KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Nearly 200 new Tennessee state laws go into effect on Thursday, July 1. These laws cover a variety of topics.
Certain laws induce harsher punishments for particular crimes.
House Bill 430 states that anyone convicted of raping a child must serve 100% of their sentence, less any sentence credits earned and retained.
Sentence credits cannot reduce original sentence by more than 15%
Anyone who knowingly lets a minor drink alcohol, beer or wine on their property is subject to a Class A misdemeanor, according to Senate Bill 157.
That includes a mandatory $1,000 fine and 100 hours of community service. Your driver's license may also be impacted.
Finally, there's been an increase in catalytic converter thefts across the state.
With Senate Bill 1612, legislators are trying to crack down on the thefts by making anyone who buys or sells a unattached catalytic converter registers it with the Chief of Police and Sheriff of each city and county where these transitions take place.
They also have to keep records of all those transactions with drivers license information and any identifying information from those catalytic converters.
Failure to do so could be a misdemeanor and a fine.