January 14, 2024
Tennessee General Assembly information, click HERE. For information on State Senators, including phone numbers and email addresses, click HERE; for House members, click HERE. For information on legislation, click HERE.
Don’t forget that you can now watch the Senate committee meetings and floor sessions online by going HERE; House committee meetings and floor sessions online HERE.
Phone calls can go to the legislative Switchboard at 615-741-3011 or to the Toll Free number 1-800-449-8366+1 last four digits of office phone number (available online).
DON’T KNOW WHO YOUR SENATOR OR REPRESENTATIVE IS?
Just go HERE and you can find out!!
“A society that puts equality — in the sense of equality of outcome — ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests.”
Milton Friedman
FOR YOUR PRAYER LIST:
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally sidelined before session due to surgery recovery.
In addition, Sen. Janice Bowling was taken to the hospital on Wednesday, but by Thursday was better and expected to be released. A friend who is a House member missed this week with the flu.
In addition, PLEASE be praying for the Legislative Session. We have elected 132 men and women out of over 7 million Tennesseans to come to Nashville each year to do the business of the state. What an honor!! One that should be taken seriously and treated with respect. There is a lot of important business that will be undertaken in this session that needs great wisdom and understanding.
Joel Spiers will be my Tuesday intern this session. That means that he will come every Tuesday for the entire Legislative session. Joel lives in Goodlettsville with his mother and dad, Amy and Allen, and his three older siblings. He is a homeschooled senior in high school. His comments about his first day: My introduction to the legislative process was overwhelming at first. I quickly noticed that I knew very little of the vocabulary and the procedures used. However, even after a short first day I already felt much more comfortable with the environment. I look forward to being able to learn the intricate details of the legislative process as well as what the Tennessee Eagle Forum is able to accomplish inside such an important setting.
Nick Keninitz will be my Wednesday intern for the entire session also. Nick lives in Murfreesboro with his mother and dad, Misty and Kevin, and his older sister, Kendall. He is a seventeen-year-old homeschooled senior in high school graduating this Spring.
His comments about his first day: I was first attracted to the government and its processes once I began to notice a huge deficit of Christian leaders in this wonderful country. One of the things I look forward to discovering during my time in the Capitol is meeting those men and women who have prioritized their faith despite much adversity and who are constantly trying to promote Biblical ideals. I also look forward to being able to unpack the behind the scenes of how our government truly functions, not from a news headline, but from first-hand experience.
AS YOU CAN SEE, I AM GOING TO BE VERY BLESSED AS I MARK MY 37th YEAR AT THE CAPITOL TO SPEND MY DAYS WITH THESE FINE AND IMPRESSIVE YOUNG MEN. A very nice man put a white carnation in my hand this week to mark the occasion of my 37th year, and I was very touched.
Would you help us get this Legislative Session started right by donating to our work? We really NEED your support to continue serving the people of Tennessee.
The BIG news of the opening week of the session was the debate in the House on the new rules.
Tennessee House Republicans Propose New Rules to Further Limit and Restrict Debate
New rules would bring back silencing provisions and create a new system to limit the debate time on certain pieces of legislation.
NOTE: If you are interested, you can click on this article link just above and at the end, a link to the Report of the Select Committee on Rules is available. It was debated at length and finally adopted in a 70-19 vote. You can watch the debate by clicking HERE, scrolling down the left side and clicking on Reports from Select Committee.
Other stories about the floor session on Wednesday:
Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones Ruled Out of Order After Calling House Speaker Sexton ‘Drunk with Power’ on Second Day of Session
Tennessee Three’ Spoke in General Assembly for Combined Seven Hours in 2023, Despite Claims of Being Silenced
AND SO THE LEGISLATION PROCESS BEGINS
SCHEDULED IN SENATE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE ON TUESDAY – WE OPPOSE THIS LEGISLATION.
US CONSTITUTION REQUIRING TERM LIMITS
HJR 0005 by *Todd , Sparks, Warner, Zachary, Bricken, Hawk, Lynn, Richey, Garrett, Powers, Capley, Carr, Vital
Constitutional Conventions – Makes application to Congress for the purpose of calling an Article V convention to propose an amendment to the United States Constitution to set a limit on the number of terms to which a person may be elected as a member of the Congress of the United States.
BACKGROUND: Last year HJR0005 passed the House floor 66-27-3.
