Urge members of the House Civil Justice Subcommittee to SUPPORT HB 0849 that would clarify legal definitions of personhood to ensure only human beings are recognized under state law, protecting unborn lives from artificial entity claims.

This bill amends Tennessee Code Annotated Title 1-3-105 to provide clear statutory definitions for “person,” “natural person,” “human being,” and “life.” In place of the existing catch-all for “person,” it clarifies that while corporations and associations remain included, artificial intelligence, algorithms, software, hardware, or any type of machine are expressly excluded. It goes on to define a “natural person” and “human being” as an individual living member of the species homo sapiens, with “human being” specifically encompassing the unborn from fertilization through full gestation. Finally, “life” is defined in biological terms—capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and change—and, like the other terms, excludes anything artificial or mechanical.

By setting these definitions at the top of the code, the legislature ensures that when any statute elsewhere in the Tennessee Code relies on the terms “person,” “natural person,” “human being,” or “life,” courts and agencies must interpret them according to this originalist, biological standard. It aims to prevent creative judicial reasoning from extending personhood to non-human entities (for example, an AI “personhood” argument) while unambiguously affirming that every human life, born or preborn, is protected under state law. The bill takes effect immediately upon becoming law and carries no significant fiscal impact according to the Fiscal Review Committee.