Tennessee lawmakers are proposing a $6 million audit of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht for Tennessee Lookout)
Tennessee lawmakers could spend $6 million to audit Memphis-Shelby County Schools as a potential forerunner to a state “takeover” of the district.
Senate finance committee Chairman Bo Watson (R-Hixson) confirmed Monday another $3 million for a forensic audit was placed in the Senate’s $59.6 billion budget plan to go with $3 million in Governor Bill Lee’s supplemental budget amendment.
Senators also placed $4.5 million in the budget plan to expand Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s special litigation unit, which previously was tasked with opposing former President Joe Biden’s policies.
When the 2025 session started, Republican lawmakers started discussing appointment of a state management board that would supersede the elected Memphis Shelby County School Board. Memphis residents testified against the bill.
Representative Mark White, a Memphis Republican, said Memphis schools have “a decades-old issue of underperformance.” (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
The proposal hasn’t gained a foothold yet, but lawmakers appear bent on auditing the school district even though the Comptroller’s Office conducts school system audits.
Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) said Monday the audit is needed to start a deeper look at the school district.
“That kind of money spent on that kind of audit, that’s the kind of audit that somebody goes to the pokey over, and this is something that’s been building for decades, and it’s time we finally take the bull by the horns,” Taylor said. He didn’t pinpoint any wrongdoing on the part of Memphis-Shelby County Schools officials.
Taylor, who is sponsoring the bill to make major changes in the district, said lawmakers shied away from a takeover because of problems with the Achievement School District, which is being abolished because it failed to make major improvements over a decade in spite of a billion dollars in expenses. The bill’s wording remains in talks, though, and an advisory board could be placed in the measure, he said.
Senator Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) a member of the finance committee, called the pending expenditure “ridiculous.”
“The purpose of our school funding is to educate children, not to create ammunition for some garbage political fights,” Yarbro said.
Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis) has been pushing for change this session to deal with what he calls “a decades-old issue of underperformance.”
The purpose of our school funding is to educate children, not to create ammunition for some garbage political fights.
– Senator Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville
His bill contains a provision to put a nine-member management group appointed by the state in charge of operating the school district, giving it authority over the locally-elected school board and administrators.
Taylor’s version isn’t quite as restrictive but puts the state in charge by allowing Tennessee’s education commissioner, with approval from the Department of Education, to remove the schools director or school board members and allow the county commission to replace them. If a school district goes through three district directors in three years, a county mayor could appoint a new director for a four-year term.
The Senate bill also would lift income caps on the Education Savings Account in effect in Shelby County, the governor’s initial private-school voucher program, and change the process for a public school to become a charter school.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Two legislative measures are considered discriminatory against LGBTQ+ Tennesseans, including one that would make it state policy that there are only two genders. (Photo: John Partipilo | Tennessee Lookout)
Tennessee lawmakers are pushing numerous bills the LGBTQ+ community considers discriminatory, including one that would force state and local governments to ensure all laws and policies referring to a person’s sex or gender are based on “anatomy and genetics” at birth.
Another bill passed by the House Monday — without debate — would require private schools and churches that allow children to stay in residential facilities such as summer camps to segregate restrooms and changing areas based on “immutable biological sex.”
Those are among a spate of bills opposed by the LGBTQ+ community during the legislative session.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to take up Senate Bill 936 Tuesday, a measure declaring it is state policy that only biological males and females exist in Tennessee, despite the presence of multiple transgender residents at legislative meetings.
We have a real issue in our nation, folks don’t understand that when God created us, Genesis 1:27, he created male and female, end of sentence. There is no such thing as gender.
– Sen. Paul Rose, R-Covington
Sponsored by Sen. Paul Rose (R-Covington), the bill contains a broad amendment requiring local governments and the state to revise all ordinances, resolutions, rules, policies, and procedures to reflect that references to a person’s sex or gender are based on their genetics at birth. Complaints could be filed in chancery court to force compliance, ultimately allowing the state government to withhold Department of Economic and Community Development grants from local governments.
“We have a real issue in our nation, folks don’t understand that when God created us, Genesis 1:27, he created male and female, end of sentence. There is no such thing as gender,” Rose said. “That is something that’s made up by mankind.”
Rose added later, “We’re just not going to recognize transgender.” He also downplayed the significance of the proposed amendment’s impact on governments.
The lawmaker postponed consideration of the bill until Tuesday after the amendment was added earlier in the day, giving people little time to read it.
Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), sponsor of a bill requiring private and public facilities to segregate bathrooms by male and female (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Chris Sanders, director of the Tennessee Equality Project, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said the amendment makes the bill more sweeping than it was originally because city and county governments and school districts approach the matter in different ways.
“It’s a big bill now,” Sanders said, because it forces local and state governments to correct anything that is “at odds” with the legislation.
State government entities, including Tennessee universities, would be required to take the same steps as local governments, and failure to comply could lead to reductions in a department or agency budget following an investigation by the Comptroller’s Office. Those departments and universities also would be ineligible to receive grants from the Department of Economic and Community Development.
“Bathroom bill” passes House
House Speaker Cameron Sexton ordered troopers to remove at least one protester from the gallery after House Majority Leader William Lamberth used a technical maneuver to cut off debate and kill an amendment to the bill requiring segregated bathrooms.
The House voted 74-18 in favor of House Bill 64 by Rep. Gino Bulso of Brentwood. Bulso declined to comment afterward, but he told lawmakers in a subcommittee meeting earlier this year that he received a complaint from a parent about a transgender child sharing a changing facility at a summer camp.
