On the Hill: What’s on Deck This Year in the State Legislature

This year’s key piece of legislation to watch in the Tennessee General Assembly is Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Act — the centerpiece of a special session convened by Lee on Jan. 27, just hours before this issue went to press. Also being considered during the special session, likely still underway as you read this, will be a legislative package for disaster relief related to Hurricane Helene and legislation dealing with immigration-related public safety measures.

Gov. Lee Declares Special Session on Education

Tennessee legislature to also address hurricane relief and immigration during session, set to begin Jan. 27

But the 114th Tennessee General Assembly will consider hundreds of pieces of legislation even after the special session has concluded. As has become de rigueur among the state’s Republican supermajority, many bills have been filed related to culture-war issues. Some target the state’s LGBTQ community, like Brentwood Republican Rep. Gino Bulso’s House Bill 64 — which would require “all residential educational programs [for minors] in this state … to segregate all restrooms, changing areas, and showers by immutable biological sex.” While the state isn’t targeting Nashville quite as much as it was just a couple of sessions ago, there are still the odd pieces of legislation filed by Republicans with the likely intent of sticking a thumb in the eye of liberal Davidson County — like, for instance, HB 217 from Rep. Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill), which would change Nashville International Airport’s name to Trump International Airport. (“Tennessee is Trump country, whether folks like it or not,” Warner recently told the Nashville Business Journal.)

Activists, advocates and the state’s Democratic superminority — its senators and representatives concentrated largely but not exclusively in Nashville and Memphis — will of course push back against much of the above. Before the start of this year’s session, more than 100 Tennessee businesses, organizations and congregations issued a joint plea asking the General Assembly to curb “bills that limit life-saving health care for transgender and nonbinary people, create obstacles for LGBTQ students and faculty, discriminate in adoption and foster care, and challenge marriage equality.” Meanwhile, with Gov. Lee having seemingly abandoned any serious efforts at gun reform made during a 2023 special session called in the wake of the Covenant School shooting, state Democrats are offering a slate of gun-related bills. Democrats will also once again make attempts this session to chip away at the state’s exceptionally restrictive abortion laws, though — outnumbered by Republicans 3-to-1 in the House and more than 4-to-1 in the Senate — that’s an uphill battle.

Vouchers, guns, culture wars and health care aside, the Tennessee Constitution’s sole requirement of the state’s two legislative chambers is that they balance the government’s annual budget. While that likely won’t be settled until the tail end of the session sometime this spring, it’ll be the best way to see where state lawmakers’ priorities lie.

Read on for details on what to expect in this year’s ongoing legislative session. —D. PATRICK RODGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF