Tag: Tennessee General Assembly

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Shelby County Dems Call for Resignation of House Speaker Cameron Sexton

Credit: Tennessee Democratic Party/Facebook

Shelby County Democrats called for Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) to resign Wednesday, and a watchdog group wants an investigation of Sexton’s government allowance for lodging. 

The Tennessee Democratic Party (TNDP) passed a resolution this weekend “demanding” Sexton’s resignation. The group also began a public campaign that will include billboards and a petition.  

“Speaker Sexton has got to go,” reads the petition. “Not only did he lead the racist charge to expel Reps. [Justin] Jones (D-Nashville) and [Justin] Pearson (D-Memphis), he may not even live in the district he represents.”

The House expulsion of Pearson and Jones drew national interest. This raised Sexton’s profile, with many criticizing him for allowing his party to use such extreme measures for a modest charge of breaking decorum rules. Sexton called the protest “an insurrection.” 

Reports then surfaced that Sexton secretly bought a Nashville home in 2021 and that his daughter attends a Nashville school, in a story first reported by the Substack Popular Information. This has drawn scrutiny on state residency requirements for lawmakers and put into question the per diem — the daily, taxpayer-funded allowance for food and hotel stays in Nashville — Sexton has claimed, even though he lives there.

Tennessee House Speaker’s multiple homes raise questions about per diem

A WKRN report then found that state Rep. Scotty Campbell (R-Mountain City) had been quietly found guilty by a state ethics committee of workplace harassment on charges of having inappropriate conversations with a 19-year-old legislative intern. Sexton did not move to expel Campbell, who resigned hours after confronted by a WKRN reporter about the situation.  

credit: State of Tennessee I How it started.
credit: State of Tennessee I How it’s going.

The Shelby County Democratic Party (SCDP) joined the state party’s calls for Sexton’s resignation Wednesday morning. The group’s major complaint was the expulsion of Jones and Pearson. They also listed the residency concerns, the non-action against Campbell, and a certain disregard for House rules. 

But they also complained about the “shocking comments” from GOP state Rep. Paul Sherrell’s (R-Sparta) during a debate on the death penalty. Rep. Scott Powers’ (R-Jacksboro) bill would have added firing squads to the state’s options for state executions.

credit: State of Tennessee

During a hearing of the House Criminal Justice Committee, Sherrell asked if Powers would add “hanging by a tree” to the proposal. He did not. Sherell issued a rare GOP apology about his statement the following day. Later, he was quietly stripped of his seat on the committee. 

SCDP said Sherell likely knew about the “racist nature of his suggestion.” Also, they said Oklahoma officials were recorded to have made similar statements. 

”Had even a censure been imposed on [Rep.] Sherrell, it might have discouraged the spread of such a senseless attack on a body of people harmed by such a callous and insensitive expression of hatred,” the group said in a statement. 

Also on Wednesday morning, the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Accountability (CFA) asked the Davidson County District Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee to investigate Sexton’s per diem requests for potential tax fraud. 

“Tennessee law makes clear that only those legislators who live more than 50 miles away from the Capitol are permitted to receive a lodging per diem,” CFA executive director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement. “Speaker Sexton is not above the law and must be held accountable for any possible violations.”

The group claims Sexton ”appears to have gone to great lengths to hide his new Nashville residency, purchasing the house through the ’Beccani Trust,’ with only his wife’s one signature was on the deed.” 

CFA analysis found that Sexton’s lodging per diems total about $79,954. They said the payments could violate Tennessee law. If so, it’s a Class B felony that could come with eight to 30 years in jail and $25,000 in fines. Sexton may have also violated federal tax law, CFA said, if he failed to report the money as taxable wages. 

CFA’s complaint reminds judicial officials that the Davidson County District Attorney general prosecuted then-Nashville Mayor Megan Barry for similar charges. Those were theft of property charges stemming from domestic and international travel expenses the mayor and her bodyguard, with whom she was having an affair, improperly charged to the city of Nashville.

CFA also mentioned that, at the time, Davidson County DA Glenn Funk said, “it’s the role of the district attorney to bring charges when crimes have been committed even if those crimes are committed by public officials.”

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Death Penalty Update: No Firing Squad; Injection Transparency Stalled; State AG Could Manage Appeals

State Capitol (Credit: Tennessee State Government)

Tennessee won’t be killing death row inmates with a firing squad anytime soon, nor will it get more transparency in its lethal injection process, but Republican lawmakers did see fit this year to take away some powers from local attorneys general in death penalty cases. 

Two major bills before the GOP-controlled Tennessee General Assembly focused on the state’s death penalty situation this year, hoping to get state executions back on track. But both of them stalled before the end of session.  

As the Memphis Flyer noted in a previous story, executions in Tennessee are now halted, hamstrung on scientific protocols for lethal injections. A report ordered by Governor Bill Lee last year found that Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) officials did not follow their own rules to safely carry out lethal injection executions. Lee paused all executions after the report was published to review and repair the process.   

