The Legislature appears to be moving rapidly with 33 of the bills that we are tracking having some type of activity this week.
The status of the Governor’s incremental, kicking the ball down the field, permitless carry bill was addressed in a news report on March 25 when it was announced that the House would consider that bill on Monday March 29. While the Governor’s bill might be considered an improvement for some Tennesseans, mainly those who are eligible for an enhanced permit, it openly imposes restrictions that are not permitted under the language of the 2nd Amendment on other individuals who can legally own firearms. As discussed in the March 25 report, there is a chance that truly 2nd Amendment supporting legislators could offer amendments on the House floor to address the numerous shortfalls in the Governor’s own proposal.
There are many bills that have had activity this week and that are set for floor and committee calendars next week. These are detailed in the Bill Status and Calendar reports which include detailed information on each bill and its status.
A peak behind the green curtain?
As we have discussed in other reports, there is a potentially troubling “aura” surrounding the permitless carry efforts that TFA has pursued now for two decades which aura is even more revealed this year than normal.
Several Senate and House members have openly stated on the record that the Governor’s bill (HB786/SB765) is not true constitutional carry – a fact obvious to anyone who can comprehend the unequivocal phrase “shall not be infringed”. But, these statements on the legislative record by Senate Judiciary Chair Mike Bell, Senator Kerry Roberts, Rep. William Lamberth and even Speaker Cameron Sexton all suggest that although they know the Governor’s bill falls short of the requirements of the 2nd Amendment that there is some unnamed and unidentified obstruction, roadblock or greater power at work which is actively denying Tennessean’s the uninfringed right to exercise the rights protected by the Second Amendment.
One of the House members who has offered up a much better bill on this issue is Rep. Bruce Griffey. He has also offered other conservative topic bills that for undisclosed reasons are almost uniformly derailed. On Thursday, March 25, Speaker Cameron Sexton took the unusual step to punish Rep. Griffey by unilaterally removing him from all committee assignments with no public details about what might have occurred to warrant such extreme action by the Speaker. However, there is a statement made by Speaker Cameron Sexton in the developing yet fully undisclosed dispute that might shed some possible light on what or who the powers are that are intentionally blocking true constitutional carry in Tennessee.
First, understand that the House committee system generally operates so that bills are assigned to committees and move along generally established paths to either defeat in the committees or to come to the floor for consideration by all 99 House members. Many bills are routinely killed in these committees often by as few as a handful of votes. This has happened to 2nd Amendment legislation regularly during the decade that the Republican super majority has controlled the Legislature.
The House rules contain safety-valve for committee derailments which safety valve protects the rights of all Tennesseans to have their elected representatives have a voice on significant legislation. That safety valve is a provision for a “recall motion” under Rule 53 which allows a motion to be filed on the House floor (the Senate has a similar rule) to “recall” a motion from the committee system directly to the House floor. It can be used, as written, to recall a bill that has been blocked or defeated in the committees so long as the House or Senate members vote on the floor to recall the bill. That is not some secret tactic or swampy shenanigans – it is expressly contained in the printed rules.
Now, news reports this week indicate that Rep. Bruce Griffey had a bill on the issue of E-verify that had been killed in a House committee. Apparently at the urging of his constituents – the voters – he used the recall rule to bring this to the attention of the entire House body to see if he could get the required vote to salvage the bill. The process is not used often but it is part of the House rules. When Rep. Bruce Griffey tried to use the Rule, it was reportedly blocked by Speaker Sexton.
News 17 in Nashville published this quote by Speaker Sexton regarding the issue:
“There are certain expectations that must be met by members of the Tennessee House of Representatives. These include maintaining decorum and professionalism, as well as respect for others, and perhaps most importantly, respect for our longstanding committee process. If any or all of these expectations become an issue, appropriate actions will be taken — including removing a member from his or her committee assignments.”
It is not clear but this quote from Speaker Sexton seems to suggest that the Speaker’s actions of removing Rep. Bruce Griffey from all of his committee assignments (damaging his constituents’ voice in the legislature) may have been a punishment, at least in some degree, for trying to use an existing House rule to bring an issue to the floor after the committee system was used to kill the measure.
If it turns out that Speaker Sexton has punished a House member for using a House rule then that is an issue that may call for more inquiry because it is a level of power that could explain why the bills on REAL constitutional carry, including one by Rep. Griffey, have been blocked in the House committees and are unlikely to be debated and voted upon by all House members on the floor. There is some reason why legislator after legislator have commented that the Governor’s bill falls short of the 2nd Amendment this year and observing that its the most that could be obtained. Is this level of power one of those reasons? Is the failure of the Legislature to even debate REAL constitutional carry on the floor of the Senate or the House so far this year or for most of the last 2 decades solely because a few people – perhaps 2 or 3, perhaps only 1 – opposes it so vehemently that other legislators are unwilling to bring up the issue in a context where all 99 House members or all 33 Senators would be called up to publicly vote on the issue?
Note: as of the time of this message, the House has not released its calendar for March 29. However, the Bill status report identifies those bills in the House that are expected to be heard on Monday March 29 including HB786 which is the Governor’s bill
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