NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The gavel has banged for the final time at the 113th General Assembly. During that legislative session, the state was caught in the national spotlight.
Three Democratic lawmakers faced expulsion votes after approaching the "well" in the House of Representatives during a protest calling for more gun restrictions. That demonstration followed a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville where three children and three adults were killed.
Two Black lawmakers, Rep. Justin Jones (D - Nashville) and Rep. Justin Pearson (D - Memphis) were expelled from their seats. However, they returned after being voted back in as interim members. Now, they face special elections where they could formally return as full members of the House. Rep. Gloria Johnson (D - Knoxville) also faced an expulsion vote. However, she kept her seat by one vote.
The vote on her expulsion led to a discussion by the House Republican caucus, which was leaked to the public by the Tennessee Holler, a progressive news outlet. In that leaked audio, Rep. Jason Zachary (R - Knoxville) said Democratic lawmakers "destroy the republic and the foundation of who we are." Rep. Scott Cepicky (R - Culleoka) also said that they were at war against Democratic lawmakers.
The Tennessee Three, as the three lawmakers were named, were later invited to the White House to discuss gun reform.
Their story was one of many during the 113th General Assembly. A list of the major stories and bills from the session is available below.
Tennessee's Republican lieutenant governor apologized after revelations that he interacted on social media with nearly nude photos of a young male model, as well as other posts by the man and other LGBTQ+ personalities, even as the lawmaker has led a Senate that has passed bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community.
The 79-year-old told WTVF-TV on Thursday that he's "really, really sorry if I've embarrassed my family, embarrassed my friends, embarrassed any of the members of the legislature with the posts."
The Tennessee Holler, a progressive website, first brought attention to the posts on Wednesday, calling McNally's repeated comments on the various posts hypocritical.
For instance, McNally responded to racy social media posts by 20-year-old Franklyn McClur.
McClur told WMC-TV that he knew it was a "cool opportunity" that the lieutenant governor was commenting on his posts. He said that he asked McNally if there were any open positions in his office, and McNally seemed "very willing to help me out."
Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law that effectively bans public drag performances. Opponents of the bill said it could have far-reaching effects on the state's LGBTQ community. It was originally set to go into effect on April 1.
However, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on the bill — blocking it from going into effect until May 26. Friends of George's, a nonprofit organization based in Memphis, filed a lawsuit against the state because of the bill. They filed the suit alleging that the DA sought to “explicitly restrict or chill speech and expression protected by the First Amendment based on its content."
The bill was introduced by Senator Jack Johnson (R - Franklin). The amended version of the bill says "adult-oriented performances" could only be held in adult-oriented venues. It defines those performances as ones harmful to minors, as defined in the Tennessee state code.
Tom Lee, an attorney and outside counsel for the Tennessee Pride Chamber, said it would include drag performances as "adult-oriented performances."
"Drag is Tootsie. Drag is Mrs. Doubtfire. Drag is a Tom Hanks 'Bosom Buddies' TV series on ABC. It is just another means of expressing a character in the arts," he said. "It is and always has been a way of self-expression that is protected by the Constitution, just as every other means of self-expression is constitutionally safeguarded."
Knox Pride previously said that if the bill became law, they would cancel the 2023 Knox Pride Festival in October. They said the annual Pride festival would be against the law.
It's Knox Pride's biggest fundraiser. In October 2022, around 66,000 people attended the event. They said the funds go to support programs that help survivors of domestic abuse, provide resources through food pantries, provide classes on different life skills, help young people experiencing homelessness, and many other kinds of programs.
On April 19, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill, HB 0433, with an amendment that would have included Hamilton County, Madison County and Knox County in a controversial pilot school voucher program. The program allows public tax dollars to be given to families to help them pay for private schooling.
Later, the House voted to remove Knox County from that list after the bill the Senate refused to concur with the House's changes. Instead of trying to advance the House amendment, representatives passed the Senate version which did not include Knox County.