Sanders said afterward he was “disgusted” that no debate was allowed on what he considers a “consequential, disgusting, far-reaching bill.”
“We all know it attacks transgender students, but it reaches into the private sector in a way that state bills usually don’t,” Sanders said. “It’s wild that the party of ‘small government’ wants to micromanage private institutions of their ability to set their own policies,” said Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat. Behn was incensed after Republicans sidestepped her amendment.
“It’s wild that the party of ‘small government’ wants to micromanage private institutions of their ability to set their own policies,” said Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Behn said in a statement she introduced an amendment to “neuter their latest Big Brother bathroom bill” but was blocked from speaking.
“It’s wild that the party of ‘small government’ wants to micromanage private institutions of their ability to set their own policies,” Behn said. “Regarding the procedural retaliation, this is a pattern of weaponizing their supermajority status to either punish a disparate worldview or block minority voices from the conversation.”
Some Republican lawmakers said they wanted to hear debate on the matter, but they didn’t feel enough urgency to vote for discussion.
House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison said he typically favors debate but claimed Behn’s amendment would have “completely destroyed” the bill.
“Regardless of how we feel individually, collectively our (GOP caucus) members don’t want to hear it. If you’re going to do something like that, we’re not going to talk about it,” said Faison (R-Cosby).
Faison added that “it’s incumbent on the legislature to protect children,” but he said transgender kids don’t deserve to be a “protected class” of people.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Lawmakers gonna law-make, and committee agendas for the Tennessee General Assembly are filled to the brim with a vast and complex array of proposals for a better Tennessee (depending on where you sit).
Hundreds of bills filed in Nashville cover everything from far-right-fueled covenant marriages to hunters finding wounded deer with drones to rules that take the high out of Tennessee cannabis products — and so much more.
Here are a few bills we’re watching.
Senator Brent Taylor (Photo: wapp.capitol.tn.gov)
Gender transition (SB 0676)
Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) says this law ensures that if a gender clinic takes state funds to perform gender transition procedures, they’ll have to also perform “detransition procedures.”
The bill also requires a report to the state on a ton of information about any transition procedures: the age and sex of the patient, what drugs were given to them, when the referral was made, what state and county the patient is from, and a complete list of “neurological, behavioral, or mental health conditions” the patient might have had. Almost everything but the patient’s name and WhatsApp handle.
Forever chemicals (SB 0880)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing this bill, and maybe not just in Tennessee.
When Mark Behrens, a representative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, explained it to a Senate committee last week, he specifically mentioned PFAS (also called forever chemicals by some), which are found in nonstick cookware, firefighting foam, and more. He also broadly mentioned “microplastics” and “solvents.”
Behrens claimed these may have a PR problem but they may also be in a situation where “the science [on them] is evolving and they may not have an impact on human health, or that impact may be unclear.”
So rather than the state banning them for just having a bad rap, any ban would have to be based on “the best available science.”
Senator Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) asked if this could be used to keep fluoride out of drinking water. No, she was told.
Medical Ethics Defense Act (SB 0955)
“This bill prohibits a healthcare provider from being required to participate in or pay for a healthcare procedure, treatment, or service that violates the conscience of the healthcare provider.” The bill itself is scanty on details. On its face, it sure sounds like it’s aimed at the LGBTQ community.
But bill sponsor Senator Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin) said it was a “straightforward bill,” covering things such as assisted suicide or whether or not a pharmacist felt comfortable prescribing birth control.
Deer and drones (SB 0130)
This one is straightforward. It would allow hunters to use drones to find deer they shot.
WHO now? (SB 0669)
With this bill, Taylor, the Memphis Republican, says pandemics can only be declared by the American, baseball-and-apple-pie Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), not the Swiss, soccer-and-Toblerone World Health Organization (WHO).
Senator London Lamar (Photo: wapp.capitol.tn.gov)
Cash for STI tests (SB 0189)
Senator London Lamar (D-Memphis) wants to give higher-education students in Tennessee $250 for taking a voluntary test for sexually transmitted diseases.
Felonies for protestors (SB 0672)
You know how Memphis protestors like to shut down the Hernando DeSoto Bridge? Well, Taylor, that Memphis Republican, would make that a felony.
But it’s not just big roads and protestors. The bill applies to anyone obstructing “a highway, street, sidewalk, railway, waterway, elevator, aisle, hallway, or other place used for the passage of persons or vehicles.” Those would be Class E felonies.
But if the “offense was committed by intentionally obstructing a highway, street, or other place used for the passage of vehicles,” it would be a Class D felony.
What’s in a name? (SB 0214)
This bill would prohibit any public facility to be named for a local public official who is currently in office — and for two years after they leave office. The same prohibition would also apply to anyone who has “been convicted of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude.”
Covenant marriage (SB 0737)
This bill creates “covenant marriage” in Tennessee. And the most important thing the bill caption wants you to know about the law is that this kind of marriage “is entered into by one male and one female.”
Covenant marriage is, like, a mega, pinky-swear marriage. To get it, couples have to go to premarital counseling and their preacher or counselor or whoever has to get notarized and some kind of pamphlet to be printed by the secretary of state.
Getting out of a covenant marriage is, like, way hard. A partner would have to cheat or die, be sentenced to death or lifelong imprisonment, leave the house for a year, or physically or sexually abuse the other partner or the couple’s children.
