LEGISLATIVE COLUMN
Capitol Notes | Peggy Sue, the Beagle Hound
Put out the fire and call the dogs in; the hunt’s over. Browsing the Headlines From browsing the news headlines, one may be forgiven for forgetting that state budgeting, education, health care, and infrastructure are our most important state policy issues. State revenues are up in excess of projections, schools will reopen in August, the TennCare program is seeking managed care organizations to administer its health care delivery, and the repairs for the I-40 bridge over the Mississippi River are almost done. One may think that the topics of critical race theory, refugees, and health department vaccination ads had overtaken us all. We will stay under the porch and wait for another day to chase those squirrels. Boring, but Important Just as the federal census occurs every ten years, so does the General Assembly’s constitutional obligation to redraw the lines that establish state legislative districts and the state’s federal congressional districts. Generally, voters choose their elected officials, but the duty to redistrict gives the members of the General Assembly the opportunity to choose their voters or at least the people who will live in the respective districts. Generally, the population growth
of Metropolitan Davidson County and the surrounding suburban counties have exceeded that of the other counties, so those rapidly growing areas will receive new legislative districts to the detriment of communities of low or negative growth. Tennessee has 31 negative growth counties in the 2020 census, and all of those are rural.
number of counties that may be split to form state house districts to no more than 30. Several dogs are barking about the ultimate look of the fifth U.S. House district, presently composed of Davidson, Dickson, and most of Cheatham counties, but our legislative friends are presently holding any proposed maps as tight as a tick on a dog’s ear.
Process The map drawing process in Tennessee is intensely partisan and largely opaque. The federal census bureau released the 2020 resident population for the United States and each state in late April. The 2020 resident population for the country is 331,449,281 which reflects 7.4% in growth over the 2010 population. The 2020 resident population for Tennessee is 6,910,840, which reflects 8.9% growth over the 2010 population. State officials will receive complete numbers from the federal census bureau in late August, and the process will begin with placeholder bills being amended and enacted into law in January 2022 for the 2022 election cycle. Based on the 2020 data, ideal populations for districts in Tennessee are: State House = 69,806 State Senate = 209,419 U.S. House = 767,871
Judicial Elections When you are reading this, many judicial candidates will have filed their first campaign financial disclosure reports covering the first half of 2021. Available funds do not predict the winner, but a candidate facing a contested election cannot prevail without solid campaign financing. Each general sessions court slot and each state trial court slot will have a general election on August 4, 2022 for a full eight year term beginning September 1, 2022. The first day a candidate may pick up a qualifying petition from the election commission office for the May 3, 2022, primary is Monday, December 20, 2021.
Goals U.S. House districts must be “as nearly equal as possible” which means there is practically no variability among our nine U.S. House districts. State legislative districts must be “substantially equal”. Typically, courts have smiled kindly upon state legislative districts with populations within five percent above or below the ideal population. The federal law protects against racial discrimination in redistricting. The state law limits the
Calendar Notes Take your human for the Covid-19 vaccination. All good dogs get a rabies shot every year. Our humans need to do so for Covid-19. The State and the NBA will observe the Labor Day holiday on Monday, September 6, 2021. Invite a colleague to attend the NBA Picnic on Thursday, September 30, from 5:30 to 8:30pm downtown at the Walk of Fame Park. n PEGGY SUE is fond of the classic 1957 Buddy Holly song. When hunting legislative news or biscuits, she is hard to contact.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 | NASHVILLE BAR JOURNAL
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