Here is a look at some of the new laws that go into effect today – January 1, 2021.
1Law Requiring Dept of Veterans Services to Provide Suicide Prevention Training
Requires the department of veterans services to provide training in suicide prevention to the employees of the department who directly interact with veterans. The training must equip employees with the ability to recognize the warning signs of a potential suicide. This amendment authorizes the department to utilize resources from nonprofit organizations to provide the training. Read More.
2Tennessee Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Requires an employer (who employes at least 15 employees) to making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible and usable, providing more frequent, longer, or flexible breaks, provide a private place, other than a bathroom stall, for the purpose of expressing milk, modify food or drink policy, provide modified seating or allow the employee to sit more frequently if the job requires standing, provide assistance with manual labor and limits on lifting, authorize a temporary transfer to a vacant position, allow flexible scheduling for prenatal visits and more.
3911 Operators Trained for CPR
Requires training curriculum for 911 operators and public safety dispatchers to include guidelines for T-CPR (telecommunicator CPR); provides immunity from civil liability for emergency communication districts, the state, counties, and municipalities for employees who provide assistance or instruction on T-CPR to a caller or bystander on an emergency call.
4Minimum Age to Purchase Tobacco Products Now 21
A new state law raises the age to purchase, possess, transport, smoke or consume any tobacco, hemp or vapor products from 18 to 22. This state law mirrors the change to federal tobacco sales minimum age requirements.
5Holly Bobo Act
Expands the TBI’s endangered child and young adult alert program to include endangered persons under 21 years of age. This act is named after Holly Bobo, who was abducted in 2011 when she was 20-years-old. She was never the subject of an AMBER Alert. Her remains were found more than three years after she went missing.
