NASHVILLE, TN - As Tennessee counts down the final hours of 2025, the Volunteer State is preparing for a wave of new laws that officially take effect the moment the calendar flips to 2026. Some of these changes are technical, but several will touch the daily lives of thousands of Tennesseans. WGNS has taken a close look at the legislation, and a few stand out as especially significant for residents across Rutherford County and beyond.
One of the most far‑reaching changes is the creation of the Domestic Violence Offender Registry, known as Savanna’s Law. Beginning January 1, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will maintain a public registry of repeat domestic‑violence offenders, complete with names, birthdates, conviction details, and photos. Supporters say the new system gives victims and communities better access to safety information.
Another major shift arrives through the Ink of Hope Act, which requires every tattoo artist in Tennessee to complete a one‑hour human‑trafficking intervention course before renewing or applying for a license. With tattooing now a booming industry across Middle Tennessee, this law affects thousands.
The hemp industry is also bracing for change. Starting January 1, Tennessee will ban any product containing more than 0.3 percent THCA by dry weight, as well as any amount of THCp. Retailers, growers, processors, and consumers will all feel the impact of this shift, which lawmakers say is aimed at tightening regulation around psychoactive hemp derivatives.
Non‑citizen residents will see new rules for driver licenses, too. Tennessee will now issue only temporary licenses to non‑citizens, each marked with a distinctive identifier. Licenses from other states that are issued exclusively to undocumented immigrants will no longer be valid here. And every new driver will notice a small but meaningful update: written driver exams will now include questions about bicycle hand signals.
As these new laws take effect, many Tennesseans wonder about the flip side of the process: do lawmakers ever clean out the old, outdated, or downright quirky laws still sitting in the books? Tennessee does occasionally repeal obsolete statutes, but the process is slow and usually tied to broader legal updates. That’s why oddities like the long‑joked‑about ban on shooting squirrels from a moving streetcar still linger in the archives. They’re harmless, rarely enforced, and often forgotten—so they stay put unless a legislator specifically targets them for removal. In short, the state does tidy up the code from time to time, but plenty of relics remain tucked away in the legal attic.
