2026 Legislative Wrap-Up

A Letter from Molly Pratt, TN4ARTS's Government and Community Relations Lead:

The 114^th Tennessee General Assembly adjourned sine die on the evening of Thursday, April 23rd, 2026. As you may remember, a general assembly occurs over a two-year period, so adjourning sine die signals the ending and launches the beginning of campaign season for election to the 115^th General Assembly which will begin in January of 2027. Along with a new governor, all house members are up for reelection and those senators in odd numbered seats must run. 

There are already known changes for the next general assembly—in the house 11 legislators are retiring. There is only one retirement in the senate, but it is a significant one, Lt. Governor and Speaker of the Senate, Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) is stepping down after 48 years of public service. 

This year saw the legislature pass a $58 billion dollar budget along with an omnibus specialty license plate bill that authorized 26 new plates and extended the deadline for pre-selling 1,000 plates for another 21 nonprofit organizations. Rolling the new requests and extensions into one bill ensures the details of each request conform to the 50/40/10 split.

The omnibus bill is always sponsored by the chairs of the Senate and House Transportation Committees—Chair of the General Assembly’s Arts Caucus and Senate Transportation Committee, Becky Massey (R-Knoxville) and Arts Caucus member and House Transportation Committee Chair, Dan Howell (R-Cleveland.) The omnibus bill is extremely important to TN4ARTS—advocating for the specialty license plate program is our main purpose. Because the Tennessee Arts Commission relies on the 40% split for 80% of its grant funds, our advocacy is critical. 

Getting authorization to have a plate is just the first step. Once a group has legislative authorization via the omnibus specialty plate bill, the group has up to a year to give the Department of Revenue its list of buyers and turn in the money for the pre-sold plates. 

Making it into production within the prescribed time, is not an easy task—hence the sizable number of groups who request an extension. 

TN4ARTS’s advocacy work is closely tied to promoting the plates and the dedicated source of revenue the plates provide; and the upcoming election season offers arts advocates an opportunity to engage with legislators seeking reelection. It is an ideal time to talk about the importance of the arts in your community and the impact they have.

- Molly Pratt, Government and Community Relations