Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) presents HB 64 at the Education Administration Subcommittee, Feb. 11, 2025
The 114th Tennessee General Assembly resumed its regular business this week, moving bills through committees in both the House and Senate following Gov. Bill Lee's State of the State address Monday night.
During his address, Lee introduced many of the priorities that were revealed in his administration’s $58.4 billion budget, details of which were explained during the House and Senate finance committees over the course of the week.
Governor alludes to ‘innovation’ and governing like a ‘business’
Commissioner of Finance and Administration Jim Bryson presented the budget overview, which can be viewed online. More of the individual budget items, such as transportation and education, will be discussed in further detail during committee meetings next week.
Advancing Equality Day
On Tuesday — which was Advancing Equality Day on the Hill — the House Education Administration Subcommittee also passed House Bill 64, which would require all “residential educational programs” to “segregate all restrooms, changing areas, and showers by immutable biological sex,” with an amendment specifying that the bill relates only to multi-occupant facilities.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), testified that the legislation came about after a complaint from an unidentified constituent whose daughter was “enrolled in a summer program at a local private university” and was asked about sharing a room with a transgender person, which the constituent refused. According to Bulso, the parents were not aware that their daughter would also be sharing bathroom and shower facilities with transgender female students.
“The purpose of this bill, Mr. Chairman and committee, is just to see to it that this does not continue to happen in the state of Tennessee,” Bulso said. “We want to protect girls, protect young ladies and their privacy and security in spaces like restrooms and shower facilities.”
Tennessee Equality Project policy analyst Bean Chapman at Advancing Equality Day on the Hill
The committee heard testimony from Tennessee Equality Project policy analyst Bean Chapman, who argued that the bill “paints a broad stroke of government control into private spaces and will lead to harassment and violence [against LGBTQ people].”
Chapman was one of several LGBTQ advocates, including some Metro councilmembers, who spoke at a press conference for Advancing Equality Day on the Hill.
After some debate, the bill was approved by the committee in a 5-1 vote and will move on to the full administrative committee. The sole no vote was from Rep. Ronnie Glynn (D-Clarksville), who called the bill part of “an ongoing battle to demonize folks that we don’t agree with.”
Tennessee Pride Chamber executive director Stephanie Mahnke (right) with Tennessee Equality Project director Chris Sanders (center) at Advancing Equality Day on the Hill
TennCare
A bipartisan bill that would allow for temporary TennCare benefits to some who do not qualify for enrollment moved along in committees this week. Tennessee is one of 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid, leaving 95,000 uninsured adults in the coverage gap, according to 2024 data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Child Care
A bill from Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) opening up the child care improvement pilot program beyond nonprofits also moved forward in the House. The legislation is set to be heard by the Health Committee on Feb. 18. That committee will hear another bill from the same duo that would remove any requirements for families on the state’s Families First financial assistance program to immunize or provide health checks for children as part of the program’s personal responsibility plan agreements.
Mental Health
Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) and Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) held a panel with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention this week, underscoring the fact that Tennessee’s suicide rate charts 19 percent higher than the national average. Freeman’s father Bill Freeman died by suicide in November. (Bob Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the Scene’s parent company, which was previously owned by Bill.)
The pair of legislators has also introduced a right-to-die bill, in which a person suffering from a terminal illness can request medication to end their own life if certain requirements are met.
