House Bill 1690 amends the Tennessee Code Annotated to enhance motor vehicle financial responsibility regulations. A key provision prohibits the processing of applications for initial vehicle registration or renewal until the owner provides proof of valid insurance or financial responsibility for at least thirty days. The bill significantly increases the coverage failure fee from twenty-five dollars to five hundred dollars and introduces a one-thousand-dollar continued coverage failure fee for those who fail to maintain insurance. Additionally, a new repeated coverage failure fee of one thousand five hundred dollars is established for owners who receive multiple notices of non-compliance within three years.

The bill also restricts plaintiffs from recovering noneconomic damages in civil actions related to motor vehicle incidents if they were not compliant with financial responsibility laws at the time of the incident, with exceptions for serious offenses like DUI and reckless driving. It sets a cap on noneconomic damages at three hundred seventy-five thousand dollars, contingent on the plaintiff being the vehicle owner or lessee and having received multiple notices of noncompliance, with an increased limit of seven hundred fifty thousand dollars for catastrophic losses. The Department of Revenue is tasked with publicizing these changes, which will take effect on July 1, 2027, while some provisions will become law immediately.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 55-12-211, 55-12-210(a)(2), 55-12-210, 55-12-210(b)(1)(A), 55-12-210(b)(2), 55-12-210(c)(1), 55-12-207
Amended with SA0855 -- 04/22/2026: 55-12-211, 55-12-210(a)(2), 55-12-210, 55-12-210(b)(1)(A), 55-12-210(b)(2), 55-12-210(c)(1), 55-12-207, 55-12-205(3), 55-12-205, 55-12-208, 55-12-203(4), 55-12-203, 29-39-102, 29-39-103