WE UNDERSTAND THE DESIRE TO GET SOME OF THE PRESENT OCCUPANTS OUT OF D.C.(I would be happy to start the list!!), BUT WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IT WOULD MEAN TO DO THAT THROUGH THE CONSTITUTION RATHER THAN THE BALLOT BOX.
PLEASE REVIEW THE INFORMATION PROVIDED BELOW:
The Problems with ARTIFICIAL Term Limits
1. We have ‘term limits’, they are called “elections”, every two, four, and six years. Just because voters are derelict in their duty, does not mean we must change our process.
2. ‘Artificial’ term limits means giving the bureaucracy a LOT more power; in addition, institutional memory and experience is no longer available.
3. Voters are prohibited from voting for the person they believe to be the best choice for that office.
4. Term limits create multiple classes of ‘lame ducks’ and successive ‘freshman’ classes. We all know that in the last term any official serves, without re-election on the horizon, there is no longer the accountability that was once there.
5. This would prevent legislators from gaining the experience they need to become skilled lawmakers.
6. This would also interfere with experienced legislators gaining seniority to gain committee chairmanships and leadership positions.
7. Term Limits give Lobbyists more influence.
8. A term limits amendment is a feel-good palliative which distracts us from dealing with the real problem: People in Congress disregarding the Constitution.
Here’s a look at congressional tenure, by the numbers:
The average years of service for Members of the 117th Congress, as of January 3, 2021, when the Congress convened, was 8.9 years for the House and 11.0 years for the Senate. In comparison, the average years of service for Members of the 116th Congress, as of January 3, 2019, when the Congress convened, was 8.6 years for the House and 10.1 years for the Senate
The way to effectively reform Congress lies in supporting and voting for candidates who uphold the belief in a stronger local government rather than a stronger national government. Term limits will not achieve the reform that is needed in our federal government because term limits will NOT RESTRAIN the power of our federal government.
Don’t Be Fooled by Article V Conventions.
Five reasons to oppose congressional term limits
A QUOTE FROM JAMELLE BOUIE:
“Term limits won’t deliver you to this promised land of functioning government. Term limits exacerbate all the worst features of American governance, while improving little about our candidates or elections. The quality of lawmaking goes down, the influence of lobbyists goes up, and public spiritedness erodes even further.
PLEASE CONTACT THE MEMBERS OF THIS COMMITTEE AND URGE THEM TO VOTE NO ON HJR005:
Sen. Richard Briggs sen.richard.briggs@capitol.tn.gov
Sen. Page Walley sen.page.walley@capitol.tn.gov
Sen. Mark Pody sen.mark.pody@capitol.tn.gov
Sen. Ed Jackson sen.ed.jackson@capitol.tn.gov
Sen. Sara Kyle sen.sara.kyle@capitol.tn.gov
Sen. Adam Lowe sen.adam.lowe@capitol.tn.gov
Sen. John Stevens sen.john.stevens@capitol.tn.gov
Sen. Ken Yager sen.ken.yager@capitol.tn.gov
Sen. Jeff Yarbro sen.jeff.yarbro@capitol.tn.gov
EDUCATION: Of course, there has been a great deal of conversation about the bill the Governor has ‘unveiled’ :
However, keep in mind that the bill has not been filed, so we really don’t yet know exactly what is going to be included. We will certainly be following that carefully.
Now, we don’t know if the court case below will impact a new bill or not.
Tennessee private school voucher law hits new obstacle in court.
We are so grateful to Rep. Todd for his introduction of this important resolution:
UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL
HJR 0688 by *Todd
General Assembly, Statement of Intent or Position – Affirms support for Israel and condemns Hamas.
The ‘BILL CUT OFF’ date is the end of this month, so we won’t know until after that time exactly what bills are being filed, but some interesting ones are already being noticed:
State lawmaker from Maryville proposes constitutional amendment barring expelled General Assembly members from returning for 4 years.
Tennessee State Rep. Gino Bulso Files Bill to Compel Release of Covenant Killer Manifesto.
Republican Bill Would Exempt Diapers, Baby Wipes, Formula from Sales Tax in Tennessee.
Sen. Mark Pody has introduced a bill (SB1642) that, among other things, prohibits the governor from renewing or extending beyond 45 days an executive order, proclamation, or Tennessee emergency management plan (TEMP) issued pursuant to the governor’s emergency management powers and that applies to more than 48 counties. However, this bill permits the general assembly to authorize the governor to renew or extend an executive order, proclamation, or TEMP declaring a state of emergency by passage of a joint resolution in a regular or extraordinary session.
It is awaiting a House sponsor.