Tenn. House Republicans want everything on table
Many lawmakers seek special session with unlimited agenda
As state lawmakers inch toward a special session to roll back Tennessee’s COVID-19 restrictions, House Republicans appear to want nothing off limits.
A wide array of legislation — from curtailing the governor’s emergency power to restricting private businesses’ ability to mandate vaccination — could be considered during the session, according to a draft call for a special session obtained by The Tennessean.
The document, issued by House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-crossville, was circulated among House members to collect their signatures Monday. Leaders have set Oct. 27 as the tentative starting date of the potential session.
Adam Kleinheider, spokesperson for Lt. Gov. Randy Mcnally, R-oak Ridge, did not answer when asked if Mcnally supports the scope of discussion proposed by the House.
“Lt. Governor Mcnally has worked closely with Speaker Sexton on a proposed call for special session,” he said in a statement. “The Senate is still in the process of having discussions with members and securing signatures.”
At least 66 representatives and 22 senators must be sign on for the session to take place. In the House, those who support a session will likely have the numbers.
All 73 House Republicans signed a letter in August urging Gov. Bill Lee to call legislators back as debates around school districts’ mask mandates intensified.
Lee resisted the idea, instead allowing parents to opt their children out of the requirements. That executive order has been blocked by federal judges in at least three counties.
A renewed call for a special session tackling COVID-19 restrictions — bearing support from leaders in both legislative chambers — came after Lee called lawmakers back to provide economic incentives for Ford Motor Company, which announced a $5.6 billion investment to create an electric vehicle campus in West Tennessee.
In a statement last week, Sexton spokesperson Doug Kufner said the speaker wants lawmakers to discuss topics such as “mask mandates, quarantining, independent health departments, and monoclonal antibodies.”
The circulated call includes much more.
The document urges lawmakers to consider Covid-19-related bills in four major areas: local and federal mask and vaccination restrictions, authority of local health officials, liability of businesses with vaccination requirements and the governor’s emergency power.
The legislature could take on bills that “address the federal government’s penalizing, or taxation of, citizens of this state through enforcement of restrictions relative to COVID-19,” according to the document. The language is likely a response to President Joe Biden’s mandate that all federal employees must be vaccinated, and employers with 100 or more employees must require vaccines or implement weekly testing.
It is unclear what the legislature can do to reverse the federal requirement. Mcnallpreviously cautioned there’s nothing lawmakers can do to make Biden’s order “any more unconstitutional.”
Lawmakers could be allowed to introduce bills that threaten to withhold state funding from certain entities because of COVID-19 restrictions.
For example, lawmakers could “address the enforcement and use of state funds by public and private entities for restrictions relative to COVID-19,” according to the document.
A legislative idea that could fall into the category is one proposed by Sen. Kerry Roberts, R-springfield. In a September letter addressed to Mcnally, Roberts suggested taking government funding away from venues like Bridgestone Arena if they require vaccines or masks.
The call also allows room for private business regulations — an idea some of the most conservative lawmakers have called for.
Rep. Bruce Griffey, R-paris, last week called some of his colleagues “medical Nazis” for supporting businesses’ right to require vaccination of their employees or customers.
Conservative groups, such as Tennessee Stands, have criticized Lee for not being willing to regulate businesses with vaccine requirements.
Under the scope proposed by House leaders, lawmakers could punish businesses for “adverse actions against” employees for their vaccination status. A similar bill, carried by Sen. Joey Hensley, R-hohenwald, and Rep. Jay Reedy, R-erin, failed to gain traction during the regular session earlier this year.
Employers could be held liable for “harm or injury suffered by an employee” because of any vaccination mandates or incentives, and lawmakers would be allowed to discuss employee’s “unemployment benefits relative to COVID-19,” according to the document.
Rep. Rusty Grills, R-newbern, filed a bill Friday that would allow employees to keep receiving unemployment benefits after they quit their job because of vaccination mandates.
The bill includes language pertaining to the Ford special session that’s underway, which signals Grills’ hope lawmakers would discuss the matter this week.
Sexton told reporters Monday the bill will be rewritten, and the House Clerk’s office decided the bill falls under the scope of the Ford session. Lee last week amended his special session proclamation to allow lawmakers to amend “any law beneficial or necessary” to help with the Ford deal.
A House Health and Safety Committee was formed Monday and will hear that bill, Sexton said.
Additionally, lawmakers could further tie the hands of local health officials — and even the governor — during the special session.
Earlier this year, legislators already downgraded local health boards to an advisory role and granted mayors and health department heads decision making power.
They also introduced bills that would have thwarted Lee’s ability to issue executive orders and extended the state of emergency, but the legislation eventually died during the regular session.
But some Republican leaders have called for a renewed look at the governor’s authority.
Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-gallatin, said the legislature needs more say in emergency declarations. But he also cautioned against “tying the hands of a governor.”
“I think that ... our constituents want to see the General Assembly a little more involved in the continuation of executive emergency declarations,” he previously said. “How do we make that work appropriately and not overburden the taxpayers for paying for us to come in when we don’t need to?”
Reach Yue Stella Yu at yyu@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @bystellayu_tnsn.