These types of marriages are only available now in Arizona, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
Oh, and if you wonder where this is coming from, check out a video posted on our website that shows Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon), one of the bill’s sponsors, at church talking about “wicked” gay marriage. — Toby Sells
Taylor sponsored SB 0217. (Photo: Joshua Rainey | Dreamstime.com)
Clearing Homeless Camps (SB 0217)
A bill would give those living in homeless camps three days to vacate if their camp is targeted for removal in a new program that could cost around $64 million each year from the state highway fund.
Senate Bill 0217 would require the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and other agencies to regulate “the collection, storage, claiming, and disposal of personal property used for camping from the shoulder, berm, or right-of-way of a state or interstate highway, or under a bridge or overpass, or within an underpass of a state or interstate highway.”
The bill, sponsored by Taylor, coasted through its first vote by the Senate Transportation and Safety Committee last week with only one Democrat voting against it. Taylor said he had experience in trying to clear areas of personal property and called it the “most complicated thing [he] had done as an adult.”
“What this bill does is simply allow TDOT to go into communities like Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, or any other community and to go ahead and preplan how they’re going to deal with homeless encampments and go ahead and work with social services networks in that community,” Taylor said.
Taylor said this network will include law enforcement, so that all the duties will already be spelled out when an encampment needs to be removed. He also said this bill does not criminalize homeless people.
“This serves not only the state and the local community, but this serves the homeless folks as well,” Taylor said. “When they identify a homeless encampment that needs to be cleared, there’ll be nonprofits and social services available to the people in homeless encampments. We all have empathy, but whatever has driven somebody to have to live under a bridge, their lot in life is not getting better by living under a bridge.”
Taylor said the bill will help communities develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to tackle this issue in a way that’s beneficial to both the city and the homeless. Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) asked if the bill outlines how their belongings will be stored, to which Taylor responded that the decision would be left to the board.
“I understand the intent,” Campbell said. “I have a similar thing happen in my district. I just am concerned without the direction from the legislation, the homeless peoples’ items and things need to be considered, that we’re putting the discretion to be able to take stuff away from homeless people in somebody’s hands where it might not have been before.”
Lindsey Krinks, co-founder of Housing for All Tennessee and Open Table Nashville, noted citizens’ concerns for the bill — specifically, the disposal of homeless people’s belongings.
“What this bill doesn’t tell you is that the campsite removal costs will be passed down to local governments; we’re really concerned about that,” Krinks said. “We all want to see the number of people living in encampments decrease, but the way we do that is not to play a game of Whack-A-Mole. It’s to break the cycle of homelessness through providing housing and support to people.”
Krinks said the bill does not address homelessness nor the deficit of housing or shelter. She noted that the bill’s “aggressive” deadline of removal three days after receiving a complaint does not allow people to secure permanent housing.
Taylor said this bill will address these concerns as the agencies and TDOT will help people get connected to the services they need. He said continuing to let people live in encampments without services does not provide them with extra support.
“If you support homeless people and want to get them the services they need and help them live in dignity, then you would support this bill because we’re able to make that connection when we clear a homeless encampment between a person in need and social services they need to connect them,” Taylor said. — Kailynn Johnson
Happy high? (HB 1376)
State Republicans propose either stricter cannabis rules or none at all.
Despite warnings that the hemp industry would be decimated, the House Judiciary Committee passed a measure last week that would put stricter regulations in place.
Sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland), House Bill 1376 would place the industry under the Alcoholic Beverage Commission instead of the Department of Agriculture and remove products from convenience and grocery stores. Only vape and liquor stores would be allowed to sell some hemp products.
The House bill was slated to be heard this week in the Commerce Committee where agreements with the industry could be reached.
“It does ban [derivatives] THCA and THCP. The reason for that is we have not legalized marijuana in this state,” Lamberth said.
Hemp is distinguished from marijuana in that it contains a compound called delta-9 THC. Cannabis with a concentration of less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC is defined as legal hemp in Tennessee — and federally. Cannabis with concentrations greater than 0.3 percent is classified as marijuana and is illegal to grow, sell, or possess in Tennessee.
Hemp flowers also contain THCA, a nonintoxicating acid that would be banned in Tennessee under this bill. When heated or smoked, the THCA in the plant converts into delta-9 THC — an illegal substance in Tennessee in greater than trace amounts.
Clint Palmer, a representative of the hemp industry, told lawmakers the bill is similar to one passed in 2023 that led to a lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture that remains in litigation.
If the new measure passes, Palmer said, hemp businesses will be forced to shut down, even after spending millions of dollars complying with state regulations.
“Bill sponsors have said it’s the Wild West in regards to the current hemp program. This is far from the truth,” Palmer said.
The 2023 law put new restrictions on products containing THC, he said, and noted retail stores, manufacturers, and distributors are required to be licensed or face criminal charges. Palmer added that regulation is lacking from the Department of Agriculture, despite a 6 percent tax on hemp-derived products, half of which nets the department $1 million a month.
Lamberth has said that consumers should know the ingredients when they buy a hemp product. But Palmer said those are listed on labels, based on the 2023 law.
The House leader also indicated that the industry appears ready to sue the state again because the federal Farm Act sets standards on hemp. Palmer didn’t acknowledge whether a lawsuit could follow the new bill’s passage, but he said the Alcoholic Beverage Commission doesn’t “have a clear understanding of the hemp plant, and it’s clearly shown in this bill.”
The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Senator Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville), is to be heard next by the finance committee. Briggs said last week as soon as the products are heated, they become marijuana.
