a Revised proposal For Tennessee’s constitution, which strips people accused of certain crimes with bail, it’s one step closer to landing the next governor’s vote.
Tennessee Senate approved Solved 23-6 raises the issue to voters. This amendment requires approval from two-thirds of the House of Representatives to vote on November 3, 2026. The amendment would require a majority vote from those taking part in the gubernatorial election to become law.
The resolution sponsored by Franklin Republican Sen. Jack Johnson removes the defendant’s right to pretrial bail “if evidence is clear or presumed is large” for 73 felony crimes.
Such crimes include third felony that convicted people must serve, including second-degree murder, acts of terrorism, worsening child rape, vehicle murder, worsening robbery, and third felony charges of manufacturing, selling or delivering controlled substances. At least 85% of their sentences In Tennessee.
Those who voted against the resolution warned that if the amendment was ultimately approved by voters, it would cost both in terms of individual freedom and funds for incarceration.
Senate Justice Speaker Todd Gardenhire is coming down vigorously on constitutional bail bill
Tennessee Constitutional Law It currently has the right to bail for all prisoners except for capital offences (functionally first-degree murder, according to Johnson). However, judges have the power to set exorbitantly high bail for serious crimes.
“Radical offenders with funding can now get out of prison, but poor defendants accused of lesser crimes remain in custody simply because they can’t afford to buy bail,” Johnson said Monday.
The proposed amendment “does not rule out bail,” Johnson said, but will go to trial for the accused of a “heinous crime” and award the judge a judge.
Language that requires guilt and great presumption of evidence protects against misuse of judicial discretion, Johnson said it refers to other states that have preventive detention laws, as an example.
Sen. Jeff Yarbro, a Nashville Democrat, opposed. Changes to pretrial detention in other states were less widespread, he said, and pretrial detention without bail under federal law is part of a longer and more complicated pretrial process than what Tennessee is currently in place.
“The (amendment) doesn’t say that bail may be denied and says there is no right to bail in such circumstances,” Yarbro said.
Johnson City Republican Sen. Rusty Crowe and Tarahoma Republican Sen. Janice Bowling voted Monday to slightly exceed the 22 vault threshold required for the solution to pass. They said they concluded that there should be an opportunity for voters to make a decision.
Opponents warn of cost, application inequality
Sen. Todd Gardenhier, a Chattanooga Republican, did not oppose the premise of the proposal, but said the costs of implementation were not fully addressed. This concern was reflected by Senate Democrats.
Memphis Democrat Sen. London Lamar said the high costs of incarceration have already strained government resources, and it is likely that there will be an increase in property taxes if voters approve the amendment.
“The ability to access bail is one of the fundamental rights that we give to our citizens in this state because we understand that we are innocent until proven guilty,” she said.
Lamar added that it will not list all 73 crimes under this amendment that a person could be held without bail. Giving a judge will result in inequality based on where the defendant lives, she said. A judge in one district may decide to bail from the table for a particular offence, but a judge in another district may still set up pretrial release of the bail.
“This is a dissatisfaction for voters who vote for this law because they don’t convey the exact cost and results,” Lamar said.
Nashville Democrat Sen. Heidi Campbell has expressed concern about the potential change combined with the “ambiguous nature” of the state’s definition of terrorism.
Yarbro said the language that addresses bail in the Tennessee constitution is drawn from examples in North Carolina and Pennsylvania where people whose British government has been detained due to religious beliefs live.
“It was the basis for the government that the judges and prosecutors thought the government could and could not say that it wasn’t enough for someone to abandon their freedom,” he said.
Johnson says taxpayer money is secondary to “public safety.”
In response to concerns from his colleagues, Johnson argued that the amendment was not expected to deny more people to be denied bail and imprisoned in advance.
But even if it causes incarceration and rising costs with it, “Our number one job here is public safety,” he said.
The amendment has been supported by the Tennessee Sheriff’s Association and the Tennessee District Attorney General’s Meeting.
“The Tennessee district attorney believes this is the most important bill to public safety in the last 11 years,” Attorney General Stephen Crump, who is also the executive director of the conference, told the Senate Judiciary Committee in February.
Johnson said the state “is if it is necessary to make more money appropriate to provide law enforcement, district attorneys and partners in the judicial system with the tools they need.”
“We don’t intend to amend the Constitution today,” he said. “Our members of Tennessee decide whether our judges can see these most violent people when they are convicted of a crime or rather on the streets.”
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