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PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 402

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 1388

                                                             By Watson

                                            Substituted for: House Bill No. 1066

                                                            By Vaughan

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 71, Chapter 4, relative to vocational services for
          persons with disabilities.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

          SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 71, Chapter 4, Part 5, is amended by adding
the following as new sections:

          71-4-510.

                    (a) The department shall establish and implement by rule a process by which
          management of a public property may submit formal complaints regarding the conduct or
          performance of a blind individual who has been licensed by the department to operate a
          vending facility on such public property through the business enterprise program for the blind.

                    (b) If a complaint is substantiated upon investigation by the department, then the
          department shall subject the licensed blind vending facility operator to a plan of corrective
          action and may subject the operator to further disciplinary action, including, but not limited to,
          retraining, placing the license in probationary status, emergency removal, and removal for
          cause.

          71-4-511.

                    (a) As used in this section, "eligible individual with a disability" means a person with a
          disability who is a resident of this state, whose vocational rehabilitation is determined feasible
          by the department of human services division of rehabilitation services, and who has been
          determined eligible to receive vocational rehabilitation services with an individualized plan for
          employment (IPE) pursuant to Title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq.),
          as amended.

                    (b) Notwithstanding this part to the contrary, the department shall establish and
          implement by rule a process for self-employment and entrepreneurship that provides an
          eligible individual with a disability the opportunity, as part of the individual's IPE, to be trained
          and licensed to operate vending facilities on public properties for which the department has
          first priority pursuant to this part, but where licensed blind vending facility operators through
          the business enterprise program for the blind have chosen not to operate at such vending
          facilities or at such vending facilities that are not generating unassigned income pursuant to §
          71-4-504 on the effective date of this act. However, the department shall continue to retain first
          preference for operating vending facilities on public property for licensed blind vending facility
          operators, and shall assign second preference for operating such facilities to licensed non-
          blind eligible individuals with disabilities pursuant to the department's priority established under
          this part.

                     (c) The department shall include a process for receiving and investigating complaints
          from public property management regarding the conduct or performance of a non-blind eligible
          individual with a disability who operates a vending facility on such public property.
SB 1388
                   (d)(1) Funding for the goods, services, initial stock, or other regular business
                   expenses approved by the department for a licensed non-blind eligible individual with
                   a disability to operate a vending facility must be provided in accordance with the
                   individual's IPE.
                             (2) In accordance with the Randolph-Sheppard Act (20 U.S.C. § 107 et seq.),
                   funds used for licensed blind vending facility operators through the business
                   enterprise program for the blind, including set-aside, unassigned, and business
                   enterprise program funds, must not be used for licensed non-blind eligible individuals
                   with disabilities who operate a vending facility pursuant to this section.
                   (e) When a licensed non-blind eligible individual with a disability ceases to operate a

          vending facility on a public property pursuant to this section, the department shall first
          determine whether licensed blind vending facility operators through the business enterprise
          program for the blind continue to choose not to operate the vending facility before assigning
          the vending facility to another licensed non-blind eligible individual with a disability.
          SECTION 2. The department shall promulgate rules to effectuate this act. The rules must be
promulgated in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in Tennessee
Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 5.
          SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.

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         SENATE BILL NO. 1388

PASSED:  April 17, 2025

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                                      'RANDYI

                         SPEAKER OF THl

                         CAMERON S"EXTON, SPEAKER
                         HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APPROVED this s_-tJ- day of (V\°'-"f  2025

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         BILL LEE, GOVERNOR