112th General Assembly ends: What lawmakers achieved and fought over
The 112th Tennessee General Assembly came to a close Thursday afternoon, capping a momentous two-year term that saw lawmakers convene five different times to address education, COVID-19 and major tax incentives for Ford Motor Co.
This year alone, Republican lawmakers cemented their power with a major redistricting effort, pushed through financing to help build a new NFL stadium in Nashville and overhauled how the state spends billions on education, giving Gov. Bill Lee a major legislative win as he heads into his reelection bid later this year.
But once again, much of the work was overshadowed by fights over cultural issues — from the books in school libraries to issues surrounding transgender athletes — and scandal, along with emerging intraparty fights among the Republican supermajority.
The session featured high-profile moments with one lawmaker citing Adolf Hitler in a debate over homelessness to another vowing to burn books deemed inappropriate for students.
Still, with a massive budget surplus in hand, Republican lawmakers touted their legislative successes.
“Our strong fiscal position has allowed us to reform our education funding formula, provide tax relief to our citizens and make strategic investments in infrastructure across the state,” said Lt. Gov. Randy Mcnally, R-oak Ridge, touting a rainy day fund at “historic levels.”
Despite an early exit as lawmakers are eager to return to the campaign trail, the session was an eventful four months that saw an historic expulsion of a state senator weeks before a representative resigned facing a federal wire fraud charge.
The Republican supermajority continued to wield its considerable power in the state, pushing Lee on budget and criminal justice legislation. Democrats late in the session decried a lack of debate on some issues, particularly a number of anti-trans bills aimed at young athletes and students.
In a year of historic tax revenues, the minority party was critical of stockpiling rainy day funds.
House Minority Leader Karen Camper, D-memphis, said the session represented “missed opportunities” to “share in the wealth”
“There were so many great things we could have done in our communities that we were not able to do because they didn’t have the compassion enough to share in our tax revenues in the state,” Camper said. “That’s concerning.”
Lawmakers passed a $52.8 billion budget, a nearly $10 billion increase over the previous year due to a significant bump in money given to Tennessee by the federal government.
The most notable item in budget item was a $500 million bond to build a new NFL stadium in Nashville for the Tennessee Titans. The new budget also included $250 million to improve infrastructure at Tennessee State University.
Lawmakers approved $300 million in tax cuts, including a one-month sales tax holiday on groceries. Tennesseans will also get a break when renewing their vehicle registrations, as the legislature waived state renewal fees.
“We have returned money back to taxpayers in Tennessee,” said Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ken Yager, R-kingston.
Governor, leadership clash over criminal justice issues
In an unusual move, Lee was not on hand at the Capitol to mark the end of session after his office on Thursday added two out-of-town appearances to his schedule.
Lee’s office has declined to answer questions following a last-minute execution reprieve due to a “technical oversight” on April 21. He is expected to address the issue next week.
The governor and legislative leadership clashed as the session wound down over a significant bill that would wind back criminal justice reform Lee championed last year.
The Republican supermajority, delaying a vote on the governor’s education package, pressed forward with a stringent sentencing bill that would significantly lengthen some prison sentences.
Advocates and national conservative groups decried the legislation as draconian and expensive before bill sponsors cut back portions of the legislation.
“We worked with him and his staff to make sure its something he wasn’t just totally opposed to,” Mcnally said.
Republican leadership and Lee also disagreed on a politically charged bill to place residency requirements on congressional candidates.
In the first days of session, the supermajority passed an aggressive redistricting effort that shattered Davidson County and pulled the 5th Congressional District into a reliably Republican congressional district.
The move pushed U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-nashville, to retire, opening up a frenzy in the Republican primary. Morgan Ortagus, a Tennessee newcomer and political unknown, received an early endorsement from former President Donald Trump to the chagrin of some longtime Tennessee Republicans.
In response, the General Assembly pushed a bill to institute residency requirements in party primaries to effectively disqualify Ortagus from the race.
Lee delayed signing it until after a primary qualifying deadline, nullifying the issue for Ortagus’ campaign, though she and others were later removed from the ballot by the state party.
Democrats call out Republican ‘bullying’
Meanwhile, Democrats decried a lack of debate over several pieces of legislation, including some bills they criticized as harmful to LGBTQ youth.
Democratic leadership criticized Republicans for acting as if “it’s beneath them to answer our questions because they know that they don’t need our votes.”
“It’s truly another example of Republicans bullying,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Vincent Dixie, Dnashville, said last week. “This is truly the atmosphere in the General Assembly. This is what we’ve dealt with this whole year, and it’s not in the best interest of Tennesseans.”
Republicans leaned heavily into hotbutton social issues this session, most notably to increase oversight on school libraries after a number of high-profile conservatives activists lobbied Lee and leadership on the issue.
Legislative leadership repeatedly argued this session they do not support broad book bans or censorship, instead offering increased parental oversight for “age-appropriate” materials in school libraries.
But a last-minute bill this week gave an already controversial, politically appointed state textbook committee more power to issue statewide guidance on what is “appropriate” and institute statewide blanket bans in certain circumstances.
Ethics reform after federal charges
The specter of a federal investigation, lingering over the Capitol since federal agents raided legislative offices in early 2021, bubbled to the surface this spring.
Robin Smith, then a Republican representative from Hixson, was charged, resigned and pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge in a rapid series of events in late March.
Smith’s plea deal suggested she would cooperate with a continuing investigation, and her charging documents implicated her in a political consulting scheme with former House speaker and departing Rep. Glen Casada, R-franklin, and his former chief aide, Cade Cothren.
Neither Casada nor Cothren has been charged, but a flurry of subpoenas quickly followed Smith’s plea deal, compelling a number of lawmakers and Sexton to testify before a grand jury. No action has been publicly filed out of the grand jury.
The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance was also pursuing its own investigation into a political action committee allegedly engineered by Cothren and involving Casada, though he has denied it.
After details emerged that Smith and Casada allegedly lied to their colleagues to get state business for their consulting
firm, Republican leadership began pushing a campaign finance and ethics reform bill.
On Thursday, the General Assembly passed the legislation, which attempts to make the Tennessee Registry of Elections more transparent, add disclosure rules around staff and members who receive money from companies related to campaign services and shed some light on the spending of dark-money organizations.
“If someone is intent on violating the law, of being dishonest, there’s very little you can do to stop that,” Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-gallatin, said. “What this does its put up parameters on what we should be doing and gives us some additional transparency. “
Casada, who has declined to discuss the Smith case, is leaving the legislature to run for Williamson County Clerk.
Sen. Katrina Robinson, D-memphis, was expelled in February following her federal wire fraud conviction in a case not connected to her public office. The expulsion was a first for the chamber.
Senate Republicans moved to expel Robinson following her conviction, despite Democrats’ insistence the body should wait until she was sentenced.
A new class of freshman legislators will enter the Capitol chambers next year, as more than a dozen lawmakers will not seek reelection this fall.
Reach Melissa Brown at mabrown @tennessean.com.
“There were so many great things we could have done in our communities that we were not able to do because they didn’t have the compassion enough to share in our tax revenues in the state. That’s concerning.” Karen Camper
House Minority Leader, D-memphis