In the meantime, Rep. Dennis Powers (R-Jacksboro) filed a bill that gives death row inmates a new option for execution. A firing squad “just simply gives them that option,” he said in a committee hearing. 

Death by firing squad has had a trendy resurgence, especially with conservative lawmakers. Such legislators in five states — Idaho, Utah, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Oklahoma — have approved the method. Utah is the only state to actually use the method recently, though, in 2010. This resurgence is likely due to states’ troubles in acquiring lethal injection drugs as their makers have become more reluctant to associate with the practice.

Tennessee’s troubled lethal injection program was one reason Powers said he brought the bill. In committee meetings, he’d remind legislators that capital punishment is legal in Tennessee, is constitutional, and so was his bill. Asked about the pain associated with the shooting method, Powers said he cared little. 

“Any type of death … it’s going to be painful,” he said in one hearing. “The death that they promoted and carried out for another subject was painful, too. So, I don’t have a whole lot of empathy for people that suffer pain during an execution.”

The bill made it to late rounds of the committee system but was ultimately queued up to be heard after the state budget. Lawmakers eager to end the embattled last weeks of this turbulent session left the firing-squad proposal on the table.

However, the bill yielded one concrete action. House leaders stripped Rep. Paul Sherrell (R-Sparta) from his spot on the House Criminal Justice Committee. The move came after Sherrell proposed adding “hanging by a tree” to the firing-squad bill in a committee hearing. The idea was not taken seriously and Sherrell issued a rare GOP apology about his remarks the following day.  

Another GOP bill did not advance as far as the firing-squad idea. Rep. Justin Lafferty (R-Knoxville) wanted more transparency in the state’s existing lethal injection system. Specifically, he wanted Tennesseans to know what companies made and supplied the state’s lethal chemicals. Lafferty said he believed more transparency would help ease woes that now trouble the state’s lethal injection process and help get executions back on track. 

”If Tennessee wants to continue this as a method of execution, the secrecy around the process should probably come to an end,” he said during a committee review. 

However, other GOP lawmakers worried such transparency could scare off some drug companies supplying lethal injection drugs that are already hard to get. The bill was tabled in early March. The group Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (TADP) said TDOC “lobbied hard against it.” 

A final GOP bill around the death penalty was approved by lawmakers this year. It gives the Tennessee Attorney General control over post-conviction proceedings in capital cases. That means appeals from convicted murderers for new trials or sentences will now be decided by the state’s AG, not local District Attorneys General, like Shelby County’s Steve Mulroy.

“This sudden move appears to be a response to the choices of voters in both Davidson County and Shelby County, who elected prosecutors to support more restorative and less punitive policies,” reads a statement from TADP. 

This bill was sent to Lee for a signature last week. According to the state’s legislative record, he still had not signed the bill as of Tuesday.   

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Governor to Call Special Session After Legislature Adjourns Without Passing Gun Restrictions

House Speaker Cameron Sexton and House Majority William Lamberth confer on April 6 during the expulsion hearing of Rep. Justin Pearson. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Gov. Bill Lee will call a special session to tackle gun reform after the Tennessee Legislature adjourned for the year Friday night without tackling gun reform nearly a month after a mass shooting at a Nashville private school.

The governor said Friday night he made the decision after discussions with legislative leaders. He did not lay out a time frame but said the session will be used to “strengthen public safety and preserve constitutional rights.”

“There is broad agreement that dangerous, unstable individuals who intend to harm themselves and others should not have access to weapons. We also share a strong commitment to preserving Second Amendment rights, ensuring due process and addressing the heart of the problem with strengthened mental health resources,” Lee said in a statement.

People have asked us to do something, and instead the majority party did nothing.

– Senate Majority Leader Raumesh Akbari, on the General Assembly’s passage of culture war bills, while failing to address safe gun measures.

The 113th General Assembly passed a spate of culture war bills and a $56.2 billion budget but declined to take up the governor’s “order of protection” bill that would enable weapons to be confiscated from people deemed a risk to themselves and others.

Democrats urged the governor to bring the Legislature back to Nashville as soon as possible while lamenting the failure to pass any sort of weapons bill, calling the entire session a “failure.”

“People have asked us to do something, and instead the majority party did nothing,” Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari said Friday night after the Legislature adjourned. 

House Minority Leader Karen Camper contended “a very small handful of legislators” decided not to do anything about gun violence. She said Republican leaders approached her the day of the shooting and said they were ready to take on gun reform but then backed out.

Earlier in the day, House Speaker Cameron Sexton held out the possibility a special session could be called in a matter of weeks to take up weapons-related bills in response to the death of the six people, including three 9-year-olds, at The Covenant School in Green Hills. The shooter is believed to have been undergoing treatment for what family called “an emotional disorder” and had bought several high-capacity rifles, using two AR-15s in the deadly shooting before being killed by Metro Nashville Police officers.

But following the session, Sexton said “stakeholder” meetings should be held statewide to see where people stand on new gun-related laws.

