State lawmakers will likely end up passing only three bills (of the more than nearly 200 filed) as the Tennessee General Assembly’s special session seems set to wrap on Thursday.
The substance of the special session on public safety continued to collapse Wednesday morning as Senate Republicans tabled 21 bills in about a minute. This came after similarly cutting 52 bills on Tuesday, setting the total number of Senate bills that could be voted on to three.
Those bills all came from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. One provides free gun locks to Tennessee residents, mandates a safety course on safe gun storage, and exempts gun safes and safety devices from sales taxes. Another sets into law Lee’s executive order from April that tightens up background checks for the sale of firearms in the state. The last requires the Tennessee Bureau of Intelligence to file an annual report on human trafficking.
One final bill just sets aside the money from state coffers to pay for the legislative costs of the special session. That cost? It’s $58,000 per day, or $232,000 for the four-day run. State leaders said Wednesday they could not detail ancillary costs of the session, such as paying for the increased security around the Capitol by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
House leaders were 30 minutes into a meeting of the State Government Committee Wednesday morning when a Senate leader effectively made moot discussions on bills that would continue the rest of the day on the House side.
Moments after the Senate Education Committee was gaveled in at 8:30 a.m., Sen. Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) moved to table the 21 bills — from Republicans and Democrats — on the committee’s agenda. With no other information about the move at all, the committee adjourned. The Senate GOP supermajority, it seemed, had finished its work and was ready to head home.
House Republicans weren’t happy.
“Congratulations @tnsenategop on receiving the 2023 Ostrich Egg!” read a post on X (formerly Twitter) from the Tennessee House Republicans Tuesday afternoon. “It must be egghausting sending so many bills to [the general subcommittee, meaning no action taken during committee] instead of doing the work people sent us here to do.”
And a great many weren’t happy with that posting. Rep. Jeremy Faison, the apparent author of the post, apologized to members Wednesday morning. The post was deleted.
“Members, I have offended you with my actions yesterday and I want to offer you my sincerest apologies,” he wrote to fellow GOP members. “My only intention was to provide some levity while we are dealing with some very serious matters. It was not funny at all.”
Even Sen. Paul Bailey [the lawmaker who wanted to hang those set for executions here “from a tree”] wrote “You should be apologizing to the moms that were unjustly removed!”
To some, the Senate’s move to table so many bills seemed orchestrated, a continuation of Tuesday’s playbook.
“Now the House GOP is trying to blame Senate GOP for how this special session is playing out?” posted Rep. John Ray Clemmons [D-Nashville]. “Do they honestly think Tennesseans fail to realize that this whole taxpayer funded charade of nothingness and harm was jointly (albeit clumsily) scripted from start to finish?”
Tuesday’s Senate floor session had Lt. Gov. Randy McNally curiously chiding one Senator that “if you don’t follow the script, then we have to follow the rules.”
But the House plowed on with committees Wednesday, even though many of their bills would never make to the floor nor immediately into law.
Public sentiment got an early-morning win after a Davidson County judge ruled against GOP rules that banned the public from holding signs during meetings. Protest signs and applause from audiences members had the House Civil Justice Committee chairman Rep. Lowell Russel [R-Vonore] to use state troopers to clear the entire room, including mothers of Covenant School children.
That committee met again Wednesday morning, this time with another Representative — Rep. Andrew Farmer [R-Sevierville] chairing the meeting while Russell sat quietly to the side. Applause, boos, and jeers from the sign-holding crowd came easily. Farmer adroitly managed to get the legislative work done while tempering the crowd without raising their ire.
However, Farmer did ask for troopers help after lawmakers approved a measure that would allow certain people (with enhanced gun permits) to carry guns on schools as a way to help secure them against possible mass shooters. The crowd erupted, shouting “their blood is on your hands!, “cowards,” “you can’t un-kill our kids!” and “shame on you.” Farmer recessed the meeting until order was restored, though he never asked troopers to clear the room.
Senate leaders have tentatively set floor sessions for 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursday. It is expected the session will wrap during one those.
