republic-os/legislation/us/states/tn/111/sb-578.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public Defenders - As enacted, creates the district public defender appellate division, including authorization for six appellate attorney positions. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 14."
description: "Public Defenders - As enacted, creates the district public defender appellate division, including authorization for six appellate attorney positions. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 14."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "111"
identifier: "SB 578"
citation: "Tennessee SB 578 (111)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public Defenders"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Carter", "Gardenhire"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 45
vote_count: 11
first_action: "2019-02-04"
last_action: "2019-05-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/21cf082a-9977-45d0-b0eb-dd68a0c9c83e"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0578&GA=111"
source_hash: "953224ec77790ad77e58fc25a97fa773fe02787fcfeca1ef8b3e326c686ba6cd"
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 578 (111) — Public Defenders - As enacted, creates the district public defender appellate division, including authorization for six appellate attorney positions. - Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 14.

## 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/111/Bill/SB0578.pdf)

## Votes

- FLOOR VOTE: Motion to Adopt 4/29/2019 Passed (1) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- SENATE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee 3/6/2019 Passed — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass; ref to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee 3/20/2019 (5) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee 4/2/2019 Passed — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: CONSENT CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/10/2019 Passed (1) — **84–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Judiciary 3/13/2019 (6) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- FLOOR VOTE: Motion to Adopt 4/29/2019 Passed (2) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- SENATE FINANCE, WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee 4/24/2019 Passed (3) — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- HOUSE CALENDAR & RULES COMMITTEE: H. Placed on Consent Calendar for 4/10/2019 4/4/2019 (2) — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- HOUSE FINANCE, WAYS, AND MEANS SUBCOMMITTEE: Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee 3/27/2019 (4) — **0–0** (pass) · lower
- HOUSE FINANCE, WAYS, AND MEANS COMMITTEE: Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee 4/2/2019 (3) — **0–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Carter — primary (person)
- Gardenhire — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-04** Filed for introduction `reading-1, introduction`
- **2019-02-05** 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 Government Operations Committee
- **2019-02-07** P2C, ref. to Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-11** Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-27** Placed on Senate Government Operations Committee calendar for 3/6/2019
- **2019-03-06** Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
- **2019-03-06** Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/13/2019
- **2019-03-13** Placed on cal. Judiciary for 3/20/2019
- **2019-03-13** Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-20** Placed on s/c cal Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee for 3/27/2019
- **2019-03-20** Assigned to s/c Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-20** Rec. for pass; ref to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-27** Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 4/2/2019
- **2019-03-27** Placed on cal. Finance, Ways, and Means Committee for 4/2/2019
- **2019-03-27** Rec. for pass by s/c ref. to Finance, Ways, and Means Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-02** Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee
- **2019-04-02** Rec. for pass; ref to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-03** Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 4/9/2019
- **2019-04-03** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/4/2019
- **2019-04-04** H. Placed on Consent Calendar for 4/10/2019
- **2019-04-09** Action deferred in Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee to 4/16/2019
- **2019-04-10** Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 4/16/2019
- **2019-04-10** Engrossed; ready for transmission to Sen.
- **2019-04-10** Passed H., Ayes 84, Nays 0, PNV 3 `passage`
- **2019-04-11** Received from House, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2019-04-16** Action deferred in Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee to 4/23/2019
- **2019-04-18** Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 4/23/2019
- **2019-04-23** Placed on Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee calendar for 4/24/2019
- **2019-04-23** Action deferred in Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee to 4/24/2019
- **2019-04-24** Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee
- **2019-04-25** Placed on Senate Consent Calendar 2 for 4/29/2019
- **2019-04-29** Companion House Bill substituted
- **2019-04-29** Passed Senate, Ayes 32, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2019-04-29** Senate substituted House Bill for companion Senate Bill.
- **2019-05-02** Enrolled; ready for sig. of H. Speaker.
- **2019-05-08** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2019-05-13** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2019-05-14** Transmitted to Governor for his action. `executive-receipt`
- **2019-05-21** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-05-29** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 428
- **2019-05-29** Pub. Ch. 428
- **2019-05-29** Effective date(s) 07/01/2019

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/21cf082a-9977-45d0-b0eb-dd68a0c9c83e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).