The state is experiencing high revenues and the Legislature put some $240 million for legislative district projects into the record-setting budget. But Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said the Legislature would have been forced to amend the budget almost at the same time it went through approval, because of the late hour of Lee’s proposal. But he wouldn’t classify the wording in the governor’s plan as a “non-starter.”

Despite protests and rallies for the last three and a half weeks around the Capitol complex, the Republican-controlled Senate and House refused to act on Gov. Bill Lee’s bill putting a new “order of protection” law into place cutting access to weapons for people determined to be a danger to themselves and others. The measure, which never gained a sponsor, would have required the targeted person to have a court hearing before being ordered to turn in weapons.

The matter remains contentious.

A group called the American Firearms Association visited the Capitol complex Thursday, passing out papers opposing Lee’s bill as “red flag gun confiscation” and urging lawmakers to keep it from advancing.

A group of women, though, Voices for a Safer Tennessee, spent Thursday and Friday lobbying for passage of the bill and other measures designed to restrict weapons.

The group put out survey information showing a strong majority of people favor Lee’s plan, requirements to report stolen firearms, the closing of background check loopholes, a 72-hour waiting period for gun buys, and strong gun storage laws.

Yet a measure sponsored by Rep. Bo Mitchell, D-Nashville, to restrict sales of rifles capable of holding magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition failed Friday in a delayed bills committee made up of Speaker Cameron Sexton and House Majority Leader William Lamberth, both Republicans, and House Minority Leader Karen Camper.

Lamberth said he could never support such a bill because it would outlaw nearly every rifle made, including .22-caliber rifles, small gauge guns that can hold upwards of 20 bullets.

Sexton told Mitchell he might be able to bring the bill forward in a few weeks if a special session is called to consider gun-related bills or next year when the second half of the 113th General Assembly reconvenes.

Protests rocked the Capitol over the last month, and a chain of people stretched this week from Monroe Carell Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt where shooting victims were taken to the Capitol. 

In that time frame, Republican lawmakers expelled two young, Black Democrats and tried to boot out a third for leading an anti-gun protest on the House floor and violating decorum.

Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville survived the expulsion hearing, but Reps. Justin Jones of Nashville and Pearson came out on the short end of votes. They returned less than a week later after reappointments by the Metro Nashville Council and Shelby County Commission and regained their seats.

The so-called “Tennessee Three” received worldwide acclaim and in the past few days inserted themselves more actively into the House floor debate, often challenging the speaker and other members over rules and bills.

Jones said after the session he would give the Legislature an “F for failure, foolishness, and fascism.” He was consistently shut down by Sexton for breaking debate rules.

Lawmakers also dealt this week with the sudden resignation of Republican Rep. Scotty Campbell, who was found by an ethics subcommittee of sexually harassing a 19-year-old intern, making vulgar comments to her and at one point grabbing her around the neck, according to a NewsChannel5 report.

Speaker Sexton laid Campbell’s decision to resign at the feet of the subcommittee, even though it doesn’t have the authority to penalize members for breaking rules. The subcommittee sent a letter to Sexton on March 29 letting him know its decision. But no action was taken against Campbell, and less than two hours before he vacated, he said he wasn’t going to step down.

Among the hotly-debated culture war items was a measure requiring the state treasurer to make investments based on financial factors, not environmental, social, and governance interests.

State Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, pushed the measure to passage, pointing out State Treasurer David Lillard requested the bill as a foundation for his investment strategies. 

Pearson, an environmental activist, questioned the bill, saying it could cause racial injustice. Zachary responded that he was amazed Pearson could bring race into every matter he discusses on the House floor.

However, Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, pointed out some of the most successful companies in the world, such as PayPal and Mastercard, use environment, social and governance policies to guide their decisions. Lawmakers and state leaders might disagree about climate change, Powell said, “But we want to make sure companies we invest in as a state have concerns about the future.”

Many of those culture-war bills that passed the Republican-controlled chambers, including one enabling teachers to opt out of “implicit bias training” drew sustained debate before passing with Republican support.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus 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 Twitter.

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Tennessee Legislature Dismisses Gun Bills In Rush to Adjourn, Defying Protests After School Shooting

Sen. Jeff Yarbro speaks on the floor of the Tennessee Senate in 2022. The Nashville Democrat tried unsuccessfully on Thursday to get the Senate to take up gun reform legislation after a deadly school shooting in his community. Larry McCormack for Chalkbeat

Tennessee’s legislature raced Thursday to complete its business early for the year while refusing to take up gun reform legislation from Republican Gov. Bill Lee or Democratic lawmakers, three weeks after a mass shooting at a Nashville school.

The inaction on guns came despite weeks of daily peaceful protests by thousands of students, parents, and gun control advocates calling for new laws to restrict gun access. 

From the Senate floor, Majority Leader Jack Johnson announced the legislature was on track to wrap up this year’s session by Friday after his chamber approved the state’s nearly $56 billion budget for next year — the only measure it’s constitutionally required to pass. The House approved the spending plan a day earlier.