“We could withdraw the bill and let’s just put another bill out there that says we’re going to have recreational marijuana,” Briggs said. “Let’s be perfectly honest. It’ll help the businesses, we’ll have great revenue, and everybody smoking the stuff will be a lot happier.” — Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Healthcare on the Hill (SB 0402 / SB 0403 / SB 0575)
Senate Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Senator London Lamar (D-Memphis) introduced SB 0403 and SB 0402 to tackle the issue of medical debt. SB 0403 proposes that hospitals match the amount of money they receive from the government to cover “uncompensated care” in erasing medical debt. According to the Tennessee General Assembly, taxpayers paid $153 million to cover payments for 107 hospitals.
“If a hospital takes public money, they should lift patient debt in return,” Lamar said. “Healthcare should heal, not bankrupt. This is about real relief for working people — helping families stay in their homes, invest in their futures, and live with dignity.”
SB 0402 seeks to further alleviate the toll of medical debt as it would remove its inclusion from credit reports. Lamar called medical debt an “unfair financial harm.”
Lamar has also long been an advocate for reducing the state’s maternal health crisis. The state has historically had the worst maternal mortality rate in the country. To aid in this, Lamar filed SB 0575, which would require new mothers to receive information about postpartum warning signs from hospitals.
“There’s an education gap women are experiencing as far as resources, what to do, and how to go through this process,” Lamar said. “In an effort to ensure that women have the best pregnancy outcome possible, we want to make sure we’re providing them with more tools in their toolbox to protect themselves and their child in this process and after.”
Lamar said this bill would add an extra layer of accountability to make sure hospitals and birthing centers are doing their part to educate women. The senator said that medical deserts create a significant gap in accessing quality care even before they seek pregnancy care. She went on to say pregnancy outcomes are reliant on the mother’s lifestyle before and after the process.
“We have an unhealthy community that is deprived of access to resources and doctors,” Lamar said. “There is a financial burden of not being able to afford the healthcare they need. Healthcare is really expensive. It’s very elitist. It’s the haves and the have-nots, so if you don’t have the money to have insurance or pay out of pocket, then you don’t get healthcare. That stems down to Black women who are less likely to have the care they need, rural women in rural areas who are experiencing poverty don’t have access [to care.]”
The idea of providing equitable healthcare and rights have extended to reproductive bills such as HB 0027 sponsored by Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville). The bill, which has been supported by groups such as Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, states that everyone has a “fundamental right to make decisions about their reproductive health care.” HB 1220 also protects reproductive freedom as it safeguards the right to choose whether or not a person wants to use contraceptives.
Some GOP bills, like the Medical Ethics Defense Act mentioned above, seek to curb access to care. Meanwhile, SB 0139, sponsored by Senator Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun), would mandate hospitals accepting Medicaid to collect and report citizenship status about patients, and report these demographics to the Tennessee Department of Health. The department would then submit this information to state government officials to track the impact of “uncompensated care for persons not lawfully present in the United States and other related information.” — KJ
Tennessee House and Senate education committees passed the governor’s private-school voucher program Tuesday, speeding the $450 million first-year expense to final votes before week’s end.
Senators voted 8-1 to send the measure to the finance committee to be considered Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), carrying the bill for Gov. Bill Lee, told lawmakers the plan will “empower families to do something for their kid, fulfilling needs we’re not meeting with this public school system that we run together with our local folks.”
Johnson claimed a mandate to pass the measure from President Donald Trump, who posted on his Truth Social platform earlier that he supports Tennessee lawmakers’ efforts to adopt “school choice.”
Senate Republican Majority Leader Jack Johnson of Franklin said Tennessee lawmakers have a “mandate” from President Donald Trump to enact private school vouchers. (Photo: John Partipilo)
“It is our goal to bring education in the United States to the highest level, one that it has never attained before,” Trump said in his post.
Lee’s plan, which is zooming toward final votes in a special session this week, calls for providing more than $7,000 each to 20,000 students statewide and then expanding by about 5,000 annually. Half of those students in the first year could come from families with incomes at 300 percent of the federal poverty level, an estimated $175,000 for a family of four, while the rest would have no income limit. No maximum income would be placed on the program after the first year.
A financial analysis by the state’s Fiscal Review Committee determined K-12 schools will lose $45 million and that only $3.3 million would go toward 12 school districts most likely to lose students.
Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) was the lone vote against the bill as she urged the committee to “exercise a bit more caution.” Akbari reminded senators that students participating in the state’s education savings account program, which provides vouchers to enroll in private schools in Davidson, Hamilton, and Shelby counties, are performing worse academically than their peers.
In contrast, Sen. Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun) said standardized tests shouldn’t be the deciding factor in passing the bill. Lowe also told Hawkins County Schools Director Matt Hixson he shouldn’t be worried about talk that some local leaders in upper East Tennessee believe they have to support the voucher bill or the legislature could refuse to approve $420 million for Hurricane Helene disaster relief.
The House panel endorsed the plan on a 17-7 vote after Republican lawmakers used a procedural move to bypass debate on the bill. Rep. Jake McCalmon (R-Williamson County) called for an immediate vote following public testimony, backed by Rep. William Slater (R-Sumner County). The move kept opponents from questioning the bill’s sponsor, House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland).
Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) called the move “ridiculous” afterward because of the impact the bill could have on public schools and the state’s budget.
In addition to complaining that the state will be running two school systems and likely hitting financial problems, Johnson challenged Lamberth’s assertion that the bill will make public schools “whole” when they lose students to the private-school voucher program.
