad litem's fees will be divided equally between the parties, excluding the person being adopted; specifies that if a party is found by the court to be indigent, the guardian ad litem will charge that party's portion of the fees to the state through the administrative office of the courts claims and payment system, and bill the remaining parties at the same hourly rate as paid by the administrative office of the courts claims and payment system. - Amends TCA Title 16; Title 36 and Title 37."
description: "Adoption - As enacted, provides that if a court appoints a guardian ad litem in a pending adoption proceeding, there will be a rebuttable presumption that the guardian ad litem's fees will be divided equally between the parties, excluding the person being adopted; specifies that if a party is found by the court to be indigent, the guardian ad litem will charge that party's portion of the fees to the state through the administrative office of the courts claims and payment system, and bill the remaining parties at the same hourly rate as paid by the administrative office of the courts claims and payment system. - Amends TCA Title 16; Title 36 and Title 37."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "111"
identifier: "SB 559"
citation: "Tennessee SB 559 (111)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Adoption"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Johnson", "Russell"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 42
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-02-04"
last_action: "2019-05-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f003fa24-f0ca-460d-87f4-c95f9ffa053e"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0559&GA=111"
source_hash: "78704dc1ca1ea996fb9f0193e6de3f1084bc4a45a30dcb2a95b90b9d9bab0425"
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 559 (111) — Adoption - As enacted, provides that if a court appoints a guardian ad litem in a pending adoption proceeding, there will be a rebuttable presumption that the guardian ad litem's fees will be divided equally between the parties, excluding the person being adopted; specifies that if a party is found by the court to be indigent, the guardian ad litem will charge that party's portion of the fees to the state through the administrative office of the courts claims and payment system, and bill the remaining parties at the same hourly rate as paid by the administrative office of the courts claims and payment system. - Amends TCA Title 16; Title 36 and Title 37.

## Version chain

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

1. **Amendment HA0348** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Amend/HA0348.pdf)
2. **Amendment SA0411** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Amend/SA0411.pdf)
3. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Bill/SB0559.pdf)

## Votes

- FLOOR VOTE: FINAL CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 5/2/2019 Passed (1) — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee 4/9/2019 — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE FINANCE, WAYS, AND MEANS SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee 4/30/2019 (4) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0 4/23/2019 Passed (2) — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE FINANCE, WAYS, AND MEANS COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee 4/30/2019 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 4/30/2019 Passed (1) — **28–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE CHILDREN & FAMILIES SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Judiciary 4/2/2019 (5) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/30/2019 4/30/2019 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Johnson — primary (person)
- Russell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-04** Filed for introduction `reading-1, introduction`
- **2019-02-04** Filed for introduction `reading-1, introduction`
- **2019-02-06** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2019-02-06** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2019-02-07** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2019-02-07** P2C, ref. to Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-11** Assigned to s/c Children & Families Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-27** Placed on s/c cal Children & Families Subcommittee for 3/5/2019
- **2019-03-05** Taken off notice for cal in s/c Children & Families Subcommittee of Judiciary
- **2019-03-27** Placed on s/c cal Children & Families Subcommittee for 4/2/2019
- **2019-04-02** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-03** Placed on cal. Judiciary for 4/10/2019
- **2019-04-09** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-17** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 4/23/2019
- **2019-04-17** Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 4/24/2019
- **2019-04-17** Placed behind the budget
- **2019-04-17** Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 4/17/2019
- **2019-04-17** Assigned to s/c Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-23** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2019-04-24** Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 4/29/2019
- **2019-04-25** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/30/2019
- **2019-04-30** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2019-04-30** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 28, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2019-04-30** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0411)
- **2019-04-30** H. Placed on Regular Calendar #2 for 4/30/2019
- **2019-04-30** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/30/2019
- **2019-04-30** Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-30** Placed on cal. Finance, Ways, and Means Committee for 4/30/2019
- **2019-04-30** Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-01** H. Placed on Final Calendar for 5/2/19
- **2019-05-02** Passed H., Ayes 80, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2019-05-02** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0348) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2019-05-02** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2019-05-02** Comp. SB subst.
- **2019-05-06** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2019-05-09** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2019-05-10** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2019-05-13** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2019-05-21** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-05-23** Pub. Ch. 409
- **2019-05-23** Effective date(s) 05/21/2019
- **2019-05-23** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 409

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f003fa24-f0ca-460d-87f4-c95f9ffa053e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).