REPUBLICAN POLITICS · TENNESSEE LEGISLATION · BEDFORD COUNTY
Bedford County Conservative Legislation Tracker: Pat Marsh and Shane Reeves
A source-led record of selected bills, votes and enacted laws tied to Bedford County's Republican state legislators.
Bills, sponsorships, votes and final status
Representative Pat Marsh and Senator Shane Reeves are the Republican state legislators whose districts include Bedford County. This first edition tracks selected high-interest measures from Tennessee’s 114th General Assembly and distinguishes prime sponsorship, co-sponsorship, recorded votes and final bill status. It is not a complete roll-call database or an ideological scorecard.
Bedford County conservative legislation: direct answer and scope
Representative Pat Marsh and Senator Shane Reeves are the Republican state legislators whose districts include Bedford County. This first edition tracks selected high-interest measures from Tennessee’s 114th General Assembly and distinguishes prime sponsorship, co-sponsorship, recorded votes and final bill status. It is not a complete roll-call database or an ideological scorecard.
This page focuses on measures with a clear Bedford County connection or strong relevance to recurring conservative-policy searches, including immigration enforcement, election rules, parental and school policy, religious liberty, regulation, energy, agriculture and family policy. It does not label every bill conservative, and it does not assign a score.
Pat Marsh and Shane Reeves
Republican · Tennessee House District 62
Pat Marsh
Bedford, Moore and part of Lincoln Counties
Chair of the House Ethics Committee and Workplace Discrimination and Harassment Subcommittee; member of Commerce, Government Operations, Transportation and other committees.
Contact: rep.pat.marsh@capitol.tn.gov · 615-741-6824
Republican · Tennessee Senate District 14
Shane Reeves
Bedford, Cannon, Moore and Rutherford Counties
Chair of the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee; member of Commerce and Labor and Health and Welfare.
Contact: sen.shane.reeves@capitol.tn.gov · 615-741-1066
Selected legislation dashboard
Use the issue sections below for summaries, Bedford County relevance and official bill links.
| Bill | Issue | Legislator role | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| HB 1405 / SB 1427 | Local control | Marsh: prime House sponsor · Reeves: prime Senate sponsor | Private Chapter 3 · local approval applies |
| HB 2632 / SB 2694 | Local control | Marsh: prime House sponsor · Reeves: prime Senate sponsor | Private Chapter 45 |
| HB 1705 / SB 1922 | Immigration | Marsh: House co-sponsor | Public Chapter 772 · effective July 1, 2026 |
| HB 1710 / SB 1915 | Immigration | Marsh: House co-sponsor | Public Chapter 1106 |
| SB 6002 / HB 6001 | Immigration | Reeves: Senate co-sponsor | Public Chapter 1 |
| HB 0855 / SB 0799 | Immigration | Marsh: House co-sponsor | Public Chapter 259 |
| HB 0759 / SB 0729 | Education | Marsh: prime House sponsor · Reeves: recorded Senate aye on companion | Public Chapter 256 |
| HB 1857 / SB 1960 | Education | Marsh: House co-sponsor | Public Chapter 962 · effective May 7, 2026 |
| SB 1953 / HB 2395 | Education | Reeves: Senate co-sponsor | Public Chapter 629 |
| HB 0932 / SB 0897 | Education | Marsh: House co-sponsor · Reeves: Senate co-sponsor | Public Chapter 103 · effective July 1, 2025 |
| SB 1957 / HB 1834 | Education | Reeves: Senate co-sponsor · Marsh: recorded House aye | Signed into law |
| SB 6001 / HB 6004 | Education | Reeves: Senate co-sponsor | Public Chapter 7 |
| HB 2139 / SB 2466 | Regulation | Marsh: prime House sponsor | Public Chapter 871 |
| HB 1913 / SB 2199 | Regulation | Marsh: House co-sponsor · Reeves: Senate co-sponsor | Public Chapter 994 · effective January 1, 2027 |
| SB 2560 / HB 2070 | Regulation | Reeves: prime Senate sponsor · Marsh: recorded House aye | Signed into law |
| HB 1510 / SB 1590 | Agriculture | Marsh: prime House sponsor · Reeves: Senate co-prime sponsor | Public Chapter 891 |
| SB 0874 / HB 0901 | Agriculture | Reeves: prime Senate sponsor · Marsh: House co-sponsor and recorded aye | Public Chapter 200 |
| SB 2031 / HB 1872 | Family policy | Reeves: Senate co-sponsor | Public Chapter 794 · effective April 23, 2026 |
Bedford County & local control
Selected bills are grouped by policy subject. Sponsorship, co-sponsorship and floor votes are labeled separately.
