January 1st is a common start date for new laws, and 2016 is no different. Here are some of the new Tennessee laws that take effect January 1, 2016:
- Animal Abuser Registry — Tennessee will become the first state in the country to create a database of people convicted of abusing animals. The new website, maintained by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, will go live on January 1st. (Read the law)
- “Simon’s Law” (the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act) — Tennessee is the ninth state to enact “Simon’s Law” to educate and protect participants in youth sports from sudden cardiac arrest. (Read more about the Simon’s law effort from Simon’s Fund, and more about the law.)
- James Lee Atwood Jr. Law (to crack down on uninsured motorists)— A new Tennessee law will mean stiffer penalties and tougher enforcement for the 20% of state drivers who are uninsured. The new law will force“all Tennessee county court clerks to confirm insurance compliance before issuing new vehicle registration tags” and will give police officers the ability to tow the car of someone found without insurance. (Read the law)
- Higher fines for seatbelt violations — Fines for riding in a car without a seatbelt will jump from $10 to $25 for first offenders and from $25 to $50 for subsequent offenses. (Source: KnoxNews, Tennessean)
- Business Tax changes: Several major changes to Tennessee business taxes go into effect at the first of the year: (1) click-through and economic nexus, (2) modification to addback, (3) a new sales tax on cloud computing and software-as-a-service, (4) additional tax for large sellers of goods to TN distributors. (Sources: Deloitte, PWC, EisnerAmper)
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