Protecting Children From Harm and Empowering Parents 

By State Senator Page Walley 

This week, I want to spend some time focusing on legislation we passed in the Senate that is important to parents of minor children, many of whom have talked to me about their concerns. 

Protecting Children from Social Media Act

Last week, our Senate passed legislation to safeguard children from harmful content found on social media platforms and put parents in the driver’s seat of their children’s social media usage. The Protecting Children from Social Media Act requires social media companies to verify the age of any individual creating an account on their platform. If the account holder is a minor, the company must obtain express consent from the parent or guardian for the account creation.

The evidence is clear. Social media has harmful effects for children, teens, and young adults. Oftentimes, young children create social media accounts without their parents knowledge or consent. The unsupervised use of social media by children is not only inappropriate but can be potentially harmful to those children. 

The legislation lays out clear steps social media companies must take to verify the ages of users to protect Tennessee children and empower parents. It also requires social media companies to provide parents and guardians with account restriction options for their child. These restrictions include privacy settings, daily time restrictions, and implemented breaks from the platform. 

Cassie Wright Act gives parents access to mental health records of minor teenage children

Another bill the Senate passed last week to protect children is the Cassie Wright Act. This legislation aims to ensure parents are informed by physicians about their minor child’s prescription medications and/or suicidal ideation. The legislation is named after a teen who tragically took her own life after receiving a mental health diagnosis unknown to her mother. 

Senate Bill 2482 clarifies that parents have the right to access their minor teen’s prescription records, even if given without the parent’s consent. It also clarifies that a physician’s duty to report includes reporting to a minor’s parent if there is an apparent ability and likelihood to commit suicide. The bill advances to the Senate floor for final approval. 

Under current Tennessee law, an individual 16 years old or older does not have to obtain parental consent for prescriptions, and physicians are not required to provide information to parents about medications prescribed for their child. Physicians are also not currently required to inform parents if their child is struggling with suicidal ideations. Due to this law, Cassie’s mother was unaware that she was suffering. 

This bill changes that. It is important parents are informed about their child’s mental health conditions, so parents can provide more resources to their children in hopes of preventing tragic outcomes such as Cassie’s. 

Legislation empowers parents in vaccine decisions

To protect parental authority in decisions regarding their children’s health, our Judiciary Committee passed a bill to ensure parents play a role in the decision-making process of childhood vaccinations. 

Instead of declaring that parents and legal guardians should adhere strictly to predefined vaccination guidelines, the legislation proposes that vaccination decisions should be guided by recommendations from healthcare providers, in consultation with parents or guardians, aligning with the commissioner of health’s  recommendations when deemed appropriate. 

The legislative session is set to conclude later this month. A few major bills are still outstanding, specifically the private school voucher proposal and our 2024-2025 budget. If you are interested in watching any bills being considered in committee or on the Senate floor, tune into our proceedings live at www.capitol.tn.gov.

Please be sure to contact me on your views or concerns on any issue at sen.page.walley@capitol.tn.gov or at (615) 741-2368. As always, thank you for the privilege of serving as your state senator.

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