Tennessee lawmakers pass nearly 600 bills this legislative session
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Diversity, equity, and inclusion, school vouchers, and illegal immigration may have been the main focuses this legislative session, but lawmakers passed other, quieter bills that could have a big impact.
The 'Preventing Deepfake Images Act' is a bipartisan bill that passed unanimously in both the House and Senate. The bill would make it a felony to share an intimate, artificial intelligence-generated image of a person without their consent and create a pathway for victims to sue.
Nashville meteorologist Bree Smith testified in a House subcommittee about being the subject of such fake images and the negative impact it had on her life.
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'I don't know whose body my face was placed on. I don't know if it was an AI-generated body. I don't know if it was a real person. I don't know if that person gave consent,' Smith said. 'I don't even know if the body my face was placed on was a minor, and that strikes my chord as a mother. Knowing I had no recourse to stop this means I have no recourse to stop this if it happens to my kids.'
A bill creating the offense of human smuggling, making it a felony to harbor, hide, or encourage someone else to harbor or hide an illegal immigrant for financial gain, passed the House and Senate along party lines.
'Most of these victims are children, and they are human smuggled and sold into sex slavery,' Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) said. 'We ought to be doing everything we can to try to catch these kids before they are sold into sex slavery.'
During the final Senate floor vote, Democrats said they were worried about potential, unintended consequences.
'I'm also concerned about the average farmer who might have someone in their district. They might do seasonal farming work, they might live on the property, and they could be guilty of a felony,' Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) said. 'I think that it is a bit of a stretch to say that someone who may employ someone who is undocumented, which is one thing, to say that they also potentially would have no problem sex trafficking a child. That is a big difference.'
A bill to further protect gun manufacturers and dealers from civil lawsuits passed the House and Senate.
Republicans argued these lawsuits threaten the jobs of the more than 8,000 Tennesseans employed by these gun companies.
'The nation of Mexico has currently filed suit against Smith & Wesson and other domestic manufacturers. They're blaming them for the violence they have in Mexico, which I find ironic, but our manufacturing jobs are at risk to these vicious types of lawsuits,' Rep. Monty Fritts (R-Kingston) said.
'I just struggle to be okay with allowing corporations to be immune from the citizens being able to get justice for a bad product,' Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) said.
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Lawmakers filed almost 3,000 bills this legislative session and passed nearly 600 bills. Gov. Bill Lee has already signed several.
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