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PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 224

                                                     SENATE BILL NO. 471

                                                  By Bowling, Crowe, Lowe

                                             Substituted for: House Bill No. 178

                        By Bulso, Greg Martin, Moody, Fritts, Todd, Lafferty, Lynn, Baum

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 13, relative to the Success
          Sequence Act.

          WHEREAS, couples who have children within marriage have higher family incomes and lower
poverty rates than their unmarried counterparts; and

          WHEREAS, over the past forty-five years, the number of children living with married parents
has declined by twelve percent; and

          WHEREAS, approximately twenty-five percent of all children today do not have married
parents; and

          WHEREAS, children raised by married parents are more likely to flourish compared to children
raised in single-parent families; and

          WHEREAS, children raised in stable, married-parent families are more likely to excel in school,
and generally earn higher grade point averages than children who are not; and

          WHEREAS, children raised by married parents are about twice as likely to graduate from
college than children who are not; and

          WHEREAS, children not raised in a home with married parents are twice as likely to end up in
jail or prison before reaching thirty years of age; and

          WHEREAS, children raised by a single parent are more than three times as likely to live in
poverty than children raised by married parents; and

          WHEREAS, the strongest negative community predictor of children from low-income families
realizing the American dream, which includes going from poverty as children to affluence as adults, is
the share of single parents in a community; and

          WHEREAS, among millennials who finished high school, entered the workforce, and were
married before having children, ninety-seven percent did not live in poverty when they reached
adulthood; now, therefore,

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

          SECTION 1. This act is known and may be cited as the "Success Sequence Act."

          SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-1301, is amended by adding the
following as a new subdivision:

                    "Success sequence" means a method by which a person completes the following in
        • the following sequence:

                               (A) Obtains a high school diploma or high school equivalency credential;

                               (B) Enters into the workforce or pursues a postsecondary degree or credential;
SB 471
                              (C) Enters into marriage; and
                              (D) Has children;

          SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-1304(a), is amended by adding the
following as a new subdivision:

                    (15) Provide instruction and evidence regarding the positive personal and societal
          outcomes associated with the success sequence.
          SECTION 4. This act takes effect July 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it, and applies to
the 2026-2027 school year and each school year thereafter.

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         SENATE BILL NO. 471

PASSED:  April 7, 2025

                                           RANDY Mc
                              SPEAKER OF THE S

                        CAMERON SEXTON, SPEAKER
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

au!_ /J(>LJ APPROVED this  I
         day of                           2025

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                      BILL LEE, GOVERNOR