Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official PDF posted by the Tennessee General Assembly, fetched 2026-09-25. Page and line markers are part of the official record; nothing is edited or removed. This is the chaptered version. The official bill page.
...
:. mc,~.'i"( v,.., !''bi/"
;-_;:
-;. ~:?~~ ~ ~-
~tate of \!rennessee
PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 352
HOUSE BILL NO. 1256
By Representative Doggett and Mr. Speaker Sexton
Substituted for: Senate Bill No. 1133
By Senators Gardenhire, Haile, Jackson, Mr. Speaker McNally, Rose
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 8; Title 10; Title 33; Title 36; Title
37; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 41; Title 49; Title 50; Title 55 and Title 70, relative to criminal
justice.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 40-11-139(d), is amended by deleting
the subsection and substituting:
(d)
(1) If a court issues a bench warrant or a capias due to a defendant's
failure to appear on a felony or on a Class A or Class B misdemeanor that is
violent or sexual in nature as determined by the court, or if a defendant is
charged with a failure to appear, then the defendant shall be placed on any
available state or federal list or database as a fugitive from justice, including the
National Crime Information Center.
(2) If necessary, the judicial official must sign the bench warrant or capias
by the end of the next business day after the defendant's failure to appear. The
clerk shall transmit the bench warrant or capias to the entering agency by the
end of the next business day after issuance. The entering agency shall enter the
bench warrant or capias into any available state or federal list or database,
including the National Crime Information Center.
(3) A surety is not liable for any undertaking if the defendant has not been
placed on the available state or federal list or database within three (3) business
days of the entering agency's receipt of the bench warrant or capias.
(4) If the defendant is apprehended outside the state by a law
enforcement agency in a jurisdiction that is outside the limitation entered into the
state or federal list or database, then the district attorney general must
determine, within one (1) business day of being notified of the apprehension,
whether to initiate extradition proceedings for the defendant's return.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.
HOUSE BILL NO. 1256
PASSED: April 15, 2025
c:.
CAMERO~XTON,SPEAKER
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
:O.c ..~ ~'3~'-
\ RANDYi\:NALLY
SPEAKER OF THE SENATE
1."'cl.., APPROVED this day of ~ 2025
BILL LEE, GOVERNOR ~Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.