Capitol Notes

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

-ly will carry over to the office is the use of Zoom, or some other video-conferencing app. We have been preaching video conferencing as a much more efficient and cheaper alternative to in-person meetings for some time. The legal world has now fully embraced video conferencing. So, it behooves us to optimize our office workspace to ensure we can have the best video conferencing experience possible from our work office. While most PCs and laptops now have built-in webcams as standard equipment, we highly recommend getting a high-quality external HD webcam to connect to your workstation to enhance both the audio and video quality of your video calls. Nothing says “low budget” more than a grainy video image while videoconferencing with a colleague or client. You might also consider investing in either headphones or earbuds, particularly in an office environment where others might be distracted by your video conference dialogue. Finally, depending on the brightness of the light source in your office, you might even consider investing in an inexpensive video conference light source (such as the Ring light or Lume Cube) to properly light yourself as you participate in a video call.

It certainly is good to be back in the office on a regular basis again. We feel that we have learned to work smarter over the past year. We don’t want to slip back to a lower office standard as we now transition back to the work office. See you next time,

RESERVE OUR FACILITIES

The NBA offers its conference rooms to be used for arbitrations, mediations, meetings, depositions, and other events for attorneys who need a convenient place to meet in downtown Nashville.

We have a spacious Conference Center and a smaller Board Room—both of which have Wi-Fi access, a computer, and phone—available for your use. For more information, contact Vicki.Shoulders@ nashvillebar.org or visit NashvilleBar.org/ ReserveOurFacilities.

Thank You for Your Membership!

The NBA Premier Membership recognizes those members who desire to demonstrate the utmost in commitment and support to NBA programs and services. Contact Vicki.Shoulders@nashvillebar.org for information on how to become a Premier Member.

PREMIER MEMBERS

Matt Anderson David Anthony Gail Vaughn Ashworth Laura Baker Daniel Berexa Michael Berman Mark Beveridge Hon. Joe Binkley Hon. Melissa Blackburn Jonathan Bobbitt Charles Bone Dewey Branstetter Hon. Joe Brown Kenny Byrd Chris Cardwell Loy Carney Kay Caudle Mark Chalos Will Cheek Daniel Clayton Chris Coleman John Day Joy Day Jackie Dixon Keith Frazier Barry Gammons Dave Garrison Richard Green John Griffin Bill Harbison Hon. Marian Harrison Aubrey Harwell Trey Harwell Lisa Helton Hon. John Holt Lloyd Houk Paul Housch Jan Jennings Andrew Kaufman Jordan Keller Chris Kelly John Kitch Dean Bill Koch Irwin Kuhn Ed Lanquist Tom Lawless Wendy Longmire Christina Lopez Hon. Randal Mashburn Sam McAllester Hon. Amanda McClendon Bob Mendes Margaret Moore Marlene Moses Hon. Patricia Head Moskal Phil Newman Marc Overlock Elizabeth Ozment Matt Painter David Parsons Greg Pease Andrea Perry Tracy Powell George Preston

David Raybin Sara Reynolds Nathan Ridley Christopher Sabis Carolyn Schott Joe Shelton Kimberly Silvus Martin Sir Liz Sitgreaves Ron Small Eric Smith Laura Smith Saul Solomon John Spragens Joycelyn Stevenson Mike Stewart Gerard Stranch Jim Stranch Hon. Aleta Trauger Howard Vogel Michael Wall Liz Washko Jim Weatherly Tom White Tom Wiseman Talley Wood Sheree Wright Ed Yarbrough Hon. Bill Young Stephen Young Gulam Zade Stephen Zralek