Tennessee lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate passed a bill meant to guarantee teachers make at least $50,000 per year by the 2026-2027 school year.
The bill, HB 0329, was introduced by Representative William Lamberth (R - Portland). It passed the Senate in a 25-6 vote, and it passed the House in a 90-8 vote. It requires teacher salaries gradually increase year by year.
The House version of the bill does not prohibit schools from deducting membership dues from a professional organization from their income. The Senate version originally included that prohibition. They later concurred with the House version.
The year-by-year minimum yearly income requirements are listed below.
- $42,000 for the 2023/2024 school year
- $44,000 for the 2024/2025 school year
- $47,000 for the 2025/2026 school year
- $50,000 for the 2026/2027 school year
Tennesseans for Student Success said that the pay raise would make the state a "top ten state in the nation for teacher pay." According to the bill's fiscal note, lawmakers would need to pass a restriction of $125 million would be required in Tennessee's base funding formula for teacher pay.
Students across Tennessee are expected to take the TCAP exam. Students can "exceed," "meet," "approach" or be "below expectations" on the exam. If they approach or are below expectations on the English and Language Arts exam in third grade, the state law would require them to repeat third grade, go to summer school or attend tutoring a bill passed during the last legislative session.
HB 0437, proposed by Rep. Mark White (R- Memphis), proposes adding a portion to the TDOE website that details the appeals process for parents, and local school districts so that families could ask state leaders to let their children advance to the next grade level.
The National Association of School Psychologists said retention laws like Tennessee's can have harmful effects on students with disabilities, and on at-risk students. They also said retention has "little to no evidence" of improving a student's academics.
"We don't need to put all of these procedural things in place for parents to jump through the hoops to make sure that their kid is not retained," said Rep. Johnson.
Governor Bill Lee signed the Transportation Modernization Act into law. It allows the Tennessee Department of Transportation to collect "user fees" on some roads across the state.
The bill, SB 0273, is also known as the "Transportation Modernization Act." Senator Jack Johnson (R - Franklin) introduced it and shared many of the same proposals TDOT and Governor Bill Lee spoke about when they discussed ways to address issues with the state's roads.
The bill allocates $3.3 billion to accommodate the state's growth address traffic congestion and meet transportation needs across rural and urban communities.
TDOT previously proposed its "Build With Us" plan, which involves using "Public-Private Partnerships" to address growing congestion concerns. In that proposal, they said the congestion on state roads, longer times to complete projects and fewer workers in its ranks were three major challenges facing the state in coming years.
They previously said they would need an additional $26 billion in funding to address the issues and keep pace with the state's growth. Some of that money could be made up by working with private companies to build roads, they said in the plan.
The American Civil Liberties Union announced on April 20 that they were suing Tennessee. They said the lawsuit is meant to prevent a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors from going into effect.
They said the lawsuit was filed on behalf of three families and a Memphis-based medical doctor who provides gender-affirming care. Two of the families filed anonymously, and one in Nashville has a 15-year-old transgender daughter.
SB 0001 was signed on March 2, which bans forms of gender-affirming care for minors. These forms of care — such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery — could be used to help adolescents with gender dysphoria.
The lawsuit said that going through puberty can be extremely distressing for transgender adolescents, and in some cases, puberty-delaying medication can minimize the effects of gender dysphoria.
"The Health Care Ban is just one piece of a robust discriminatory legislative agenda targeting transgender persons," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit said that going through puberty can be extremely distressing for transgender adolescents, and in some cases, puberty-delaying medication can minimize the effects of gender dysphoria.
Providers also need to follow similar guidelines when deciding if a transgender adolescent is eligible for gender-affirming hormone therapy.
A bill that made its way through the Tennessee legislature aims to strengthen rules passed last year that can change how schools approach teaching many kinds of lessons in social justice, racial inequity, political science, social work, psychology and many other fields.
The bill passed the House of Representatives on April 13, after passing Senate on April 5.
