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.
:~ = ~ ~ - EU~1:
C~•
~tate of \!tennessee
PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 777
HOUSE BILL NO. 2279
By Representatives Cochran, Todd, Moody, Haston, McCalmon, Crawford, Terry, Howell,
Lynn, Carringer, Littleton
Substituted for: Senate Bill No. 2644
By Senators Roberts, Bowling, Rose
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4; Title 38 and Title 39, relative to
foreign actors.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39, Chapter 16, is amended by adding
Sections 2 through 5 of this act as a new part.
SECTION 2.
(a) This part is known and may be cited as the "Crush Transnational Repression
in Tennessee Act."
(b) The purpose of this part is to counter the threat and practice of transnational
repression committed by foreign governments or foreign terrorist organizations against
the citizens and residents of this state, and to counter the threat and practice of foreign
government interstate harassment through extranational enforcement of a foreign
government's laws and directives.
SECTION 3.
As used in this part, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1) "Agent of a foreign adversary" means an agent directed or controlled
by a foreign adversary, or such agent's proxy;
(2) "Agent of a foreign terrorist organization" means an agent directed or
controlled by a foreign terrorist organization, or a foreign terrorist organization
agent's proxy;
(3) "Foreign adversary" means the countries specified in 15 CFR
791.4(a), or a successor regulation;
(4) "Foreign law" means a law, legal code, or system of governance of a
jurisdiction other than the United States or a state or territory of the United
States;
(5) "Foreign terrorist organization" means an entity designated as a
foreign terrorist organization by the United States department of state in
accordance with § 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1189),
or by the United States department of the treasury as a specially designated
entity in accordance with 31 CFR subtitle 8, chapter V;
(6) "Protected conduct" means conduct that is:
(A) Lawful under federal, state, or local law of the United States;
and
(8) Is:
(i) Free exercise of religion;
HB2279
(ii) Speech, orally or in writing in print or digital form, on a
matter of public interest or concern;
(iii) Petitioning any federal, state, or local government
entity for redress of grievances; or
(iv) Peaceably assembling; and
(7) "Transnational repression" means an act emanating from or
attributable to a. foreign adversary or foreign terrorist organization that is
committed:
(A) By an agent of that foreign adversary or foreign terrorist
organization;
(B) With the intent to harass, intimidate, censor, or otherwise
extend the foreign adversary's or foreign terrorist organization's ability to
influence, control, or impose the foreign adversary's or foreign terrorist
organization's preferences on the behavior of individuals outside of the
foreign adversary's territorial jurisdiction, if applicable; and
(C) Either:
(i) Directly by means of physical contact, threats, or
electronic targeting; or
(ii) Indirectly by means such as actual or credible threats of
collective punishment or harassment of other individuals under the
regime's effective control, financial coercion, abuse of
administrative processes, selective prosecution of laws of general
application, or the use or direction of social media and
telecommunications entities.
SECTION 4.
Except in the case of a Class A felony offense, a criminal offense must be punished one
(1) classification higher than is otherwise provided by law if the offense is:
(1) Committed by an agent of a foreign adversary or agent of a foreign terrorist
organization while acting knowingly at the direction of, on behalf of, or under the
influence of the foreign adversary or foreign terrorist organization or a proxy of the
foreign adversary or foreign terrorist organization;
(2) Committed with the intent to:
(A) Coerce a person to act on behalf of a foreign adversary or foreign
terrorist organization;
(B) Coerce a person to leave the United States or cause another person
to leave the United States;
(C) Cause a person to forbear from engaging in protected conduct; or
(D) Retaliate against a person for engaging in protected conduct; and
(3) Not protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
SECTION 5.
(a) Notwithstanding a law to the contrary, a ruling or decision of a state court,
arbitration panel, tribunal, or administrative agency that is based in whole or in part on a
foreign law is void and unenforceable in this state if it would deny a party a liberty, right,
or privilege guaranteed by the Constitution of Tennessee or the United States
Constitution.
2
HB2279
(b) A contract or contractual provision that is based in whole or in part on a
foreign law is void and unenforceable in this state if it would deny a party a liberty, right,
or privilege guaranteed by the Constitution of Tennessee or the United States
Constitution.
(c) It is an offense to intentionally engage in the prevention, detection,
investigation, monitoring, surveilling, or prosecution of an offense under the law or rule of
a foreign adversary or foreign terrorist organization in violation of the laws of this state or
the United States without the knowledge and approval of a state or federal law
enforcement agency that is authorized to give such approval.
(d)
(1) Except as provided in subdivision (d)(2), a violation of subsection (c) is
a Class D felony.
(2) A violation of subsection (c) is a Class C felony if, at the time that the
offense was committed, the person who committed the offense was acting as an
agent of a foreign adversary government or an agent of a foreign terrorist
organization.
SECTION 6. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 1, Part 4, is amended by
adding the following as a new section:
Each state agency shall include information on transnational repression, as
defined in Section 3 of this act, in agency policies and procedures and provide for direct
complaints of transnational repression to be made to a representative of the agency.
SECTION 7. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance
is held invalid, then the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the act that
can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to that end, the provisions of
this act are severable.
SECTION 8. This act takes effect July 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it.
3
HOUSE BILL NO. 2279
PASSED: April 6, 2026
C:&-
CAMERON SEXTON, SPEAKER
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
RANDY ~NALLY
SPEAKER OF THE IENATE
J/ APPROVED this S..,. day of Apr;' ( 2026
~U/l. -
BILL LEE, GOVERNOREvery fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.