Bill > HB1965

This bill, known as the "Tennessee Child Care Hosting Safe Harbor Act," aims to protect employers and other entities that allow licensed child care providers to operate on their property from being held responsible for damages caused by the child care provider's actions or failures. Specifically, an "employer" is defined as a business that helps pay for its employees' child care or has a child care provider on its premises, as long as the business doesn't run the child care itself. A "host entity" is any organization or individual, like a nonprofit or a property owner, that lets a child care provider operate on their land. The bill states that these employers and host entities will not be liable for harm resulting from the child care provider's negligence, as long as the child care provider is licensed by the state and the employer or host entity did not act with gross negligence or willful misconduct. This protection does not apply if the employer or host entity is actually operating, controlling, or managing the child care provider, or if they are licensed as a child care provider themselves. Simply providing space, utilities, financial support, or other basic services to a child care provider does not count as operating or managing it. The bill also clarifies that this protection does not prevent lawsuits against the child care provider itself and will take effect on July 1, 2026.