Tag: General Assembly

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‘Protect Tennessee Minors Act’ Advances In Legislature

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

Tennesseans could soon be required to provide a form of ID to access certain websites as a new bill moves through the legislature.

The bill titled the “Protect Tennessee Minors Act,” was recommended for passage from the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee with 10 ayes and zero nays Tuesday morning. 

According to Sen. Becky Massey (R-Knoxville), who introduced the bill, the legislation looks at material that is “sexually explicit and harmful to minors,” or appeals to prurient interest. While it is not spelled out in the bill’s summary, this includes pornography.

“The Protect Tennessee Minors Act requires an individual or commercial entity that publishes or distributes in this state a website that contains a substantial portion of material harmful to minors perform reasonable age-verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material,” the bill reads.

Such entities would also be required to “retain at least seven years of historical anonymized age-verification data.” However, they are not allowed to store any personally identifying information.

Those who violate the act would face a Class C felony.

“The number of Class C felony convictions that may result from violations of the legislation’s requirements is unknown,” the fiscal memorandum reads. “Given the widespread nature of such content on the internet and the number of sites that distribute it, it is assumed that the increase in such convictions could be significant.”

Massey went on to say that this bill would have a similar process that alcohol sites use when asking users to confirm their age before entering the site, but with “higher standards.” 

“You can enter a picture of a state-issued ID or an acceptable ID then you can be on this site for up to 60 minutes, and then you’d have to go off of the site if you’re not still actively using it,” Massey said.

Megan Moore, committee attorney, said that users would have to “match a photo of themselves,” that is “matched with a valid ID that is ‘a valid form of identification issued by the United States of America.’”

Moore added that if users do not have an ID there is a second method that can be used to verify age. This alternative is defined as “a commercially reasonable method relying on public or private transactional data to verify that the age of the person attempting to access the information is at least 18 or old.”

When asked by Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) what this information would be, Moore said they were unsure.

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Democrat Dwayne Thompson Exiting State House

Dwayne Thompson. Photo: Tennessee General Assembly

Dwayne Thompson, the Democratic legislator whose upset victory in a suburban state House District in 2016 ousted a Republican incumbent and gave local Democrats something to cheer about in that Trump year, is taking his leave.

He will not be seeking reelection in District 96.

“I’ve seen the General Assembly become ever more unresponsive and spiteful under the current Republican supermajority leadership. I’ve served 4 terms. This has one of the honors of my life to have my community allowed to represent them in the Tennessee State House. However, I need to spend more time with family and other priorities.,” said Thompson, who expressed confidence that he would be succeeded by a Democrat in the forthcoming 2024 election.

Thompson’s defeat of the GOP’s Steve McManus, who had served several terms in District 96, was unexpected, but it was only the first of four successive wins for Thompson — including victories over Republicans Scott McCormick and Patricia Possel.

In the course of Thompson’s four terms, the district, which bridged East Memphis with sections of Germantown, changed demographically, and by the time it was gerrymandered by the Republican supermajority in 2022 to run east-west across the northern rim of Memphis, it has clearly shifted from Republican  to Democratic dominance. 

The district’s new configuration, making it even more solidly Democratic, was a de facto concession to that fact.

Thompson, whose boyish appearance and energetic conduct of his office belies  his 73 years, said he was confident that he would be succeeded by a younger, aggressive Democrat. At the time of his election, Thompson was a retired Human Resources administrator. 

Local Democrats are currently hoping that Democratic businessman Jesse Huseth, who is targeting GOP incumbent John Gillespie this year, can inaugurate a new Democratic tenure in the adjacent district 97.

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Black Women Lead Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus in Historic Election

(Credit: Obi - @pixel6propix on Unsplash)

Three Black women will lead the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus for the 113th General Assembly.

According to the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus, “this election marks the first time in history any legislative caucus in Tennessee has been led by two Black women — let alone three.”

Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) will serve as Senate Democratic leader, Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) will serve as the Senate Democratic Caucus chairwoman, and Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) will serve as the Caucus vice-chairwoman.

Outgoing-leader Sen. Jeff Yarbro nominated Akbari for the position. 

“It was my pleasure today to nominate and support my friend Raumesh to serve as Senate Minority Leader for the 113th General Assembly,” Yarbro said. “She will be the first African American woman to serve in this role and will do an absolutely amazing job.”

Akbari has served since 2013, and said “it has been an absolute honor to serve the people of Shelby County in the Tennessee General Assembly.”

“Today and every day, I stand on the shoulders of legislative trailblazers like Lois DeBerry, Barbara Cooper, and personal heroes like my mom, Lisa Akbari, and sister Raumina Akbari.”

Lamar said that there are “serious challenges facing the people of Tennessee, and it is an awesome responsibility to defend our values at the state legislature.”

“The Senate Democratic Caucus remains committed to fighting for working families, the middle class, young people and seniors, or those who feel left behind or targeted by politics as usual. We will not waver in our fight for the people. I look forward to serving my senate colleagues and the citizens of Tennessee.”

Oliver said that she is honored that her colleagues have trusted her to lead, and her top priorities are “to do what’s in the best interest of my district and do the people’s business in the Tennessee General Assembly. I am ready to work.”

The 113th Tennessee General Assembly will begin Tuesday, January 10th, 2023.

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Transfer of “Three Gs” Braked, Pending Talks

Germantown High School is one of the "Three Gs" under discussion in the General Assembly and between Shelby County Schools and Germantown.

According to state Representative Mark White (R-Memphis), Education chair in the Tennessee House, the fate of the Germantown public schools known as the “Three Gs” is still unsealed, despite a maneuver last week by his Senate counterpart, Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown).

District 83 Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis).

