Walley-Sponsored Legislation Protecting Children, Securing Border Now in Effect
State Senator Page Walley‘s office
June 21, 2024
As Tennessee moved into the new fiscal year on July 1, 2024, many Tennessee laws passed by the General Assembly will go into effect. State Senator Page Walley (R-Savannah) passed several pieces of legislation to help local communities, protect the Second Amendment, enhance public safety and strengthen our immigration laws.
“As we embark on this new fiscal year, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve and deliver meaningful legislation for our communities,” said Walley. “These new laws reflect our dedication to empowering local communities, safeguarding our Second Amendment rights, bolstering public safety measures, and fortifying our immigration laws.”
On July 1, the laws that will go into effect sponsored and co-sponsored by Walley include:
- Helping rural utility operations by allowing counties a one-year reprieve from paying depreciation after utility installation, and still keeps the municipality in compliance with accounting standards. This law will help rural counties with utility depreciation. Many rural counties cannot afford to accept block grants because the state’s expectations of depreciation prevent rural municipalities from upgrading their utility systems. Under previous law, the municipality was responsible for paying depreciation immediately, which was costly and burdensome.
- Increasing availability of School Resource Officers (SROs) by allowing a retired law enforcement officer to be reemployed as a full-time SRO at a Tennessee public school without loss or suspension of the officer’s retirement benefits. The retired law enforcement officer must be a member of the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS) or local retirement fund to be eligible for this new law.
- The Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act protects financial transaction data associated with firearm and ammunition purchases from being used to conduct mass surveillance of law-abiding Tennesseans. It prohibits financial institutions from requiring the use of a specific merchant category code (MCC) to identify transactions that occur at firearms retailers in the state.
- Protecting property owners from squatters by establishing a clear and expedited removal process. The law removes the burden from legitimate property owners by establishing a clear process for law enforcement to restore possession, which can expedite the removal of illegal occupants to as little as 72 hours. A sheriff may also arrest the trespassers.
- Jillian’s Law that requires criminal defendants deemed incompetent to stand trial to be committed to an appropriate treatment facility. The law also requires individuals deemed incompetent to stand trial to be entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System which serves as a database of people prohibited from buying or owning firearms.
- Enhancing protections from illegal immigrants by requiring local law enforcement agencies to verify a detainee’s citizenship. If the detained person is found to be not lawfully present in the United States, then the jail must report that illegal immigrant to the District Attorneys General Conference (DAGC).
- Reporting data on illegal immigrants by requiring the DAGC to collect and compile data on the cost to Tennessee taxpayers of illegal immigrants in state custody for criminal offenses. It also requires the DAGC to collect data from law enforcement agencies on the number of persons not lawfully present in the United States.
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