Even for these of us who maintain an in depth eye on the Tennessee Normal Meeting annually, the 2023 session was a doozy.
Bear in mind again in early March, when liberal activism web site Tennessee Holler uncovered odd social media feedback left by Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) on thirst-trap posts by a younger, homosexual aspiring celebrity? It was a large enough deal to encourage a section on Saturday Night time Stay’s “Weekend Replace.” (It wasn’t the last time “Update” spoofed the Volunteer State this season, as a matter of reality.) Properly, McNally’s odd feedback appear virtually quaint compared to all that has transpired on the Tennessee State Capitol since.
Within the wake of the tragic March 27 mass taking pictures on the Covenant College in Nashville, protesters confirmed up in droves to demand motion from the legislature on gun violence. Gov. Invoice Lee and state leaders introduced a sequence of proposals in response to the taking pictures, although none of them associated to gun management. Then, famously, three Democratic members of the state Home now generally known as the Tennessee Three — a reference to Johnny Money’s longtime backing band — confronted expulsion efforts from the physique’s Republican supermajority for becoming a member of protesters in chants and requires motion from the nicely of the Home chamber. After a protracted and bitter listening to, Black Reps. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) have been expelled from the physique, whereas their white colleague Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) averted expulsion by one vote. County leaders in Nashville and Memphis returned the Justins to their seats with haste, and the Tennessee GOP’s efforts backfired on the publicity entrance: Home Republicans discovered themselves the butt of a nationally circulated joke, and the Tennessee Three earned invitations to the White Home and the admiration of Joan Baez and Bernie Sanders, amongst many, many others.
Quickly after, leaked audio from a gathering of the Home Republican Caucus revealed petty GOP infighting over the expulsion efforts. And earlier than the month was by, allegations surfaced involving the caucus’s vice chair — Rep. Scotty Campbell (R-Mountain Metropolis) — who reportedly harassed not less than one 19-year-old legislative intern. Campbell, who allegedly put his fingers on the intern and supplied her hashish gummies in change for seeing her tattoos and piercings, resigned inside hours.
Someplace, amongst all of the Republican supermajority’s humiliating publicity fails, additionally they managed to cross a bunch of laws. An excessive amount of that laws targeted on punishing Metro Nashville and focusing on the LGBTQ group. Additionally they handed a funds and authorised Gov. Lee’s Transportation Modernization Act. However regardless of Lee’s requires motion on gun reform, they didn’t cross any legal guidelines associated to weapons — nicely, aside from one from Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) that protects gun producers from lawsuits. Because of this, Lee introduced that he can be calling for a particular session of the legislature to are likely to the oversight. We’re nonetheless standing by to search out out if and when that can happen.
On this week’s concern, we check out the whole lot the Tennessee Normal Meeting did — and didn’t — accomplish in 2023. —D. PATRICK RODGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The legislature adjourned with out heeding the governor’s requires gun reform
The legislature handed payments associated to third-grade studying, ESAs and college security — however not weapons
Nashville tries to combat again in opposition to anti-Metro laws
Legislators took intention at gender-affirming take care of youth and HIV prevention funding, renewed their dedication to abortion ban
The state funds exhibits the place the Republican supermajority’s true priorities lie