Several recent surveys of Tennessee parents and voters show strong support for gun safety measures such as background checks and so-called red flag laws to prevent people who may be experiencing a mental health crisis from having access to weapons. Authorities have said the Nashville shooter, who was shot and killed by police, had been under a doctor’s care for an undisclosed “emotional disorder” before killing six people at The Covenant School on March 27.

But with prospects for gun reform dimming this year, Tennesseans who have been raising their voices were aghast Thursday at the Republican super-majority’s unwillingness to look seriously at their concerns about lax gun laws. 

“They are shrugging their shoulders at us and ending their session quickly. But we are not going to stop,” said Nashville mom Leeann Hewlett, who was among the first demonstrators to show up outside of a legislative office building on the day after the shooting.

“We are not going to forget the children and adults who died at The Covenant School. We’re not going to forget that guns are the leading cause of death for kids in Tennessee,” said Hewlett, who has an 8-year-old daughter.

Lee, whose wife was a close friend of one adult victim in the Nashville shooting, offered up his own proposal Wednesday after lawmakers ignored his call last week to bring him legislation that would help keep guns out of the hands of people deemed at risk of hurting themselves or others. Nineteen states have such a policy. 

Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association mobilized its Tennessee members this week against any legislation that resembles a red flag law. And the House Republican caucus released a statement labeling any such proposal a “non-starter.”

In a last-ditch effort on Thursday, Sen. Jeff Yarbro delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor asking his colleagues to take up gun reform legislation stuck in a key committee that voted to defer action on any gun-related bills until next year.

Yarbro said his legislation is based on Florida’s 2018 red flag law, which passed with bipartisan support after a shooter killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The Nashville Democrat is also the sponsor of a so-called safe storage bill to require people to secure weapons left in vehicles and boats so they don’t fall into the hands of criminals. 

“How do we not feel shame for failing to do anything?” asked Yarbro, noting that Nashville also has suffered mass shootings at a church and a Waffle House restaurant in recent years.

“We have the substance, we have the process, we have the time. The only question is whether we have the will,” said Yarbro, pleading for at least 17 of the Senate’s 33 members to support his request to call up his bill. 

The Senate responded by voting 24-7 to table his motion, mostly along partisan lines.

Afterward, Yarbro tweeted that adjourning the session without voting on a single bill to limit gun access means the legislature is betting voters will “move on” to other issues when it reconvenes next January.

“Prove them wrong,” he said.

The developments came as the legislature has been under national scrutiny over the House’s expulsion of two young Black lawmakers, who have since been reinstated, over their demonstration on the House floor to highlight their body’s inaction on gun violence.

Still, lawmakers sent a bill to the governor this week to shield Tennessee gun and ammunition manufacturers and sellers from lawsuits. That measure had been in the works before the shooting.

Thursday also marked the 24th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado, in which two students shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own lives.

From the Columbine shooting in Colorado to the Covenant shooting in Nashville, 175 people have died in 15 mass shootings connected to U.S. schools and colleges, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today, and Northeastern University. (The database defines a mass shooting as resulting in the death of four or more people.)

Victims in the Nashville shooting were students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9; and three school staff members: custodian Mike Hill and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, both 61, and Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school. 

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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Mayors from Tennessee Cities Ask State Leaders for Tighter Gun Laws

Photo by Max Kleinen on Unsplash

Mayors from Tennessee’s four biggest cities asked state leaders to implement new “common sense” gun laws in a letter Wednesday.

Gun safety has has been a dominant topic during the latter half of the Tennessee General Assembly’s legislative session this year, pushed to the top of debate by a deadly shooting at a Nashville school in March. Republicans in the legislature have shown little urgency on the matter, even passing a measure Wednesday to protect gun companies from lawsuits. 

Meanwhile, mayors from the state’s most-populous areas called for action Wednesday. A letter to the governor and Speakers of the state House and Senate was sent by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Nashville Mayor John Cooper, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, and Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland did not sign onto the letter.

Credit: Mayor John Cooper/Twitter

In it, the group said Tennessee has the 12th-highest rate of gun deaths in the country over the last four years, citing data from the National Center for Health Statistics. They said nationwide data shows a clear correlation between the strength of a state’s gun laws and the rate of gun violence, but they did not cite a source for the information. 

“Now is the moment to turn statements of support and sympathy into action,” reads the letter, referring to the March shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School that left dead three students and three teachers.   

The group laid out 10 “common sense” proposals they want state officials to consider to ensure gun safety.

They include:

• background checks for all gun purchases

• extreme risk protection orders

• changes to the state’s concealed carry laws

• a minimum age of 21 to buy firearms

• new laws on gun storage

• limiting gun thefts from cars

• banning high-capacity magazines

• prohibiting convicted stalker from owning guns

• providing funds for school threat assessments

• mandatory reporting of lost or stolen guns

“We can incorporate these policies into legislation immediately,“ reads the letter. “Working together, we can keep guns away from people who shouldn’t have them, and out of circumstances that are likely to result in more dead Tennesseans.”