Lamberth, though, said public schools would not lose “one red cent” as a result of the program.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Buoyed by President Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, Tennessee’s governor is proposing to fund an immigration enforcement bureau that could take on deportation authority to remove people from the country.
In a proclamation calling a special session to start January 27, Governor Bill Lee detailed creation of a central immigration agency with enforcement powers and a closer relationship with U.S. courts, and possible use of state courts, to remove undocumented people. Lee’s plan establishes a fund to pay for the agency, but he has not given a cost estimate.
Under current law, federal authorities handle immigration law, in some instances working with local law enforcement. But this move would give the state wider latitude to enforce those laws, especially in conjunction with a federal court dealing with immigrants accused of “terrorism.”
The state’s attempt to do the federal government’s bidding sets a dangerous precedent for all of us and our constitutional rights.
– Lisa Sherman Luna, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition
Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said Tuesday state and local processes are handled separately from federal immigration matters.
“The state’s attempt to do the federal government’s bidding sets a dangerous precedent for all of us and our constitutional rights,” Sherman Luna said.
Lt. Governor Randy McNally said Tuesday even though no bill has been filed, he supports including immigration in the governor’s call for a special session.
“President Trump has made clear he intends to reverse the Biden illegal immigration invasion immediately,” McNally said. He added that undocumented immigrants with felonies and criminal records need to be removed quickly.
Lee has confirmed he would activate the National Guard to take on Trump’s plan to deport “criminals” without citizenship status. Trump, though, has mentioned removing up to 18 million people without documentation and revoking birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment to people born in the country regardless of their parents’ immigration status, as well as children born abroad to U.S. citizens. Twenty-two states filed suit Monday to stop his effort to end birthright citizenship.
Trump declared a national emergency for the U.S.-Mexico border Monday, the day of his inauguration, enabling him to deploy armed forces such as National Guard troops, set up more barriers, complete a wall, and allow for unmanned air surveillance. Tennessee has sent its troops to the border multiple times already.
The order also allows the Insurrection Act of 1807 to be invoked, granting the president authority to use troops against Americans involved in civil disorder or rebellion.
A separate executive order he signed Monday stopped some legal forms of immigration, including humanitarian parole for nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and ended the use of an app for migrants to make appointments with asylum officers.
Under Lee’s plan, in addition to establishing an immigration agency, the state would have the ability to penalize local government officials that adopt sanctuary city policies. Sanctuary city policies, which limit the sharing of information with federal authorities, are illegal in Tennessee.
The proclamation also calls for revising state-issued IDs to determine a person’s immigration status for voting rights and government services. Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) is sponsoring a measure requiring financial institutions to check the immigration status of anyone attempting to send money out of the country.
Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, is sponsoring a measure requiring financial institutions to check the immigration status of anyone attempting to send money out of the country. (Photo: John Partipilo)
The immigration enforcement plan will be considered during the special session at the same time lawmakers take up the governor’s private-school voucher plan, Hurricane Helene relief for eight East Tennessee counties and establishment of the Tennessee Transportation Financing Authority to help deliver public-private road construction projects. The state is working on a toll lane along I-24 from Nashville to Murfreesboro as part of an act the legislature approved in 2023.
Several immigration-related bills are sponsored, including one by Senator Shane Reeves (R-Murfreesboro) that requires the Department of Safety and Homeland Security to study the enforcement of federal immigration laws, detentions and removals, as well as state investigations and immigrant-related challenges and progress.
Another measure by Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) requires law enforcement agencies to communicate with federal officials about the immigration status for people arrested for a criminal offense.
A bill by state Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) requires financial institutions to verify the immigration status of a person sending funds outside the United States.
State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) is sponsoring a bill that would exempt undocumented immigrant students who otherwise would be reported by local authorities to federal immigration officials for deportation. A law passed in 2024 requires local law enforcement to tell federal immigration agents the immigration status for anyone arrested for a criminal offense.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee confirmed Wednesday for the first time he would deploy National Guard troops to deport undocumented immigrants if President-elect Donald Trump makes the request.
Speaking to reporters after a groundbreaking event at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology on White Bridge Road in Nashville, Lee said no plan exists for Trump’s strategy to remove criminals who came into America illegally and no requests have been made to use Tennessee National Guard troops for deportation.
Yet Lee said he fully supports Trump’s plan to remove criminals that are undocumented immigrants, even though the next president has talked, not necessarily about removing criminals, but about deporting some 18 million immigrants, including U.S. citizens who are the children of undocumented parents.
“What I believe is that President Trump was elected saying what he wanted to do and the people elected him in a very strong fashion,” Lee said. “And I am supportive of his strategies going forward, and if that includes utilizing the national guard at the president’s request, then I’ll work together with governors across the country to do that.”
Lee previously issued a statement saying he asked state agencies to prepare to support Trump’s efforts to secure the nation’s borders and keep communities safe. That came after he spoke vaguely about the matter in a December press conference, saying the next president will set his strategies and the state would work to “implement strategies that work for Tennessee.”
He said that a day before the Republican Governors Association issued a letter signed by Lee saying it stands “united” in supporting Trump’s commitment to deal with the “illegal immigration crisis and deporting illegal immigrants who pose a threat to our communities and national security.”
The governor declined to speculate Wednesday about whether troops from some states might go into other states to deport immigrants if governors refuse to follow Trump’s orders to deploy their national guards.
