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The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
On Wednesday, Governor Bill Lee signed legislation into law that aims to cut down on child abuse cases in Tennessee by increasing the penalty for those who commit child abuse by “knowingly treating a child between the ages of 9 and 17 in such a manner as to inflict injury.”
HB0045/SB0693, sponsored by Rep. Jake McCalmon (R-Franklin-District 63) and Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin-District 27), increases what is currently a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony for intentional child abuse infliction of injury.
Right now, Tennessee Code dictates that abusing a child “in such a manner to inflict injury” is only a felony if the child is 8 years old or younger. If the child is at least 9 years old, it is a misdemeanor.
According to the bill text, this new law will take effect on July 1st of this year.
“Crimes against kids have become something I’ve become passionate about up here,” Rep. McCalmon told The Tennessee Conservative back in February. “I learned last year, in looking up different pieces of code, that without this law in place if you go and you steal a Louis Vuitton bag, that’s a Class E Felony. You could do up to 5 years in prison. If you put a nine-year-old in the hospital and you’re convicted, the most time you’ll spend is 11 months and 29 days. So essentially a year in jail.”
Co-sponsors of this legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly included Republican Senator Ferrell Haile and Republican Representatives Jody Barrett, Mary Littleton, Rebecca Alexander, Dennis Powers, G.A. Hardaway, Chris Todd and Rick Eldridge.
The bill received so much unanimous support throughout the committee process that it was placed on the House Consent Calendar instead of the House Regular Calendar, which means it was considered non-controversial and unlikely to need further debate on the floor of the chamber.
Lawmakers can file an objection to any item on the consent calendar if they feel that a bill needs further discussion on the floor. There was no objection filed for HB0045/SB0693.
It got a nearly unanimous 94-0 vote in the House of Representatives on April 14th, 2025, with only Democrat Rep. Gabby Salinas marking herself as “present and not voting.”
The Senate went on to unanimously pass the bill with a 33-0 vote on April 21st, 2025.
Now that the Governor has signed the bill into law, it will be sent to the Secretary of State and be assigned a public chapter number before being incorporated into Tennessee Code.
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
One Response
As dear Mom, RIP, oft said, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”. Sure hope parents applying effective, God ordained punishments to hard head kids don’t get in trouble.