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LEGISLATIVE Capitol Notes | Peggy Sue, the Beagle Hound
If you want to run with the big dogs, you have to get off the porch.
January 9, 2024. The 2024 legislative session begins at noon, Tuesday, January 9. This is the second year for the 113th General Assembly. Typically, that day brings excitement to the Capitol complex as the 132 members convene to start the formal lawmaking process. This year with the sour taste of the August Extraordinary Session still being fresh, expectations may well be tempered. The annual session, however, will still see the usual 1500 or so bills filed for consideration. Bills remaining from the 2023 session may be considered during the 2024 session. Bills remaining from the August Extraordinary Session do not automatically carry over; a sponsor will have to refile any of those bills for one to be considered during the 2024 regular session. Curious dogs are wondering if Governor Lee will include any bills dealing with guns in his 2024 package of Administration bills.
The regular session is expected to run through the end of April. Aside from the regular observation of state holidays, notable dates include: February 5 for Governor Lee’s delivery of his proposed budget to the General Assembly and April 4 which is the qualifying deadline for a legislative candidate for the 2024 elections in August and November.
Darren Jernigan. Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell has announced his hiring of State Representative Darren Jernigan as the Director of Legislative Affairs. Darren has served in the State House since 2012, and he also served six years in the Metropolitan Council representing the Donelson, Hermitage, and Old Hickory communities. Darren plans to serve out the remainder of his two-year House term, but he will not seek reelection in 2024. Darren is a studious legislator, and he is well respected on both sides of the political aisle. He is one of the few Democrats who can still pass a bill in a House where Republicans hold a supermajority. Tennessee has always had a rural urban divide in its state politics, but Darren faces a heavy lift as he works to repair the multiple compound fractures in the State and Metro Nashville relationship. Perhaps, he will even be able to remind his legislative colleagues of the Home Rule Amendment in the Tennessee Constitution as well as the Equal Protection clause in the Federal Constitution.
John Lyell. Nashville lawyer John Lyell was a skillful advocate for the legal community and the rule of law with his work before the General Assembly. John
(76) died on October 21, 2023. John earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and his law degree from the University of Memphis. He began his lobbying work in 1979, and never looked back to the day to day practice of law. At the top of his game, his book of business contained many titans of Tennessee business, as well as the Tennessee Titans, and the Tennessee Bar Association. He had the peculiar knack of being able to translate for the quirky Senate Speaker, John Shelton Wilder, as well as maintaining a close working relationship with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Curtis Person. John was a founding member of the Tennessee Lobbyists Association. We wish his many friends and his family members well as they celebrate a life lived to its fullest.
Calendar Notes.
December 20 – Government Practice and Professionalism Institute CLE.
December 22 and 25 – State offices closed for the Christmas holiday. December 29 and January 1 - State offices closed for New Year holiday.
December 25 through January 1 – NBA offices closed for the holidays.
January 15 – State and NBA offices will be closed for observation of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. n