Governor Bill Lee urged Assembly leaders Wednesday to bring legislation on his “Order of Protection” proposal that would limit gun sales to those who might hurt themselves or others. However, no GOP bill to carry the idea to law has been filed.

Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) tweeted Wednesday night that he planned to bring to a bill that “would enact Extreme Risk Protection Orders” to the Senate floor Thursday. 

“With votes from 17 of 33 senators, we could consider & pass this legislation,” he said. “There’s a way. But is there the will?”

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Lee Calls for Legislature to Vote on Gun Safety Proposal

Credit: state of Tennessee/YouTube
Credit: state of Tennessee/YouTube

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee called on the Tennessee General Assembly to pass new “Order of Protection” legislation before the end of its session to “strengthen the safety and preserve the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.”

The request came in a Wednesday YouTube video titled, “We Owe Tennesseans a Vote.” Lee began advocating for the legislation last week. That push came after last month’s deadly shooting at a Nashville school.

The legislation would “ensure dangerous individuals who are a threat to themselves or others do not have access to weapons, while requiring due process and a high burden of proof to preserve the Second Amendment,” according to Lee.

The gun-safety battle dominated the General Assembly’s session following the Covenant School shooting in late March, but, Republican members have shown little public interest in any legislation that whiffs of “gun control,” not even Lee’s proposal.

No legislation has been put forth that would make Lee’s idea state law. and the legislature has issued special rules to hasten the end of its 2023 regular session. In response, Lee issued a special call to legislators.

“We hear stories of pragmatic leaders who collectively stepped outside of their party lines to do what they thought was the right thing, changing the course of history for the better,” Lee said in the video. “But what the history books don’t always capture is the difficulty of those moments when leaders are standing at a crossroads, choosing between the easy path and the right path.

“I believe we find ourselves at that moment today. We are standing at a crossroads.”

Read the full transcript of Lee’s message here:

Tennesseans – I want to share an update with you. The past few weeks have been some of our most difficult as a state. 

We’ve been working really hard on solutions and have reached a pivotal moment, and I want to speak to that today. 

There have been times in American history when great tragedy caused those who are elected to serve to come together and respond with thoughtful action…action to improve laws, preserve rights and protect communities.

We hear stories of pragmatic leaders who collectively stepped outside of their party lines to do what they thought was the right thing, changing the course of history for the better.

But what the history books don’t always capture is the difficulty of those moments when leaders are standing at a crossroads, choosing between the easy path and the right path.

I believe we find ourselves at that moment today. We are standing at a crossroads.

Tennesseans are asking us to set aside politics and personal pride. They are depending on us to do the right thing. 

Since the tragedy at Covenant, we’ve worked with the General Assembly to pass our school safety legislation by wide bipartisan margins.

I signed an Executive Order to make sure that law enforcement, the judicial system, and mental health professionals are sharing information effectively, so the background check process works like it should.

I also called on legislators to come together and find a solution for the most difficult challenge of all. 

We all agree that dangerous, unstable individuals who intend to harm themselves or others should not have access to weapons. And that should be done in a way that requires due process and a high burden of proof, supports law enforcement and punishes false reporting, enhances mental health support, and preserves the Second Amendment for law-abiding citizens. 

Tennesseans agree with this. Legislators agree with this. Second Amendment advocates agree with this.

And so, throughout the last couple of weeks, I have worked with members of the General Assembly – constitutionally minded, second amendment protecting members – to craft legislation for an improved Order of Protection Law that will strengthen the safety and preserve the rights of Tennesseans.

To be specific, I’m proposing that we improve our state’s law so that it protects more Tennesseans and reaches more individuals who are struggling and in need of mental health support.

There is broad agreement that this is the right approach. It should be that simple…but sadly, it’s not.

Political groups began drawing their battle lines before the bill was even completed.

These are the moments for which the people of Tennessee elected us to listen and to act. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it is possible when we’re talking about the safety of our children, our teachers and innocent lives.

The only thing standing in our way is politics – on both sides of the aisle.

National politicians and pundits – even the White House – are calling our proposal something that it’s not. “Red flag” is nothing but a toxic political label meant to draw lines in the sand so nothing gets done. This is about Tennessee and the unique needs of our people. It should be reviewed on its own merits – not lumped in with laws from other states, many of which, I believe, don’t strike the right balance of preserving rights and protecting society.

And some advocates of the Second Amendment say something called “involuntary commitment” is the answer, but that would restrict all kinds of constitutional rights, including the Second Amendment. It’s not the best way.

Efforts like the ones I just mentioned don’t deliver the right results. They don’t actually preserve the constitutional rights of Tennesseans in the best way possible, and they don’t actually get to the heart of the problem of preventing tragedies.

This is hard. I’ve said that all along.

But in Tennessee right now, if a husband threatens to hurt his wife, an Order of Protection would temporarily restrict his access to weapons to protect the spouse.

If that same man threatens to shoot himself or a church or a mall, our proposal will provide that same level of protection to the broader public.

