Resolution to give legislature final say on attorney general selection goes before Senate

NASHVILLE – State Sen. Ken Yager wants more transparency in how Tennessee picks its attorney general. Now, his measure has received its first major victory in the Senate.

Yager has sponsored a joint resolution that calls for a constitutional amendment to make the state Supreme Court pick Tennessee's attorney general in public with confirmation by the legislature.

The resolution was up for a third and final vote in the Senate Monday and passed 28-1.

The resolution, a passion project sponsored by Yager, R-Kingston, would ask voters to approve the amendment. Currently, the Tennessee constitution leaves the decision in the hands of the state Supreme Court.

The five-member court currently selects the attorney general in a closed-door meeting for an eight-year term.

Yager’s measure would have the Supreme Court nominate the attorney general in an open meeting with recorded votes, and both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly would then confirm or deny the nomination by a majority vote.

If the nomination fails, the court would then be required to nominate someone else within 60 days. The amendment also calls for a six-year term instead of eight years.

The resolution, in one form or another, has been a project Yager has pursued for at least the last four years. He has brought the measures to address what he has called a “transparency problem" in the attorney general selection process.

The senator has petitioned the court for an open selection and recorded vote, but said he has received push back from the court, as well as lawmakers, the governor and others over concerns about keeping politics out of the selection process.

But Yager has argued that the current process has no guarantee of being apolitical.

“There was a lot of fanfare the last selection process about public applications and public meetings,” Yager told the USA TODAY NETWORK– Tennessee. “When that stopped, everybody went in a room and shut the door, but we don’t know what they did because there was absolutely no transparency. I really think that decision process ought to be far more transparent.”

While the resolution is up for a vote in the Senate chamber of the state Capitol at 4 p.m. Monday, it is far from the end. The House would then take up the resolution.

If passed by a simple majority by both chambers of the 110th General Assembly and a twothirds majority in the 111th General Assembly, voters would then have their say in a statewide referendum, likely in 2022.

Yager is up for re-election in 2020 and he said the resolution alone is reason enough for him to run again.

“I just feel very strongly that this position which has, in this year’s budget, a $41 million budget and has authority over 323 employees ought to be made in more transparent ways,” he said.

Tennessee is the only state where the attorney general is appointed by the state Supreme Court. Herbert Slatery III was appointed as the current state attorney general in 2014.

The Senate joint resolution would require candidates to be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen, a licensed Tennessee attorney and a resident of the state for at least seven years before the election.

Reach Jordan Buie at 615-726-5970 or by email at jbuie@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @jordanbuie.