Happy Spring Break to all our hard-working educators and the parents of school-age children in Nashville. I am jealous of all of you who are fortunate enough to travel over this break. As usual, due to the legislative session, my own family left me behind to visit grandparents in DC. My eight year old history lover is likely already en route to a museum while I prepare for today's committees and tonight's floor session.

Proud dad got to read to Henry's class at Waverly Belmont Elementary for Read Me Week

Repeated Attacks on Tennesseans
The 113th Session of the Tennessee General Assembly has been defined, in large part, by the governor and supermajority party's repeated attacks on the people of Tennessee. Rather than passing laws for the benefit of Tennessee families, the state legislature seems determined to only pass laws that do harm to Tennesseans. The bulk of the legislation grabbing headlines and getting traction this session directly targets entertainers and small businesses, Metro Nashville, LGBTQ+ youth families, and our neighborhoods' safety.

Firearms - In the past week alone, our body has considered multiple bills seeking to increase the presence of firearms in our community, directly endangering our public safety. Legislation that would reduce the age for permitless carry from 21 to 18 years of age, allow firearms to be carried into public buildings such as courthouses, allow off-duty law enforcement officials to carry firearms when under the influence of alcohol, and increasing civil liability for anyone prohibiting firearms on their private property have all been filed. Last Monday evening on the House floor, HJR131, HJR38, HB1189, and HJR80 were all passed by various members in an attempt to further the agenda of extreme special interest organizations. The bad news is that more similar and unnecessary bills are on the horizon.

John Ray was joined outside the House chambers by friend Shaundelle Brooks and family and Patricia and Manuel Oliver. Ms. Brooks lost her son Akilah DaSilva in the Antioch Waffle House shooting, and the Olivers lost their son Joaquin Oliver in the Parkland, FL school shooting.

Metro Nashville - By now you have all heard that our state legislature passed HB48 to override the voters of our county and cut our Metro Council in half. The entire House Democratic Caucus and our Davidson County delegation fought this overreaching and arguably unconstitutional legislation to the very end. Governor Lee was all too excited to sign the bill and did so within minutes of its passage by the Senate on Thursday morning. I am confident that Metro Legal will promptly file litigation challenging this law. Unfortunately, there is more anti-Nashville legislation on the agenda. Bills to reconstruct the Nashville Airport Authority and the Metro Sports Authority and legislation targeting the Metro Beer Board are on tap in the coming week. You can watch the floor debate on HB48 here.

Entertainers and Small Businesses - HB9 and HB30 not only take direct aim at our entertainment industry and small businesses across Nashville, they also arguably constitute First Amendment violations. The breadth of HB9 threatens criminal prosecution for many entertainers whose tours include dates in Tennessee. You can watch the House floor debate on HB9 here.

Transgender Youth and LGBTQ+ - With HB1 and HB878, the supermajority is again trying to score political points at the expense of vulnerable youth and discriminate against families. The latter bill has been misinterpreted on social media in recent days. Therefore, I would like to clarify that the amended bill states that "a person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage." While this could expressly allow feared discrimination, solemnizing a marriage is not the same as issuing a marriage license, as some have communicated. You can watch the floor debate on HB1 here.

John Ray welcomed two of his favorite annual visitors to Cordell Hull for Disability Day on the Hill - by far the best day of every legislative session.

JRC Legislative Updates

HB1492 - Would prohibit the weaponizing of drones by law enforcement. Passed the House State Government committee and is scheduled to be heard in House Calendar & Rules committee this week. Senate will take up the bill this week also.

HB409 - Would make the sale of all fresh fruits and vegetables for human consumption sales tax free. Placed behind the budget by the House Appropriations subcommittee last week.

HB370 - Would require the state government to accept HIV funding from the federal government. Scheduled to be heard in the Senate Health and Welfare committe on March 15th and the House Health subcommittee on March 21st.

HB1493 - Would require the Secretary of State and County Election Commissions to include information about the availability of a free state-issued ID from the TN Department of Safety which may be used for voter-ID purposes on each election-related publication delivered to voters. The bill was killed by the House Elections and Campaign Finance subcommittee after the State Coordinator of Elections testified against the bill.

HB1494 - Would require utility companies to create a claims process for customers who lose vital utility services for an extended period of time as a result of the utility companies' negligence or failure to protect or maintain its equipment. Unable to secure the votes needed for passage, I presented the bill to the Business and Utilities subcommittee before taking the bill off notice for the year.

Doctors flooded the halls of Cordell Hull last week to advocate on behalf of their profession and patients.

Gov. Lee's Toll Lane Legislation

I continue to have serious reservations about HB321, the governor's proposed legislation titled the "Transportation Modernization Act." Primarily becuase it fails to modernize anything about our transportation infrastructure system. It simply puts enough money in the budget to get this governor through the next four years of paving projects and kicks the can down the road to the next governor who may or may not do anything to solve the serious problems plaguing our transportation infrastructure system and holding back our local economies. Additionally, the bill does the following: authorizes the privatization of roadways in urban and rural areas via 30 to 50 year leases; increases electric vehicle fees by 300% and indexes them after 2027; gives the Lee administration unilateral authority over $300 million in projects; and, inequitably distributes new infrastructure money across four regions, with the greater Nashville region receiving the least amount per capita. I raised many of my concerns, as well as those I have heard from constituents, in the House Government Operations committee last week. You can view the questions I posed to the bill sponsor in the committee here.

REMINDER

The Southeast Egg Hunt & Festival is March 25th from 10:00am to 2:00pm at the Southeast Community Center in Antioch.

STAY IN TOUCH
Call | Email

JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove®
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.

2501 Oakland Avenue
Nashville, TN | 37212 US

This email was sent to [email protected].
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.