We have a proven solution that gets to the heart of the problem – an improved Order of Protection law to save lives and preserve the Second Amendment.

This is a pivotal moment. But both sides are at risk of standing in the way of a thoughtful, practical solution.

Why?

Politics. Division.

But we cannot give up. We cannot shy away from the hard decisions.

And so, once again, I’m asking the General Assembly to take a vote on this improved Order of Protection proposal before they end the legislative session.

We owe Tennesseans a vote.

The tragedy at Covenant didn’t create the problem. Rather, it has shown – more clearly than ever before – that we can do more to protect students, teachers, communities and Constitutional rights.

This moment doesn’t have to be defined by tragedy alone. It can also be defined by hope – and results.

We’ve done this before – the Governor’s office working together with the legislature to rise above politics and lead through division…to search our hearts and do that which I believe Tennesseans have elected us to do.

Tennesseans are depending on us.

I believe we live in the greatest state in the country, and this is our chance to show it once again.

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Rep. Justin Pearson Talks Gun Reform, Leaked GOP Audio

Justin Pearson (Photo: Justin J. Pearson | Facebook)

Shortly after being sworn in on Thursday, the Tennessee Holler leaked audio of what Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) referred to as  the “internal discussions the Republican party had, and has had since the expulsion of myself and Representative Jones.”

“We’re dealing with a culture at the state house that suppresses the rights of the minority, regardless of whether their actions are morally right or factually justifiable,” Pearson said. “That’s what we’re up against. People who are wielding and abusing their power against voices of dissent – against voices that are advocating for the people.”

Pearson explained that there is a responsibility to hold those elected leaders accountable, and to continue “personal advocacy” for just laws and legislation.

The Flyer spoke with Pearson about gun reform and the experiences that shaped his stance. — Kailynn Johnson

How would you describe the past few days?

In the past few days we’ve seen the movement for the end of gun violence and the need to preserve our democracy rising, and it’s been a powerful display of people power in Shelby County, across the state of Tennessee, and our country. It reinstills my sense of determination that we are on the right side of this fight.

You said that you feel like we’re on the right side of the fight, but what are you hoping for in Tennessee in terms of gun reform, and how would you like to see that shape up for the rest of the country?

I think what we would like to see are more just laws passed by the Tennessee state legislature that deal with the injustices as it relates to gun violence. We’re living under a gun violence epidemic in Memphis, Millington, Shelby County, District 86, across our state and country.

The resolution that has been offered by many people is to just keep things the same and pray they get better, instead of investing resources into changing the status quo to help support our communities, to make them safer.

We know that those opportunities, or options are out there, but the Republican party of Tennessee has committed itself to expel the voices of dissent that don’t want to have the [National Rifle Association] and gun lobbyist associations guide policy making, and instead want the people of Tennessee to guide policy making.

Have any of your experiences shaped your stance on gun reform?

This January I lost my classmate, Larry Thorn, to gun violence in Memphis, in Westwood, District 86. Larry and I graduated, but at the same time he was a beloved son, friend, grandson, and an amazing support to students at A. Maceo Walker Middle School.

He was shot. We were the same age, and yet I have the opportunity to become an elected official, and serve in the state house and Larry is gone. It isn’t fair, it is not right, it’s not just, and it’s not the way it has to be.

Everybody in this Republican supermajority, who are consistently advocating that there’s nothing more that we can do other than tolerate injustices like what happened to Larry, they’re wrong. The majority of people in our community are advocating for just laws to be passed as it relates to gun violence. Over 70 percent of people are advocating that we have laws that deal with gun safety storage, laws that deal with preventing people who shouldn’t have guns, and we have overwhelming support encompassing gun legislation.

We have to deal with a reality that in our community, people today have access to guns, and we’re going to have to take intentional efforts on preventing gun violence to stop people who have access to guns today, from ever using them to commit harm and crimes on folks. That’s going to require a much more holistic approach than we have seen in the past. It’s going to require us to think differently about preventing gun violence and to think differently about how we have gotten to where we are, which isn’t a good place for many of us, for all of us in fact. We are not safer because of the laws that are currently in place such as permitless carry.

With this issue being personal to you, is that what prompted you to take an active stance regarding gun laws? I know you said that you are an elected official, but you also actively advocated on the floor.

It was mostly the killing of six people at The Covenant School in Nashville, and the silence  of people in the State Capitol to thousands of protesters who were asking us to do something, and the remembering of my own classmate, as a remembering of my mentor. Last year, Dr. Yvonne Nelson, who was killed by gun violence, urged me …. to go on the floor and say that we have to say something, and we have to listen to the people who have shown up here in our capitol to be heard.

It was silence — outside of one speech — that day on the issue of ending gun violence. There was complete silence from [House Speaker Rep. Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville)] and leaders of the Republican party, and any members who wanted to speak about the issue were told they were out of order, including myself. So, it became important for us to raise this issue, the best we knew how. In this case that was making sure that we stuck to our oath, of dissenting to the status quo and supporting our community that wants for us to speak.

