Tennessee Republican Senators promised to get tough on crime, not on guns, in Gov. Bill Lee’s special session, slated to begin next Monday.
Lee promised such a session at the end of this year’s regular meeting of the Tennessee General Assembly, especially after his fellow GOP members failed to bring any gun reform measures before the House or Senate. Lee urged an expansion of an existing order of protection law to include mental health protections in domestic violence cases. Gun-friendly GOP members quickly deemed it a “red flag” law and promised not to bring any such law for review.
Last week, Lee issued his official proclamation for the special session, which laid out his goals for the session (see a full list below). Much of Lee’s slate of bills focuses on mental health, but there’s no specific mention of any law on an expanded order of protection.
GOP Senators set out their plans for the governor’s session Monday morning. Their ideas increase penalties for gun crimes, offer help to local law enforcement, and more. Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin) really summed up the slate of proposals in a Monday statement.
“So much of the conversation about this special session has centered around guns, but inanimate objects are not the problem,” Haile said. ”Violent criminals are the problem.”
Bills from two lawmakers who represent Shelby County (or parts of it) — Sen. Paul Rose (R-Covington) and Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) — increase penalties for a slate of gun crimes.
Here’s what they propose:
• Enhance the penalty to a Class C Felony for the offense of selling, offering to sell, loaning or transferring a firearm to a person knowing that the person is prohibited by law from owning or purchasing a firearm or ammunition
• Enhance the penalty to Class C felony for possession of a stolen firearm or ammunition
• Enhance the penalty to a Class B felony for domestic violence offenders in possession of a firearm or ammunition
• Enhance the penalty to a Class C felony for possession of a firearm with obliterated or altered serial number
• Add possession of ammunition to the offense of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon
“Crime in Memphis is out of control, and this special session is an opportunity to look at how the state can help address crime and protect our citizens,” said Taylor.
Haile’s proposal would increase the penalty for threatening mass violence from a misdemeanor to a felony.
”This legislation does not go after inanimate objects,” Haile said. “Instead, it goes after criminals who intend to do significant harm to a group of other people, regardless of if the violence could be committed with a firearm, vehicle, bomb, or other weapon.”
Sen. Page Walley (R-Savannah) wants to allow law enforcement and courts to be notified when “a patient who lives in their community is involuntarily committed or released from a psychiatric institution.”
“Currently the way the law is written, mental health institutions only alert law enforcement about involuntary commitments in the jurisdiction of the institution,” said Walley. “However, if the patient lives in a different county than the location of the mental health facility, then law enforcement in the patient’s county is uninformed.”
Walley is also proposing a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for using a firearm in a crime. Unlike federal law, Walley said, Tennessee has no mandatory minimum for such a crime.
Here’s a full list of Gov. Lee’s proposed laws for the upcoming special session:
• Codification of EO 100 and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Report Implementation: Requires reporting of accurate, complete, and timely records from court clerks to the TBI within 72-hours and requires electronic submissions of dispositions and expungements to the TBI
• TennCare Mental Health Coverage Waiver: Directs TennCare to seek a waiver from the federal government to allow federal matching funds for Medicaid to cover services for mental illness and substance use disorders at institutions of mental diseases
• Addressing Mental Health Workforce Challenges: Budget initiatives that prioritize opportunities to grow and retain mental health professionals in the state
• Reforms for Mental Health: Expand access to mental health treatment by eliminating certain collaborative practice requirements for Advanced Registered Practice Nurses with psychiatric training
• Strengthening the Identification of Individuals Arrested for Felonies: Provides for the collection of DNA at the time of an arrest for all felonies
• Human Trafficking Report: Resolution directing TBI to report on the state of human trafficking in Tennessee
• Promoting Safe Storage: Eliminates taxes on firearm safes and safety devices, provides free gun locks, expands safe storage training in state-approved safety courses, and creates a public service announcement to promote safe storage
