After more than 100 bills were filed for Tennessee’s special session on public safety in both the House and Senate, it seems that only three will end up making it to the governor’s desk.
This is because Republicans in the Senate have chosen to not hear any others. Nashville Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, thinks it’s shameful.
“There’s nothing that’s happening in the House or even the Senate that should give anybody in Tennessee confidence that their representatives as a whole are coming here to try to improve public safety in any meaningful way.”
House members were also upset. Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, expressed some of that on Twitter — using the Tennessee House of Representatives account for a post that has since been deleted. It congratulated the Senate GOP for winning an ostrich egg for this session, implying members of his party in the other chamber had buried their heads in the sand. Faison has since apologized.
All of the bills that are likely to still move forward in the Senate are ideas that came from Gov. Bill Lee’s office.
One provides free gun locks to residents if they request them from the state. Another codifies the governor’s executive order on background checks, and the third requires the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to give a report on the current state of human trafficking.
As for measures like an extreme risk protection order bill, Yarbro thinks it could have a solid chance in the future.
“I think a lot of these pieces of legislation will have a much better chance when there’s more time and potentially less stupidity around in order to facilitate better legislating,” said Yarbro.
Overall, the session looks as if it will come to an end on Thursday, which follows the original schedule released by the Senate.
There is rumor that the Senate Judiciary Committee could reopen in order to pass measures that would send some juvenile cases to adult court.