Now that you’ve been reinstated, what are your next steps?

One of the first things that we’re already working on are 15 bills as it relates to ending gun violence in Tennessee, including making the executive order from Governor Bill Lee law, and passing red flag laws, similar to what Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) passed in the past few sessions.

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Federal Lawmakers Call for DOJ Review of Tennessee Three Episode

(Credit: U.S. Capitol Visitors Center/Facebook)

Federal lawmakers are calling for the Department of Justice to investigate the expulsion of two Tennessee state lawmakers after a peaceful gun-control protest on the House floor two weeks ago. 

Three Tennessee House members — Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), and Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) — faced expulsion from the body last week by the Republican supermajority that claimed the three broke decorum rules. Johnson, who is white, survived the vote. Jones and Pearson, who are Black, were expelled. Both Jones and Pearson were returned to the House by local government bodies in Nashville and Memphis.   

Now, five U.S. Senators, including Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), asked the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to review the episode. They want to know if there were any violations of the United States Constitution or federal civil rights laws. 

“Silencing legislators on the basis of their views or their participation in protected speech or protest is antithetical to American democracy and values,” the Senators said in a Wednesday letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. “We cannot allow states to cite minor procedural violations as pretextual excuses to remove democratically elected representatives, especially when these expulsions may have been at least partially on the basis of race. Allowing such behavior sets a dangerous — and undemocratic — precedent.”

The senators want to know if the Tennessee General Assembly violated the rights of “tens of thousands of of Tennessee citizens” to be “represented by the legislators of their choice.” They also want to know if the body violated the rights of Pearson and Jones under constitutional protections against discrimination. 

“The Tennessee state legislature has reportedly never previously expelled a member over purely procedural violations,” reads the letter. “Instead, previous expulsions have involved serious allegations of ethical or criminal misconduct. In taking this radical action, rather than responding to the intolerable violence inflicted upon a Tennessee community, the Tennessee House of Representatives chose to silence Black members of their own body who were protesting nonviolently, in response to violence.”

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) has also asked for an investigation of the situation. He wrote to Garland Thursday calling the votes to expel the two a “disproportionate response to the Representatives’ breach of decorum.” For this, Cohen cited his 24 years of service in the Tennessee state Senate prior to his terms in the U.S. House. 

“While all three Representatives violated the rules of the House in their advocacy, expulsion is disproportionate discipline,” Cohen wrote. “The expulsion of a legislator from a legislative body inherently substitutes the judgment of other legislators for that of the district’s constituents. 

“It should be reserved for conduct that is so egregious that it makes the elected official unfit to serve. The Tennessee House of Representatives, however, removed Representatives Jones and Pearson for ‘disorderly’ conduct after protesting gun violence. 

“This chilling event may have deprived these state legislators of their constitutional rights and, just as significantly, the rights of their constituents to be fully represented in the state legislature. The Tennessee House of Representatives has only expelled members twice since the Civil War. Those instances were very different.”

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Reactions Megathread: Black Tennessee Lawmakers Expelled for Protests

Source: Tennessee General Assembly

The white-majority, GOP-dominated Tennessee House of Representatives expelled two Black lawmakers Thursday (but kept one white lawmaker on the same offenses) as the country looked on.

The Memphis Flyer will capture as many reactions to the news here as we can. This thread will be updated as reactions come in throughout the day.

Reverend Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network:

“The Tennessee House’s decision to remove two Black legislators who exercised their right to free speech was a plain and simple attack on our democracy. How can you remove these lawmakers, who spoke for thousands of Black Tennesseans living under the threat of gun violence every day, but stop short of removing their white colleague and deny this is a racist action? The National Action Network stands with our Nashville Chapter in supporting their fundamental right to protest, especially against the gun violence that consistently and persistently impacts Black communities.”

JB Smiley, Memphis City Council member

“The Shelby County Commission must immediately return Representative Justin J. Pearson to the Tennessee General Assembly. This is a sad day for Tennessee. The Republican super majority in the Tennessee General Assembly has put its knee on the neck of democracy in this state and in this country. I hope people will hold the dishonorable representatives who voted to expel Representative Pearson accountable for their actions and recognize that they have a total disregard for the thousands of constituents affected by such actions.”

Joint statement by Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition Votes; Tequila Johnson, executive director, Equity Alliance Action Fund; and Tikeila Rucker, political organizer, MemphisForAll:

“The power of our democracy is that the people choose our leaders to represent us, not the other way around. Our communities came together to elect Representatives Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin J. Pearson because they are bold, progressive champions and we knew they would fight to make sure our families have opportunities to thrive. We knocked on thousands of doors, called voters across the state, and elected leaders that listened to our voices and represented our communities.