Bedford County & local control
HB 1405 / SB 1427 — Bedford County road board
What it does: Repeals the private acts governing the Bedford County road board and abolishes the board after current members’ terms expire, subject to local approval.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Directly concerns Bedford County road governance. The state enactment does not by itself prove the local-approval and transition steps were completed.
Recorded vote summary: House passage 94–0; Senate passage 30–0. Open the official bill history and votes.
Bedford County & local control
HB 2632 / SB 2694 — Shelbyville utility-board composition
What it does: Changes the private act governing the Shelbyville Power, Water and Sewerage System board by removing the city manager’s board position and adding a Shelbyville City Council member.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Directly affects the structure of Shelbyville’s public utility board. Local implementation records remain separate from the General Assembly bill history.
Recorded vote summary: Use the official bill page’s Votes tab for the complete recorded action. Open the official bill history and votes.
Immigration & election integrity
Selected bills are grouped by policy subject. Sponsorship, co-sponsorship and floor votes are labeled separately.
Immigration & election integrity
HB 1705 / SB 1922 — E-Verify for state and local government hiring
What it does: Requires state and local governmental employers to verify each prospective employee’s work authorization through E-Verify and provides an attorney-general enforcement process.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Applies to covered local governments and local education agencies, including hiring processes that can affect Bedford County public bodies.
Recorded vote summary: House initial passage 73–21; Senate passage 27–5; House concurrence 76–14. Open the official bill history and votes.
Immigration & election integrity
HB 1710 / SB 1915 — Citizenship and lawful-presence verification for public benefits
What it does: Adds local governments to public-benefit citizenship or lawful-presence verification requirements and creates related reporting and enforcement provisions.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Can affect how covered local entities verify eligibility and report public-benefit applications. It does not establish the outcome of any individual application.
Recorded vote summary: House passage 73–21; Senate passage 26–6; Senate concurrence 24–6. Open the official bill history and votes.
Immigration & election integrity
SB 6002 / HB 6001 — Centralized immigration enforcement and sanctuary-policy penalties
What it does: Creates a centralized immigration enforcement division, establishes enforcement grants, creates penalties tied to sanctuary policies and changes certain driver-license rules.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Provides the state framework behind later county immigration-enforcement activity. Bedford’s separate ICE / 287(g) agreement must still be tracked from its own records.
Recorded vote summary: Senate passage 26–7; House passage 72–22. Open the official bill history and votes.
Immigration & election integrity
HB 0855 / SB 0799 — Partisan primary nomination rules
What it does: Generally requires statewide political parties to nominate candidates in primaries for offices with partisan August or November elections, while preserving specified exceptions for certain counties.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Relevant to how Republican and Democratic nominees reach future Bedford County ballots when an office is elected on a partisan basis.
Recorded vote summary: House passage 60–25; Senate passage 26–3. Open the official bill history and votes.
Education, parents & religious liberty
Selected bills are grouped by policy subject. Sponsorship, co-sponsorship and floor votes are labeled separately.
Education, parents & religious liberty
HB 0759 / SB 0729 — Optional merit pay for public-school educators
What it does: Allows a local education agency to adopt merit-based additional compensation for high-performing educators, subject to the enacted conditions.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Authorizes, but does not require, Bedford County Schools to create a qualifying merit-pay structure. A local plan would require separate district action.
Recorded vote summary: House passage 94–0; Senate passage 32–0. Open the official bill history and votes.
Education, parents & religious liberty
HB 1857 / SB 1960 — Fourth of July and founding-documents instruction
What it does: Requires annual age-appropriate K–12 instruction on the nation’s founding, independence, Declaration of Independence, Constitution and fundamental rights and freedoms.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Applies to Bedford County Schools and other Tennessee public schools; local lessons and implementation materials remain district records.
