Legislative

Legislature Approves Budget; Adjournment Just Days Away The Tennessee General Assembly passed a balanced, $42.6 Billion budget yesterday morning, completing its sole constitutional requirement and signaling that 2021 session is rapidly nearing an end.  While the final budget varied somewhat from the budget that Governor Bill Lee had proposed, the essence remains largely the same. …

General Assembly Could Wrap Up Next Week; Opioid Abatement Fund Legislation Progresses The 112th General Assembly could complete their work for the year next week, a bit of a surprising development given the recent narrative that adjournment would take place sometime the first week in May, but consistent with the initial projections offered by leadership…

Budget Talks Begin;    Criminal Justice Reforms, Compensation for College Athletes Nearing Goal Line With just three weeks remaining in the 2022 session, the collective focus of the General Assembly now turns to the state budget, and the level of political horse-trading – sometimes between the administrative and legislative branches, and sometimes between the chambers…

Governor Lee Signs Permitless Carry Legislation; Session To Enter “Budget Phase”     With the Lee Administration’s budget amendment set to be unveiled early next week, and leadership targeting the first week in May for adjournment, the legislature is about to enter the phase of session when the state’s budget becomes the major focus.  The…

Weekly Recap: Major Gun Legislation Reaches Governor’s Desk;  Lee Proposes $250M Mental Health Trust Fund for Students With the calendar moving into April and leadership still targeting a late April / early May adjournment, committee chairs are actively pushing to wrap up their committee work to leave the necessary time to address the budget issues…

With leadership expressing a desire to adjourn the 2021 session before the end of April and committee chairs announcing targeted closing dates for various committees, the activity around the Cordell Hull building this month began to feel like the session is starting to hit its stride and relatively back to somewhat normal operations. Lt. Governor/Senate Speaker…

More Committees Announce Closure Dates.   The Tennessee legislature continued its mid-session stride this week, with full committee calendars, budget presentations wrapping up, appropriation amendments being filed, and committees announcing closure dates.  All in all, the feasibility of a late-April adjournment appears all the more likely, now that committee closures are announced and the budget process…

Senate Reopens to Public as Covid Outlook Continues to Improve   Exactly one year removed from the very week that the pandemic caused nearly everything in Tennessee to come to an immediate halt, the slow transition back to near-normalcy continued in Nashville this week.  The latest sign of progress was observed in the Cordell Hull…

Legislature Ramps Up To Speed As Leadership Targets April Adjournment   With leadership expressing a desire to adjourn the 2021 session before the end of April and committee chairs announcing targeted closing dates for various committees, the activity around the Cordell Hull building began to feel like the session is starting to hit its stride.…

In February, the 50th Governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee (R-Franklin), delivered his third State of the State address in the War Memorial Auditorium, with the members of the 112th General Assembly, Lee’s cabinet, state officials, and other dignitaries in attendance. Typically, the annual speech is given in the House Chambers, but due to the pandemic,…