“But in the face of the growing political power of Black and brown communities, the power-hungry supermajority is doing everything they can to silence our voices and disenfranchise our communities, including ousting two young black men who were duly elected. Expelling Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson is an unprecedented power grab that directly undermines our democracy, but it isn’t their first attack. They redrew congressional maps to break up Nashville to dilute the growing power of black and brown communities. They shrunk the size of the Nashville metro council from 40 to 20 members, forcing the city to redraw districts, eliminating leaders that represent our communities and throwing the city into political chaos. They’re coming after local authority in every city that dares challenge them. All of these attacks are tied together. They saw our power, and they’re doing everything they can to stop it.

“And let us not forget what started all of this: the House GOP’s refusal to take action to protect our children from gun violence in the wake of the terrible tragedy at the Covenant School last week. They want to distract and divide us with political stunts instead of focusing on making our schools safe.

“But we aren’t backing down. We are registering voters and organizing our communities to turn out for every election and elect leaders that will build a state that works for all of us. Just like we came together to elect Representatives Jones and Pearson the first time, we will keep showing up to elect champions, hold our government accountable, and pass policies that help our families thrive and keep our children safe. Tennessee is on the front lines of defending our democracy in this country. For years our movements have been fighting to defend and build a truly multiracial and pluralistic democracy in our state — and we won’t give up now.”

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen:

“As a longtime state Senator and current member of Congress, I appreciate that certain rules of decorum are necessary for conducting the people’s business in our state legislature. But I view the expulsion votes today as a provocative and disproportionate response to the breach of House rules prompted by the emotions triggered by last week’s Covenant School shooting.

“I was pleased to see the effort to expel Representative Johnson fail. I wish cooler heads would have prevailed and prevented the disenfranchisement of the citizens of Memphis and Nashville the expulsions create, in addition to the special expense state taxpayers will now have in scheduling primary and general elections. Debate on the proper response to gun violence is an essential part of the democratic process. Today’s votes were an embarrassing stain on an important democratic institution.”

The Black Southern Women Collaborative:

“The expulsion of Black legislators is an unacceptable travesty that should not be tolerated in a democracy. Black people from Memphis and Nashville now have no representative in the House of Representatives. This comes at a time when one in five Black people in Tennessee cannot vote due to felony disenfranchisement. Most of the folks are in Memphis. Additionally, Tennessee voters are being purged from the voting rolls and most of the impacted people are in Memphis and most are Black.

“Jones and Pearson were willing to enact the will of the communities that elected them, and now they have been removed. There can be no confusion; this is not only an attack on democracy, but also an attack on Black people.

“Justin Pearson is an activist and organizer who worked to oppose an oil pipeline in his community. He is concerned not only about the environment, but gun violence; issues of concern to his constituents.

“The other irony in all of this is that three legislators protested the death of innocent babies who were killed at the mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, yet only the Black legislators were removed. The racial inequity in this process is brazen.”

Amber Sherman and the Black Caucus of the Tennessee young Democrats have issued a petition to send Pearson back to the House:

“Justin J. Pearson was unjustly expelled from the TN State House on April 6th. His constituents deserve representation, send him back to the state House!”

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Tennessee House Republicans Expel Two Democrats, Keep One, Over Gun Floor Protests

Reps. Justin Jones, right, Justin Pearson, bottom, and Gloria Johnson, left, bring a megaphone onto the Tennessee House floor on March 30, 2023. (Photo: John Partipilo)

The Tennessee House of Representatives voted along party lines to expel Democratic Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from its body for leading a floor protest over gun violence one week ago, but Rep. Gloria Johnson survived expulsion by one vote.

The expulsion vote against Jones, D-Nashville, was 72-25, and 69-26 against Pearson, D-Memphis. It needed 66 votes it pass.

The vote against Johnson, D-Knoxville, was 65-30, one short of the number needed to expel as seven Republicans voted to keep her.

The trio is accused of violating the House rules of decorum when they took over the speaking podium to lead chants with a crowd protesting the lack of action by lawmakers on gun violence after six were killed — including three children — in a mass shooting at a religious school in Nashville.

Rep. Charlie Baum, R-Murfressboro, was the only Republican to vote against kicking Jones out. Rep. Sam Whitson, R-Franklin, was present but did not vote on Jones’ expulsion resolution.

The expulsion hearing for Jones went on for nearly two hours.

Reps. Jody Barrett, R-Dickson; Rush Bricken, R-Tullahoma; Bryan Richey, R-Maryville; Lowell Russell, R-Vonore; Mike Sparks, R-Smyrna; Baum and Whitson voted against removing Johnson. Reps. John Gillespie, R-Memphis, and Bryan Terry, R-Murfreesboro, were present but abstained from voting.

The expulsion hearing for Johnson lasted 90 minutes.

Baum, Gillespie and Richey voted against expelling Pearson. Whitson was present but did not vote to remove Pearson.

The expulsion hearing for Pearson lasted 90 minutes.

Twitter thread of the expulsion hearing

OK, so now in the expulsion hearings @JRClemmons, an attorney, is trying to make the point that the video the GOP just showed “was in direct violation” of house rules disallowing members to shoot video on the floor.
“Are we going to punish them as well?”

— Anita Wadhwani (@anitawadhwani) April 6, 2023

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