The Tennessee House Legislative Rules Committee on January 14, 2025, anchored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth, center. (Photo: John Partipilo)
NASHVILLE — A House committee is recommending new rules cutting the bill-filing limit to 12 and setting stricter punishments for those who disrupt House proceedings as the 114th Tennessee General Assembly convened.
The panel voted Tuesday to send the rules package to the full House for a decision, a move that rankled Democrats who are a superminority and believe their voices will be silenced further because the number of bills they can file will be reduced.
The 12-bill maximum primarily affects rank-and-file members, not committee chairs who will receive five extra bills and subcommittee chairs who will be able to file two extra bills.
In moves to restrict protest, members of the public who disrupt proceedings in the gallery or Capitol lobby could be removed from the chamber for up to two days and for the entire session if “egregious” behavior continues.
Similarly, House members who break rules of decorum could be silenced and then, for more violations, removed from the chamber and allowed to vote remotely.
Democratic Rep. Yusuf Hakeem told the panel that removing people from the Capitol quells the voices of those who object to House action.
But Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett of Goodlettsville, who introduced the rules package, told the panel that “screaming” does nothing to advance protesters’ cause.
The rules committee, which was made up of eight Republicans and three Democrats, rejected efforts by Democrats to amend guidelines to give caucus leaders and chairpeople extra bills.
It turned down efforts by Democratic Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville to pass a slate of new rules, including transferring committee appointments from the speaker to caucus leaders, calling out violations by the speaker, allowing members to hire their own staff, changing guidelines for speaking transgressions such as going off-topic, requiring tickets for the public to sit in the House gallery and allowing visual guides such as charts in committees and on the House floor.
The committee also voted down Jones’ effort to make it illegal for a lawmaker to be married to a paid lobbyist. Republican Sen. Bo Watson, chairman of the finance committee, is married to a lobbyist but has said he votes his conscience.
In addition, the panel rejected Jones’ request to prohibit people from bringing firearms into the Cordell Hull Building.
House Majority Leader William Lamberth, who chaired the committee, said he felt comfortable letting the public bring guns into the legislative building and added that law enforcement can handle anyone who poses danger.
Jones responded by saying that the House allows guns but not signs bigger than 8-by-11 inches.
“Just like Jan. 6, we cannot trust we will be protected here,” Jones said, referring to the insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol four years ago.
The rules vote came after the full House and Senate gaveled into session for the year. Both chambers will take off next week, as numerous members travel to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
A special session focusing on Gov. Bill Lee’s private-school voucher bill, likely combined with hurricane relief funding for Northwest Tennessee, could be called by the end of the week for late January.
After gaveling into its session for the year, the House re-elected Speaker Cameron Sexton to the post, and the Senate selected Randy McNally to serve again as speaker and lieutenant governor. The votes came along party lines, and no Democrats crossed over to vote for the Republican leaders.
The 80-year-old McNally recently had a small basal cell removed from his lower eyelid, which was swollen shut Tuesday. Spokesman Adam Kleinheider said McNally’s doctor reported the removal “yielded clean margins. Other than the visible swelling from the procedure, he is doing very well and is not expected to need any further treatment.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.