On March 12, a Subcommittee of the Tennessee House Local Government Committee passed HB 958, which is authored by Representative Jason Powell (D-Nashville). The bill lowers the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote (over 40,000 signatures) to exactly 2,500 signatures. A group that submitted that petition would remain ballot-qualified for two elections.

A similar bill in the Senate, SB 1091, has a hearing in the Senate State and Local Government Committee on February 18.