The 112th General Assembly is winding down as more committees come to a close. But that doesn’t mean things are slowing down. In fact, quite the opposite. This week: The state was asked to redraw its new Senate maps; a bill that takes aim at same-sex marriage went viral over an unsavory loophole; and several pieces of legislation that seemed like a sure bet came to a screeching halt.
Courts order legislators to redraw State Senate maps
A panel of three judges with the 20th Judicial District ordered the General Assembly on Wednesday to redraw state Senate maps in under two weeks. This comes after a lawsuit backed by the state Democratic Party argued that the maps were unconstitutional.
The Tennessee constitution states that districts within a county must be consecutively numbered. Instead, the maps passed out of the General Assembly in January — and signed by Gov. Bill Lee — numbered Davidson County’s four districts 17, 19, 20, and 21.
Now, Tennessee’s Attorney General Herbert Slatery is appealed the ruling on behalf of the state. The Tennessee Supreme Court will also review the case on an expedited basis.
Plan to stop same-sex marriage stalls in Senate
Legislation that would create a third pathway for marriages between heterosexual couples has drawn much debate — on Twitter and IRL — this week. Tennessee has tried to place an outright ban on same-sex marriage in the past and critics say this is yet another attempt to thwart the nuptials of gay couples. But the bill faces an uphill battle as State Senate Speaker Randy McNally panned it, saying he believed it would be unconstitutional. (McNally, if you’ll recall, also pulled the rug out from under a Texas-style abortion restriction that had been gaining traction in recent weeks.)
But there’s another reason the bill has drawn so most media attention. The bill’s sponsor did not include a minimum age for marriages between “one man” and “one woman.” Critics of the bill, including several Democrats, said that would essentially open the door to child marriage, something that’s currently against the law. Following the backlash, an amendment was filed that would require an individual to be at least 17 years or older, following current law.
R.I.P. relaxed gun restrictions, stricter abortion laws and other misfires
Early in the session, some more conservative bills seemed like they had a good chance, especially in a Republican supermajority. One of them included a measure that’d lower the age for those who could have a license to carry a firearm from 21 to 18. But the bill ran into problems early on — including a challenge from the Department of Safety that it could jeopardize the state’s reciprocity laws for conceal carry — and at this pointfaces an uphill battle to reach Governor Bill Lee’s desk.
Early on the bill ran into issues because of issues that the change may cause issue with Tennessee’s reciprocity with other states.
A Texas-style abortion ban is likely to face the same fate as it’s been taken “off notice,” which is a nicer way of saying it doesn’t have enough votes to pass. As we mentioned earlier, the bill seemed doomed after Senate Leader McNally said he opposed it. He said ideologically he was in agreement, but believed the state should first focus on a court challenge to its current abortion restriction after six weeks of pregnancy.
Other bills to proverbially “pour one out for” include a measure to ban affirmative action, one that would make it harder to establish gun-free zones, and another that would’ve increased bail for defendants in domestic violence cases. As with most things at the statehouse, though, this doesn’t mean we won’t see these bills again. They could always come back next year or in a special session. Some zombie bills never die.
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