A bill requiring the three schools — Germantown Elementary School, Germantown Middle School, and Germantown High School — to shift from the authority of Shelby County Schools (SCS) to that of the Germantown School District, appears to be shelved for the current legislative sessions, thanks to a gentlemen’s agreement of sorts.

What Kelsey did last week was rescue a frustrated effort to require SCS to yield authority over to the Germantown district. As Senate Education chair, he was able to reattach a key amendment to that effect from SB 898, which had been defeated in his committee, and add it to SB 924, a bill of his own.

Newly attached to the Kelsey bill, the legislation was forwarded to the Senate calendar committee, one step away from a vote on the floor.

But meanwhile, White withdrew his House bill containing the same enabling amendment, on the theory, he says, that the SCS board has agreed to discussions with Germantown authorities over the ultimate fate of the three schools. The “Three Gs” are long-time Germantown legacy institutions that in 2013 devolved into the orbit of SCS at the conclusion of the city/county merger/demerger period.

At the time, the newly created Germantown School District could not guarantee to accommodate the schools’ large student population living outside of Germantown. The City of Germantown built a new elementary school and proclaimed Houston High School, on the elite suburb’s eastern perimeter, as the city’s official high school.

But there never ceased to be sentiment in Germantown to reclaim the buildings, all of which are within the city’s core and governmental center. There is still, however, no certainty that, if reincorporated into Germantown,  the schools would be open to current student populations comprised of an overwhelming majority of non-Germantown residents, nor will there even be a guarantee, Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo acknowledges, that the buildings would be used as public-school structures.

White said on Thursday, however, that the real point of his House bill HB 917, was to encourage conversations between SCS and Germantown on the matter, not to force a solution, and that he and Kelsey — who, according to White, has agreed to pull his enabling amendment from SB 924 — had concurred on withholding any legislative action unless there is no progress by the end of this year in talks between the disputing parties.

This arrangement is, of course, dependent on Kelsey’s following through with his pledge to withdraw his enabling amendment from SB 924 when that bill comes before the full Senate. Should he not do so, a House-Senate conference committee would be appointed to resolve differences between 924 and a companion House measure by state Rep. Scott Cepicki (R-Culleoka) to which it is now technically coupled.

State Rep. Dwayne Thompson (D-Memphis) is guardedly optimistic that the gentlemen’s agreement will go through, but he remains dubious about the prospect, soon or late, of the Three Gs passing from SCS to Germantown. “If you ask me,” he said, “that’s holding hostage some 4,000 students now enrolled in the schools for whom there is no conveniently located school that isn’t already overcrowded.”

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Faith Leaders Urge Governor Lee to Welcome Immigrants, Refugees

CREDIT: Courtesty of U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Courtesty of U.S. Customs and Border Protection

immigration detention center.


Eight faith leaders from the Memphis area joined about 70 others from around the state Tuesday afternoon in delivering a letter to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, urging him to affirm the value of welcoming immigrants and refugees.

In the letter, the signatories identify themselves as faith leaders, “representing many traditions and denominations across Tennessee, concerned about the future of our state.”

Leaders from the Memphis area include:


• Peter Gathje of the Memphis Theological Seminary
•

Joan Laney and Morgan Stafford, as well as

Revs. Larry Chitwood,

Bernardo Zapata, 

Fred Morton, and Tondala Hayward of the United Methodist Church.

• Rev. Luvy Waechter Webb of Evergreen Presbyterian Church

The letter says that “no Tennesseans should be made to feel unwelcome,” and that refugees and immigrants “make our communities stronger.”

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“We are, therefore, deeply saddened by much of the recent rhetoric and legislative actions that run counter to these deeply held beliefs,” the letter reads. “In this legislative session alone we have seen bills aimed at denying birth certificates and housing to immigrants, as well as an extreme resolution in support of ending birthright citizenship. These actions display our state, and our state’s government, as unwelcoming and cruel.”

Though most of the legislation that the letter refers to has failed in the Tennessee General Assembly this year, the letter says the discourse surrounding the bills, “whether they pass or not, is harmful.”

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The legislation of concern is largely sponsored by Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-Paris), who has said he wants to make Tennessee the “last place” an undocumented immigrant would want to live.

Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-Paris)

The first piece of legislation, HJ R47, is a resolution that would have affirmed President Donald Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship. The resolution failed last week in a House subcommittee.

Griffey is also responsible for HB 0562, a bill that would have imposed taxes on money transfers in order to raise funds for the construction of a wall at the country’s southern border. That measure also failed earlier this month in a House subcommittee.

Another bill introduced by Griffey, HB 0614, would have made it a crime for landlords to lease to undocumented immigrants. It was sent to a summer study Tuesday afternoon in the House Commerce Committee.

One of the few remaining immigration-related bills sponsored by Griffey is HB 0662. It would prevent the state from registering birth certificates to a child born to “a mother who is not lawfully present in the United States unless the father is a U.S. citizen” and can provide documentation to prove it.

It is not clear when that legislation will be heard in a House committee again. 

“Hateful rhetoric and the threat of extreme legislation creates fear within our communities, families, and congregations,” the letter continues. “We ask that you put yourself in the place of a refugee family or the Tennessee-born child of immigrants. Would you feel welcomed, loved, and accepted in this state amongst this current dialogue?”

Pleading to Lee’s faith, the letter asks the governor to “live up to that call by affirming the value of immigrants and refugees from out state.”

“We know that you are a person of faith, and we know that faith leads you to value and respect the worth and dignity of all people, no matter their documentation status or country of origin,” the letter reads. “May you remember that they too are Tennesseans, and they too are children of God.

“We are praying that you set an example for this legislature and all Tennesseans by showing what it means to lead with compassion and moral conviction.”

The faith leaders’ Tuesday actions were co-organized by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, the Tennessee Justice Center, and Open Table Nashville.