A one-time mass deportation of about 11 million people who lack permanent legal status and 2.3 million more who crossed the U.S. southern border from January 2023 through April 2024 could cost an estimated $315 billion, according to the American Immigration Council.
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition previously condemned Lee’s commitment, saying the move would hurt families and the local economy. The immigrant rights group said business leaders, economists, faith leaders and legal experts believe such a plan would be “disastrous.”
Republican leaders in the Tennessee legislature back Lee’s willingness to use troops, while Democrats criticize it as an attack on the immigrant community.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
With support from Metro Nashville’s mayor, two Republican lawmakers are sponsoring a measure designed to handcuff hate groups such as those that targeted a synagogue and marched in Nashville last year.
Notably, it prohibits the transport of people in box trucks, such as the rental vehicles used to carry neo-Nazi groups to Nashville locations, and gives police more latitude to charge people with violating the law.
But one First Amendment expert said the bill is on “constitutional thin ice” even though California adopted a similar law.
“It’s important to remember that hate speech is completely protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It’s not a close call. Hateful things are protected under the First Amendment no matter how ugly or disturbing or rude they happen to be,” said Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at MTSU in Murfreesboro.
Allowing government to define hate speech would be “extraordinarily dangerous,” Paulson added, because each administration could find different things to be hateful.
Those committing hate crimes need to be held accountable, says Tennessee House Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth of a proposed bill. (Photo: John Partipilo)
House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) sponsored a resolution in 2024 condemning neo-Nazis that marched through downtown Nashville carrying swastika flags and wearing masks. With the 2025 legislative session approaching on Jan. 14, Lamberth and Sen. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) are sponsoring House Bill 55, which revamps state laws dealing with littering and trespassing, police procedures and obstruction of justice, and road safety to tamp down hate speech and intimidation.
Groups handed out anti-Jewish literature to members of a Nashville synagogue and held signs at overpasses promoting hateful messages.
“These tactics are deliberate efforts to terrify people and create profound distress,” Lamberth said in a statement. He added that people who commit hate crimes, “often anonymously,” should be held accountable.
Pody, who represents part of Davidson County, said the bill represents the state’s “unwavering commitment” to protecting communities from antisemitism, intimidation and extremism.
Dubbed the Protecting Everyone Against Crime and Extremism Act (PEACE) Act, the bill sets up new limitations for littering and trespassing to keep hate groups from flooding neighborhoods and parking lots with fliers.
Lamberth said Monday the bill is “carefully crafted” to avoid problems with broad interpretation or the potential for police to crack down on rallies and protests that don’t involve hate speech.
The Metro Nashville Council passed an ordinance last year targeting hate groups after marches took place in Nashville, and Mayor Freddie O’Connell said in a statement he appreciates the effort to stop such intimidation and give law enforcement more tools to handle these situations.
“It sends the message that hateful acts will never be tolerated here,” O’Connell said.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported 122 incidents in 2023 motivated by bias involving race, religion, sexuality, and disability, down slightly from 129 in 2022 and 135 in 2021. Some 35 percent to 41 percent of those were anti-Black or African American, the report shows.
It’s not a close call. Hateful things are protected under the First Amendment no matter how ugly or disturbing or rude they happen to be.
– Ken Paulson, director, Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University
State Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) said Monday he appreciates the spirit of the legislation because he feels too many people, including his family, have been victims of the type of hate speech the bill is trying to prevent. Clemmons, though, indicated the measure might need changes.
“I hope to work with the sponsors to ensure that the legislation, in its final form, is constitutionally sound and achieves its stated, intended purpose,” said Clemmons, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
The measure makes it a Class A misdemeanor to pass out literature considered a form of hate speech or intimidate someone to prevent them from exercising constitutional rights such as religious freedom or the ability to vote.
The bill also gives law enforcement officers more leeway for enforcement.
It creates a buffer zone of 25 feet between officers and people who are ordered to stop and makes it a Class B misdemeanor to violate that space.
The bill also requires a person to give their name to an officer who asks them to identify themselves and makes it a Class C misdemeanor to refuse or to give a fake name.
Using a box truck to transport people would be made a Class B misdemeanor under the bill. At least one group used a rental truck to bring its members into town to rally.
Likewise, the bill would make it illegal to put a sign, signal or marking on a bridge, overpass or tunnel.
In addition, police could use “probable cause” to charge someone with violating the law regardless of whether they saw the person commit the act.
Paulson said most controversies have two points of view, and each side believes the other is hateful.
Governments can ban all littering and banners hanging from overpasses, but they can’t prohibit only those pieces of literature and banners they regard as hateful, Paulson said.
“If you ban Nazi pamphlets, you also have to ban pizza joints passing out coupons in public. You cannot discriminate on the basis of ideas,” he said.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Gov. Bill Lee addressing members of the Tennessee National Guard while on a trip to the Texas-Mexico border in July 2021. Lee has indicated he may use state personnel, including National Guard troops, to aid in the deportation of millions of immigrants.(Photo: tn.gov)
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is set to use state personnel, likely National Guard troops and highway patrol officers, to back President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deport millions of immigrants when he takes office in January 2025.
The Republican governor issued a statement on the social media platform X last week saying, “I have asked key state agencies to begin making preparations & stand ready on Day 1 to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our Nation’s borders & keep communities safe.”
The statement marked the governor’s first confirmation that he is willing to use Tennessee personnel, which could include troops and state officers, to remove undocumented immigrants as part of a national effort by Trump to deport millions of people.
