HB 1349

This bill provides that if a county medical examiner's office or regional forensic center is conducting an autopsy on a decedent who is suspected to have committed a mass shooting that resulted in the deaths of four or more individuals, then the county medical examiner or regional forensic center must consult such decedent's treating mental health professional or primary care physician, if known and reasonably able to be identified through the decedent's next of kin, to obtain information regarding the decedent's psychotropic drug use. This bill requires the county medical examiner to test the decedent for the presence of any drugs, including psychotropic drugs. Further, the county medical examiner's office or regional forensic center must disclose the drug use of the decedent to the University of Tennessee's health science center and to the department of health, without disclosing the decedent's name or social security number. This bill requires the Unive rsity of Tennessee's health science center to study the drug interactions between the psychotropic drugs and any other drugs that were present in the decedent's system as provided by the county medical examiner as described in this bill. The University o f Tennessee's health science center must submit quarterly reports of all data obtained pursuant to this bill to the committees in the general assembly having jurisdiction over health-related matters. ON APRIL 7, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND P ASSED SENATE BILL 1146, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 makes the following revisions:  Clarifies that "drugs, as used in the provision requiring t he county medical examiner to test the decedent for the presence of any drugs, includ es therapeutic levels of psychotropic drugs.  Requires the county medical examiner to send only a blood sample of the decedent to the health science center.  Requires the quarterly reports of data obtained pursuant to the bill to be submitted to the chief clerk of each house of the general assembly instead of to specific legislative committees.  Clarifies that the ""health science center"" referred to in the bill means the University of Tennessee's health science center college of pharmacy .  Clarifies that the reference to ""antidepressants"" in the definition for ""psychotropic drug"" includes selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors .  Clarifies that the term ""psychotropic drug"" includes b enzodiazepines ."