Recorded vote summary: House conference report 71–19; Senate conference report 28–5. Open the official bill history and votes.
Education, parents & religious liberty
SB 1953 / HB 2395 — State-approved civics instructional video
What it does: Beginning with the 2027–28 school year, requires public schools to present a state-board-approved civics video at least once in grades 6–8 and again in grades 9–12.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Creates a future curriculum requirement for Bedford County Schools. The official summary requires historical accuracy and prohibits political advocacy in an approved video.
Recorded vote summary: Senate passage 26–5; House passage 64–25. Open the official bill history and votes.
Education, parents & religious liberty
HB 0932 / SB 0897 — Student wireless-device restrictions
What it does: Requires local school boards and public charter governing bodies to adopt policies generally prohibiting student wireless-device use during instructional time, with specified exceptions.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Required a Bedford County Schools policy for instructional-time device use; the district’s actual policy and enforcement practices are separate local records.
Recorded vote summary: House concurrence 90–0; Senate passage 30–0. Open the official bill history and votes.
Education, parents & religious liberty
SB 1957 / HB 1834 — Tennessee Religious Freedom Act for school-board prayer
What it does: Authorizes a local board of education to open a meeting with a member-led prayer when participation is not required and attendees are not harassed or coerced.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Creates authority that may be relevant to Bedford County Board of Education meetings; it does not prove that the local board adopted or used a prayer practice.
Recorded vote summary: Senate passage 32–0; House passage 86–0. Open the official bill history and votes.
Education, parents & religious liberty
SB 6001 / HB 6004 — Education Freedom Scholarship Act
What it does: Enacts Tennessee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act and establishes the state program described in the enacted bill and amendments.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Relevant to Bedford County families and public-school finance, but eligibility, enrollment and fiscal effects require current state and district program records.
Recorded vote summary: Senate passage 20–13; House passage 54–44. Open the official bill history and votes.
Regulation, business & energy
Selected bills are grouped by policy subject. Sponsorship, co-sponsorship and floor votes are labeled separately.
Regulation, business & energy
HB 2139 / SB 2466 — Fraudulent freight and cargo theft
What it does: Makes multiple changes to Tennessee law concerning fraudulent freight theft and cargo theft.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Particularly relevant to Bedford County’s freight, trucking and distribution businesses. Enforcement outcomes require separate court and agency records.
Recorded vote summary: Use the official bill page’s Votes tab for the complete recorded action. Open the official bill history and votes.
Regulation, business & energy
HB 1913 / SB 2199 — Regulatory Freedom Act of 2026
What it does: Enacts the Regulatory Freedom Act of 2026 within Tennessee’s administrative-procedure law.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Can affect state rulemaking and regulated businesses serving Bedford County. A particular regulation’s treatment must be checked against the final act and agency record.
Recorded vote summary: House passage 76–16; Senate passage 24–4. Open the official bill history and votes.
Regulation, business & energy
SB 2560 / HB 2070 — Tennessee Energy Freedom Act
What it does: Creates the Tennessee Energy Freedom Act and limits certain state-law liability connected to emissions from covered coal, oil and natural-gas activities, subject to the enacted terms and federal law.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Relevant to energy policy, regulated industry and business costs. It does not establish a new Bedford County energy project.
Recorded vote summary: House passage 69–18; Senate passage 26–5. Open the official bill history and votes.
Agriculture, land & natural resources
Selected bills are grouped by policy subject. Sponsorship, co-sponsorship and floor votes are labeled separately.
Agriculture, land & natural resources
HB 1510 / SB 1590 — Duck River and other pastoral river designations
What it does: Designates additional river segments, including portions of the Duck River, as Class II pastoral river areas and expands outreach and landowner-consent provisions for proposed scenic boundaries.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Relevant to Bedford County landowners, agriculture, utilities and Duck River policy. A designation does not replace parcel-specific boundary or consent records.
Recorded vote summary: Senate passage 32–0; final House action followed a conference and message process. Open the official bill history and votes.
