TENNESSEE SENATE UNANIMOUSLY PASSES LANDMARK SENTENCING REFORM BILL, NOW HEADS TO GOVERNOR

Bill Allows People Sentenced Under Old Drug Free School Zone Law to Petition for a Sentence Reduction

(Nashville, TN) – Today the Tennessee Senate unanimously voted 30-0 in favor of House Bill 1449/Senate Bill 1528, first-of-its-kind retroactive sentencing reform legislation in Tennessee. This landmark bill creates a pathway for individuals that received mandatory sentencing enhancements under a law that has since been changed the opportunity to petition a court for resentencing if certain qualifications are met. In March, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed the legislation with a strong, bipartisan vote of 81-7.

In response to today’s resounding bipartisan vote in the Tennessee Senate, Justice Action Network Senior State Policy Manager Lauren Krisai released the following statement: 

“We are thrilled to see the Tennessee legislature pass this landmark retroactive sentencing reform bill that creates a pathway for a second chance. This bill is two years in the making in Tennessee, and we are so thankful to House Criminal Justice Committee Chair Michael Curcio, whose passion and dedication to this issue made this bill passage possible; to Senator Kerry Roberts, for spearheading the bill’s passage in the Senate; and to members of both the Tennessee House and Senate for passing this important legislation. We urge Governor Bill Lee to sign this bill into law as soon as possible to give many the opportunity for an equitable treatment and a well-deserved second chance.”

The bill applies to those who are currently incarcerated and serving a sentencing enhancement for a drug offense committed within a drug-free school zone prior to 2020. Under previous Tennessee law that no longer applies, any drug offense committed within 1,000 feet of a school, library, park, day-care center, or recreational center was subject to inflexible mandatory sentencing enhancements. These zones applied day and night, whether children were present or not, and it was often impossible to know the boundaries of the zones. Due to the expansive nature of these zones, entire cities and neighborhoods had effectively become drug-free school zones. In fact, well over 40% of the area within city limits of the least-populated county in Tennessee, Clay County, fell within a drug-free school zone, while a little more than 27% of urban Davidson County, where Nashville is located, fell within a zone. 

Senate Bill 2734/House Bill 2517, passed in 2020, reformed the state’s drug-free school zone guidelines, giving judges more discretion in sentencing and reducing the size of the zones from 1,000 to 500 feet. House Bill 1449/Senate Bill 1528 allows people sentenced under the old, now-annulled law to petition a court for resentencing if they can prove that they would have received a shorter sentence under the new law and meet additional qualifications. The bill was sponsored in the House by Representative Michael Curcio (R-69), who previously spearheaded the effort to pass the 2020 legislation. The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield).