East Tennessee Maverick: Disastrous legislative session ends

judge Thomas Parker for being “unconstitutionally vague.” Parker’s words show how poorly written many of the GOP laws have been, and the legal consequences thereof.

The 2023 session of the Tennessee General Assembly will go down as one of the worst in state history.

Time and time again, our state legislature made national and international news for its constant harmful actions. Surely, this body will be known as the destructive session. From January to April, inaction, abuse of power and lack of morals showed this Republican supermajority for what it was: corrupt governance.

This General Assembly session can be roughly divided into two halves. The first half was an unhealthy conservative focus on culture war issues. The second was the aftermath of the Covenant School shooting and the expulsions of the Tennessee Three.

Instead of focusing on our state’s continuing areas of poverty, the foster crisis at the Tennessee DCS or simply underpaid teachers, the first half of the session was dedicated to the Republican supermajority’s obsession with social issues.

The very first bill filed was the state GOP’s broad blanket ban on gender-affirming care for minors, putting an already vulnerable population even more at risk. Another early bill was the Republican ban on so-called “obscene” drag shows in public or where a child might see them. Both laws have rightfully drawn national condemnation, including from the White House, for being conservative crackdowns on what they dislike and for not focusing on Tennessee’s real issues.

Also early in the year was the wrongful, brutal death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of policemen in Memphis. Despite our state once again drawing the national spotlight, Republicans did not even consider police reform. Nichols’ death has now largely shared the fate of so many African Americans killed in this past decade – time passed, and leaders swept it under the rug.

The Republican-led legislature did add a few abortion exceptions to the state’s extreme trigger law. The new exceptions allow for abortions in case of ectopic and molar pregnancies, as well as when a doctor uses “reasonable medical judgment” to save the life of the woman or prevent permanent damage. Gov. Lee has yet to sign it and, if not, it will become law without his signature on April 29. However, there are two important asterisks to these narrow legal exceptions. First, Republicans knowingly passed the law in 2019 without exceptions and believed it would not have to go into effect. Second, there are still no exceptions for rape or incest. Why? Because state GOP members voted against them this session, forcing traumatized rape victims to carry to term. Both acts by Republicans are sickening and unconscionable.

State Republicans waged a relentless attack on Nashville in retaliation for the city not wanting the 2024 RNC, and the simple fact that its citizens elect local liberal representation. The GOP attempted to throw this year’s local elections into chaos by voting to cut the Nashville Metro Council in half. Once again the laughably awful bill writing was met with retribution in court, allowing Nashville to keep its number of representatives for this cycle.

The GOP also attempted to seize control of the Music City Convention Center’s funding and the local aviation and sports authority boards. All of these have been long-standing locally controlled institutions. Republicans destroyed their “party of small government” façade, showing they will overreach and abuse their power to attack liberal cities and their citizens.

brief protest on the House floor to call for the stop of children being massacred in our schools, Speaker Cameron Sexton and House Republicans chose to punish them with the nuclear option. Then the flood gates opened. Even larger protests demanded justice for the “Tennessee Three.” The GOP voted to expel two young Black lawmakers, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, while narrowly allowing Gloria Johnson to stay. This is despite the fact that there is no precedent in the entire state’s history of expulsion for simple rules infractions.

not pass a single bill regulating gun access –even for those who threaten to do harm. In fact, the GOP passed a law to shield gun manufacturers and dealers from liability. The act of putting a purist Second Amendment mindset over the bodies of schoolchildren is only one thing: evil. Gov. Lee has called for a special session to discuss red flag laws and other measures, but they are not likely to pass.

The ACLU is currently challenging the antitrans health bill in court, while the drag bill is still blocked by Trump-appointed federal

The clear split in legislative events happened on March 27, when a shooter with two AR-15s and a pistol slaughtered three students and three school staff at The Covenant School School in Nashville. Hundreds and hundreds of protestors, mainly students, descended on the State Capitol for several days in a righteous uproar to demand schools be safe from assault-style weapons. Instead of listening to the desperate pleas of students, teachers and even moms from Covenant, state Republicans launched themselves into a political sideshow in a disastrous attempt at distraction.

After three Democratic lawmakers led a

Both have been reinstated by their local governments, and both national and international condemnation slammed state Republicans. This poor political maneuvering has forever stained Tennessee’s reputation and revealed the true nature of the GOP. They showed their willingness to use authoritarian abuse of power to attempt and silence young, Black voices that disagree with them. But they failed.

The regular session ended on April 21 without addressing the main cause that allowed for the Covenant shooting, civilian access to military-grade guns. State Republicans did

Thus ends one of the most wicked regular sessions in Tennessee history. I was not even able to touch on the multiple Republican lawmaker scandals, such as Speaker Sexton’s apparent corruption, and the shameful resignation of Republican caucus vice chair, Scotty Campbell, due to sexual harassment violations.

All of this plainly shows a trend in our state. Republicans do not have the best interests of their constituents in mind, and clearly do not want to govern correctly. They ignore real issues and crises to focus on culture wars and don’t care to crack down on citizens who disagree. Next time there is a state election, think twice about which party has their priorities set – and who really cares for you.