Tennessee governor issues first veto on parole authority expansion

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued the first veto of his six-plus years Monday against a measure that would have expanded authority of the state Probation and Parole Board.

Lee sent a veto letter to the speakers of the House and Senate saying he is returning SB455/HB527 because the new bill would be a “step backwards” from the advances of the Reentry Success Act of 2021.

That measure passed overwhelmingly with a single no vote “because we all know we cannot tackle crime without tackling recidivism. Together we recognized that the vast majority of offenders will return to our communities, and their successful reentry impacts the safety of every neighborhood for the better,” Lee said.

The governor said two years after the Reentry Success Act passed, the state recorded its lowest recidivism rate in history, the rate for which convicts return to prison, “meaning fewer crimes and fewer victims.” Lee added he is “confident” the board and other “safeguards” can make sure parole is “awarded appropriately.”

Current statute allows the parole board — which is appointed by the governor — to deny parole based solely on the seriousness of the offense for 22 violent felonies. The bill seeks to broaden that authority beyond those crimes.

Republican Rep. Rick Scarbrough of Oak Ridge and Republican Sen. Paul Rose of Covington passed the bill with little debate along party lines, 75-16 in the House and 22-4 in the Senate.

Scarbrough, former police chief of Clinton in East Tennessee, issued a statement saying he had dedicated his career to protecting his community and in January 2026 would work to override the veto, which takes a simple majority of the House and Senate. 

“While I have deep respect for Gov. Lee, I am both surprised and disappointed by his decision to veto this bill,” Scarbrough said. “This legislation addresses critical gaps in our parole system while strengthening public safety and confidence, ensuring that serious offenses aren’t minimized.”

The law currently allows the parole board’s finding to be the sole basis for denial for offenses including murder, voluntary manslaughter, vehicular homicide, kidnapping, human trafficking, especially aggravated robbery, rape of a child and sexual battery.

The bill increases the number of offenses for which the board would be able to revoke parole and probation, including aggravated assault resulting in death, fentanyl delivering resulting in death or injury, reckless homicide, carjacking, aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a first responder, reckless endangerment and several other offenses such as money laundering, financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, terrorism offenses, abuse of a corpse and official misconduct/oppression.

In a March Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, Rose said the bill allows the parole board to have “more discretion in granting or denying parole” in situations where “releasing the inmate might erode public confidence in the legal system and signal that certain crimes aren’t taken seriously.”

The bill gained  support from the Tennessee District Attorney General Conference.

“The parole board should be given the greatest discretion to determine which among those inmates deserve to be kept from among us, and those which can be released back into society,” Executive Director Stephen Crump said at the hearing.