Agriculture, land & natural resources
SB 0874 / HB 0901 — Tennessee Century Farms Act
What it does: Creates a state Century Farms program recognizing family farms in continuous operation for more than 100 years.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Relevant to Bedford County’s agricultural heritage and qualifying family farms; qualification depends on the state program’s criteria and records.
Recorded vote summary: House passage 86–0; Senate passage 30–0. Open the official bill history and votes.
Family & healthcare policy
Selected bills are grouped by policy subject. Sponsorship, co-sponsorship and floor votes are labeled separately.
Family & healthcare policy
SB 2031 / HB 1872 — Healthcare-liability cause of action involving certain gender-transition procedures
What it does: Creates a civil cause of action under specified circumstances for injury connected to certain medical procedures intended to enable an identity inconsistent with a person’s sex or treat related distress.
Why it matters in Bedford County: Applies statewide to covered healthcare claims. The law does not establish that a Bedford County provider or patient is involved in any case.
Recorded vote summary: Senate passage 24–5; House passage 72–19; Senate concurrence 27–5. Open the official bill history and votes.
How this tracker labels bills and votes
- Prime sponsor: the legislator is identified as the bill’s principal sponsor in that chamber.
- Co-sponsor: the legislator formally joined the measure but was not necessarily its prime sponsor.
- Recorded vote: the legislator appears in an official roll call. Sponsorship does not replace the roll-call record.
- Enacted or signed: the official bill page shows final enactment. Local implementation may still require a policy, budget, election, contract or administrative step.
- Selected coverage: this is not every bill, amendment or vote from the 114th General Assembly. The official sponsor lists and bill pages remain the complete source.
Frequently asked questions
Who represents Bedford County in the Tennessee General Assembly?
Republican Representative Pat Marsh represents House District 62, including Bedford, Moore and part of Lincoln Counties. Republican Senator Shane Reeves represents Senate District 14, including Bedford, Cannon, Moore and Rutherford Counties.
Is this a complete Pat Marsh or Shane Reeves voting record?
No. This first edition selects high-interest bills with Bedford County or conservative-policy relevance. Each official bill page links its complete history, amendments and recorded votes.
Does co-sponsoring a bill prove how a legislator voted?
No. Sponsorship, co-sponsorship and a recorded floor vote are different facts. This tracker labels the role and provides the official bill page for the roll call.
Did Pat Marsh and Shane Reeves sponsor the Bedford County road-board bill?
Yes. Pat Marsh was the prime House sponsor of HB 1405 and Shane Reeves was the prime Senate sponsor of SB 1427. The measure became Private Chapter 3 and remained subject to local approval.
Which tracked bills concern immigration enforcement?
The selected records include E-Verify for state and local government hiring, public-benefit citizenship or lawful-presence verification, and the centralized immigration-enforcement and sanctuary-policy act.
Which tracked bills concern Bedford County schools?
The tracker includes optional educator merit pay, Fourth of July and founding-documents instruction, civics-video requirements, student-device restrictions, school-board prayer authority and the Education Freedom Scholarship Act.
Does an enacted state bill prove Bedford County implemented a local option?
No. A state law can require action, authorize a local option or establish a statewide program. Local policies, budgets, contracts and implementation records must be checked separately.
Where can I see the official roll-call votes?
Open the linked Tennessee General Assembly bill page and use its Votes section. The tracker reproduces selected final vote totals but does not replace the official roll-call record.
Official source library
Primary Tennessee General Assembly records are the factual foundation. Bill pages may include summaries, amendments, fiscal notes, actions and roll-call votes.
- Representative Pat Marsh — official profile
- Pat Marsh — bills sponsored and co-sponsored
- Senator Shane Reeves — official profile
- Shane Reeves — bills sponsored and co-sponsored
- Tennessee General Assembly bill search
- Bedford County government and elected-officials directory
- Bedford County elections and results
- Bedford County ICE / 287(g) tracker
- Bedford County schools / released-time tracker
Update log
October 11, 2026 — Phase 1 published. Added the first Bedford County conservative-legislation tracker with official profiles, selected sponsored or co-sponsored measures, vote summaries, enactment status, local relevance and issue sections.
Next checks: later bill actions, new special-session measures, corrections to sponsorship or status, local implementation by Bedford County government or schools, and the opening of the next General Assembly bill-filing cycle.