Lee sent the message on the heels of a statement from the Republican Governors Association saying it stands “united” in supporting Trump’s commitment to deal with the “illegal immigration crisis and deporting illegal immigrants who pose a threat to our communities and national security.”
Via X: “I have asked key state agencies to begin making preparations & stand ready on Day 1 to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our Nation’s borders & keep communities safe.”
A one-time mass deportation of about 11 million people who lack permanent legal status and 2.3 million more who crossed the U.S. southern border from January 2023 through April 2024 could cost an estimated $315 billion, according to the American Immigration Council.
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition condemned Lee’s commitment, saying such a move would hurt families and the local economy. The group said Lee and 25 Republican governors signed a letter committing to “utilize every tool” at their disposal, which would include state law enforcement and the National Guard.
The immigrant rights group said such a plan has been deemed “disastrous” by business leaders, economists, faith leaders and legal experts.
“Whether fleeing danger or seeking opportunity, immigrants enrich our state and strengthen our communities. Rounding up families is not just a moral disaster, but an economic one, crippling our businesses and agriculture and grinding production to a halt,” the coalition said in a statement. “Further, the state resources wasted on mass deportations could instead provide housing, healthcare, and education for Tennessee working families.”
“I don’t think ICE is big enough to handle all that due to the number of people who’ve come across the border who are criminals and committed crimes,” said House Speaker Cameron Sexton of using state resources. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Yet key Republican lawmakers are in the governor’s corner.
In a statement to the Tennessee Lookout, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said, “The illegal immigration crisis, which has been untenable for many years, exploded under the Biden administration. The voters of our state and our nation have made it clear that they want the crisis resolved and President Trump is committed to resolving it. Activating the National Guard to secure our border and assist with deportations is entirely appropriate. I believe the legislature would and should approve such an effort.”
House Speaker Cameron Sexton told the Lookout last week governors would make decisions with the federal government but added that he supports removal of some immigrants.
“You’ve gotta get illegals who’ve committed crimes in our country out of the country,” Sexton said. “I don’t care where they are, you’ve gotta get them out. I don’t think ICE is big enough to handle all that due to the number of people who’ve come across the border who are criminals and committed crimes.”
While Sexton spoke about immigrants charged with crimes since coming to America, Trump hasn’t always differentiated between that group and other immigrants who make up a large sector of the nation’s workforce.
Trump’s pick for “border czar,” Tom Homan, has said the president-elect made it clear he would prioritize deportation for immigrants who are gang members and considered dangerous, while also saying anyone in the country illegally “shouldn’t feel comfortable.”
Although the Republican Governors Association accused President Joe Biden of failing to secure the border, a report by the Migration Policy Institute shows the Biden Administration is on track to remove nearly as many people as the Trump Administration — 1.1 million for the roughly three years from the start of fiscal 2021 through February 2024 — compared to 1.5 million deportations during Trump’s four years of 2016 to 2020.
The report says the Biden Administration also undertook 3 million migrant expulsions during the Covid pandemic era from March 2020 to May 2023 for a total of almost 4.4 million repatriations.
Since the Covid ban on migration ended, the Biden administration increased deportations and removed or returned 775,000 migrants, the most since 2010, according to the migrationpolicy.org article.
Still, Trump has touched on using federal troops to assist in deportation, and Republican governors are showing a willingness to put state troops and officers into the fray.
The immigrant rights coalition said the governor’s statement gives local law enforcement and the National Guard a “rubber stamp” to “overstep their jurisdiction and forcefully detain our neighbors,” which sets a “dangerous precedent for all Tennesseans.”
If illegal immigration is as big a problem in Tennessee as Lee now claims and we have the legal authority to do something about it, then Tennesseans should ask Gov. Lee and this Republican supermajority why the state has failed to do more.
– Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville
The coalition’s statement adds the governor is “placing a dark stain on our state” and that it is “ready to defend our communities and protect one another.”
State Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) said the governor’s use of “bigoted talking points” is causing hostility toward his constituents. He encouraged the governor to visit his district in South Nashville to see the “thriving” businesses and children studying in local schools.
Clemmons acknowledged that dangerous criminals, gang members and terrorists in the country illegally should be removed. He added that the legislature approved $161 million for the Department of Homeland Security, $110 million to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and $18 million to the Military Department for related purposes.
“If illegal immigration is as big a problem in Tennessee as Lee now claims and we have the legal authority to do something about it, then Tennesseans should ask Gov. Lee and this Republican supermajority why the state has failed to do more,” Clemmons said.
Clemmons, though, said he believes the state’s jurisdiction and ability to enforce federal immigration policies could be entangled in “complex legal questions.”
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Two years after being sentenced to prison for breaking federal campaign finance laws, former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse his conviction on a technicality.
Kelsey, who served in the state House and Senate, filed a request Dec. 2 for the nation’s highest court to review a decision by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which refused to reverse his guilty plea and grant a trial after U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw sentenced him to serve 21 months in prison.
Kelsey’s filing says federal prosecutors violated his plea agreement at the sentencing hearing two years ago, in part by advocating for a harsher punishment, even though he received less time than he could have under federal law after Crenshaw took character witnesses into account.
Kelsey pleaded guilty in November 2022 to funneling more than $100,000 from his state campaign account through two political action committees to the American Conservative Union, which bought digital and radio advertising to bolster his failed bid for a congressional seat in 2016.
