The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will not increase the cost of hunting and fishing licenses this year after all. TWRA had previously announced its plan to hike the license fee package by about 28% effective July 1st. However, the measure had yet to pass the Joint Government Operations Committee.
On Wednesday (June 18, 2025), while many committee members praised the work of the TWRA and agreed that the Agency needs more funding, they said they simply could not support raising the cost of the hunting and fishing license fees.
TWRA said not passing the measure will create a $12 million budget deficit for the Agency. Committee members said they would help TWRA find other revenue sources.
In the end, TWRA thanked the Joint Government Operations Committee for recognizing it has a funding problem, and the Agency withdrew its license fee hike request.