In 2022, lawmakers passed rules that allow state leaders to withhold funding for schools that teach about social, cultural and legal issues related to race and racism. Most of those concepts focus on how the impact of racism affects people today.
The bill, HB 1376, was introduced by Representative John Ragan (R - Oak Ridge). He previously said that the new bill was meant to strengthen the law passed in 2022 by "promoting freedom of expression," and keep "colleges about advancing knowledge, not about advancing political or social agendas."
The bill restricts universities from using state funds for meetings or activities of an organization that "endorses or promotes a divisive concept." It also requires employees who support diversity initiatives to "increase intellectual diversity" and support students through mentoring, career readiness and workforce development initiatives.
It also allows students and employees who believe that the school violated last year's law a chance to file a report with the school. The school would then need to annually report violations to the comptroller of the treasury, redacting them as needed to stay in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Two bills that passed the legislature risked federal Title IX funding. The first, a bill that protects teachers and other employees of public schools if they choose not to use a student's preferred pronouns passed the Tennessee House of Representatives and Senate.
The bill specifically says "teachers and employees of public schools and LEAs do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression while at work" and says they are not civilly liable for using a pronoun other than what a student prefers.
The bill's fiscal note says, "if found in violation of federal law, this legislation could jeopardize federal funding the FY23-24 and subsequent years." Tennessee receives around $1.3 billion from Title IX awards.
The second bill, HB 0239, risked Title IX funding as well as an additional $750 million from the federal government. It creates a legal term for "sex" for use in statutes and in the state code. That definition excludes considerations of gender expression or gender identity. The exact definition the bill uses is below.
As used in this code, unless the context otherwise requires, "sex" means a person's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth and evidence of a person's biological sex. As used in this subsection (c), "evidence of a person's biological sex" includes, but is not limited to, a government-issued identification document that accurately reflects a person's sex listed on the person's original birth certificate.
By requiring that definition be used on all government-issued documentation, anyone whose gender identity does not align with their gender assigned at birth may not be able to change their driver's licenses and birth certificates.
The bill's fiscal note warns that the language could result in increases in state and local expenses because it could result in the state not complying with federal requirements for grants, programs and other awards.
It also says that $750 million in federal grants to the Department of Health would be at risk should the bill become law. It said that Title X grants and many others have a different definition of "sex" than what the bill proposes.
The Union County Clerk’s Office said 94 people went before a judge after being arrested on animal fighting charges after authorities raided a Maynardville fighting ring in January.
Tennessee lawmakers filed a bill to make this kind of animal fighting a felony, but again, the effort failed.
The bill died in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, meaning that crime remains a Class-A misdemeanor. Law enforcement across East Tennessee said the decision surprises them. One lawmaker said not all votes were counted in the subcommittee.
Rep. Gloria Johnson (D - Knoxville), a member of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, said viewers could hear there were more lawmakers in favor of the bill in the video of the meeting. That's not how it turned out.
Senator Jon Lundberg (R - Bristol) said he believes cockfighting should be a felony because it attracts other illegal behavior.
"Frankly, I'm disappointed in that,” Lundberg said. "Tennessee has been a magnet for attracting cockfighters. That is not the kind of economic development we need in the state.”
A bill that protects gun manufacturers and sellers from civil action, if someone is hurt by a gun, passed the Tennessee House of Representatives and the Tennessee Senate on April 18.
The bill, HB 1189, was introduced by Representative Monty Fritts (R - Kingston). It says that a person would not be able to bring "a qualified civil liability action in court in this state against a dealer, manufacturer or seller," unless under specific circumstances.
Bills that would have required guns to be safely secured in cars or would have created a "temporary mental health order of protection" did not pass. The latter proposal would have allowed law enforcement agencies to ask courts for an order that would require people who pose a danger to themselves or others to dispossess their guns for up to 180 days.
Gov. Bill Lee said he would call for a special session to discuss public safety on April 21, and possibly pass laws that impact gun access.