Represented by Nashville attorney Joy Boyd Longnecker of Barnes & Thornburg, the fourth change of legal counsel in the case, Kelsey says the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals applied the wrong type of review when it denied his request to renege on the guilty plea and go to trial.
Kelsey says federal prosecutors agreed not to seek a harsher penalty for perjury or obstruction of justice — after Kelsey backed away from his guilty plea — but then contradicted themselves at the sentencing hearing when questioned by the judge.
Initially, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 21-month prison sentence and ordered Kelsey to report Oct. 1 to a federal facility in Ashland, Kentucky. But then it gave him a 90-day reprieve allowing him to file a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court. He is to report to prison if the high court refuses to hear the case.
Kelsey, who has been living in Lexington, Kentucky, conspired with Josh Smith, owner of The Standard dinner club in downtown Nashville, former state Rep. Jeremy Durham and Republican supporter Andy Miller to run the money from his state account through The Standard political action committee and Citizens 4 Ethics in Government to cover up the movement of funds. The American Conservative Union then received the money and used it to buy radio and digital ads to back Kelsey’s campaign.
Federal campaign finance regulations prohibit state campaign money from being used for federal races, mainly because it is raised under different rules.
Smith pleaded guilty in connection with the case and was fined $250,000 and sentenced to five years of probation after agreeing to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Tennessee’s Attorney General is set to defend the state’s gender affirming care ban for minors in the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday against challengers who say the 2023 law endangers children.
While attorneys for the plaintiffs claim the law violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said lawmakers took “measured action” in 2023 when they prohibited gender affirming care for children to protect them from “irreversible, unproven medical procedures.”
“Lawmakers recognized that there is little to no credible evidence to justify the serious risks these procedures present to youth and joined a growing number of European countries in restricting their use on minors with gender-identity issues,” Skrmetti said in advance of oral arguments at the high court in Washington, D.C.
One of Tennessee’s main claims is that the Constitution doesn’t stop states from regulating medical practices involving “hot-button social issues.” Primarily, though, the state says the law doesn’t discriminate based on sex.
“Little to no credible evidence to justify the serious risks these procedures present to youth,” said Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti of gender affirming care for minors. (Photo: John Partipilo)
But the father leading the legal challenge against Tennessee’s law said the ban on gender affirming medical care is “an active threat” to his daughter’s future.
“It infringes not only on her freedom to be herself but on our family’s love,” the father said Monday morning in an online press conference. He said his daughter started taking puberty-blocking medications and then hormone therapy at age 13, only after nine months of conversations and consultation with experts and physicians, and is “happy and healthy” as she prepares for college.
Another father, an Ohio lobbyist who identified himself in the press conference as a Republican, said his son was near suicide in 2012 before starting the years-long process of changing sexes.
“One thing I learned was being transgender is a real thing, and if it’s a real thing, in my view, it transcends any political ideology,” the man said.
Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, three families of transgender children say Tennessee’s law violates their constitutional right to equal protection under the law. Dr. Susan Lacy of Memphis is among the plaintiffs as well.
Chase Strangio, an attorney for the ACLU, said Tennessee banned hormone therapy and puberty-delaying medication for children only when prescribed to allow adolescents to live and identify with a sex “inconsistent” with their sex at birth, making it a violation of their rights.
“We are simply asking the Supreme Court to recognize that when a law treats people differently based on their sex, the same equal protection principles apply regardless of whether the group impacted by the law happens to be transgender,” Strangio said.
It’s about whether politicians can restrict access to healthcare treatments in order to impose their narrow, harmful, stereotypical view of gender.
– Sasha Buchert, Lambda Legal
Sasha Buchert of Lambda Legal said the case’s outcome will determine whether families will continue to have the freedom to make medical decisions with their doctors. Otherwise, “unqualified politicians will step into the shoes of families and medical professionals to make those decisions in ways that undermine the care, safety, and dignity of transgender youth,” Buchert said.
Buchert said the argument goes beyond access to gender affirming care, which has been restricted in 24 states, to whether the courts will uphold decades of legal precedent affirming that the state must “show its work when it chooses to discriminate on the basis of sex.”
“It’s about whether politicians can restrict access to healthcare treatments in order to impose their narrow, harmful, stereotypical view of gender,” Buchert said.
Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) filed the gender affirming care ban bill in 2023 after a right-wing media outlet reported that Vanderbilt University Medical Center was providing the treatment to children. The hospital said it wasn’t performing surgeries on minors.
Johnson and several other lawmakers introduced the bill in a rally at the Capitol attended by hate groups. It passed the legislature largely along party lines, although three Democrats voted for it in the House.
In a brief filed with the Supreme Court, Skrmetti backed up his argument by saying European countries that pioneered gender affirming care treatment started pulling back because of concerns about safety and effectiveness. The brief said Tennessee lawmakers considered European restrictions and listened to accounts “of regret and harm” from people who switched back to their original sex.
Skrmetti’s brief says the federal government, which entered the legal battle on the side of the plaintiffs, is trying to displace Tennessee’s law “by reading its preferred policies into the Constitution.” The attorney general’s brief says Senate Bill 1 contains no sex classification and differentiates between minors seeking gender transition drugs and those seeking treatment for other medical purposes.
Plaintiffs in the case say the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down the lower court’s decision to block the law, failed to look at the case with “heightened review,” a legal standard for evaluating constitutionality based on characteristics such as gender.
But Skrmetti’s brief says the court should decline such “doctrinal revolution” because sex isn’t a “but-for cause of SB1’s age- and used-based restrictions.”
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and X.
