HB 1971 / SB 1958

This bill strips away an individual’s ability to seek declaratory or injunctive relief in court against actions of the State of Tennessee itself. Under current Tennessee Code § 1-3-121, any “affected person” can challenge the legality or constitutionality of state action. The proposed amendments delete that section outright, preserving only a limited right to sue subdivisions—counties, cities, school districts, utility districts, etc.—while barring challenges to state statutes, agencies, or officials.

Meanwhile, it carves out a new private cause of action under the Tennessee Human Rights Act for discrimination claims against institutions of higher education. Individuals alleging race-, color-, ethnicity-, or national-origin–based discrimination (including affirmative-action practices) could recover actual damages plus attorney’s fees. All other injunctive or declaratory relief for state-level conduct, however, is foreclosed by sovereign-immunity waiver language reversed.

By exempting state statutes and agencies from declaratory relief, the bill places the legislature above judicial review and removes a fundamental check on executive and legislative overreach.

In effect, Tennessee citizens lose a basic right to seek prompt judicial clarification of state law or injunctions against unconstitutional state conduct. Only local governments remain exposed to injunctive or declaratory suits—an uneven accountability regime that entrenches state power at the expense of individual liberty and the separation of powers.