114th Tennessee General Assembly Gavels In

The first day of the 114th Tennessee General Assembly was called to order at noon Tuesday — and the day of procedure for the state's House of Representatives and Senate lasted less than two hours.

As expected, the Republican supermajority selected House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) to retain their posts leading their respective chambers. In the Senate, Democrats all abstained from the vote to elect McNally, who also chose not to vote for himself, as speaker of the Senate. 

“With a new administration in Washington and a clear mandate for conservative governance both here in Tennessee and across the nation," McNally said, "Tennessee has a chance to truly lead. I have no doubt that we will seize it."

In the House, Democrats put forth Minority Leader Karen Camper (D-Memphis) to oppose Sexton's nomination. The vote fell along party lines, electing Sexton as speaker by a vote of 75 to 23.

“Over the last five years we’ve all learned a lot," Sexton said. "My goal is to be more efficient, empower Tennesseans over the government and uphold our constitutional duty of public oversight. I look forward to working with those in the body who want to get things done and to put service above self.”

Each body also passed all the bills that have been filed up to this point on first consideration. More than 100 bills have been filed in both the House and the Senate.

The most notable part of the day came during the Special House Rules Committee meeting, during which several updates to rules were passed along party lines. Only three of the committee's 11 members are Democrats.

Leader Camper suggested two rule changes that were both voted down by the Republican majority. Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) also submitted several rule changes, which were all voted down as well. The majority of the committee meeting was spent discussing potential rule changes submitted by Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville). Despite the discussion, Republicans voted against all of Jones’ changes, which would have included prohibiting firearms in committee meeting rooms and allowing representatives to use visual aids, as well as prohibiting the speaker from restricting public access to the gallery by way of a ticket policy.

The meeting came to an end after the committee passed a package of rule changes, with Democrats voting against, submitted by Rep. Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville). Those changes include reducing the limit on how many bills a representative may submit from 15 to 12 in the first half of the session and to 10 in the second half of the session. Committee chairs will be allowed an additional five, and subcommittee chairs will have an additional two. Another change to the House rules includes the ability for the speaker to remove an unruly person from the gallery and prevent them from returning that day as well as the following legislative day, and gives the option to prevent them from returning for the entire session.

There were several other rule changes. The Scene will have a complete list of those changes as soon as they are available.