Should Tennessee lawmakers meet more often? Some legislators think they should

The Tennessee General Assembly normally meets for one 90 day session that stretches out over two years, but one lawmaker wants that to change.

Rep. David Hawk (R-Greeneville) thinks that lawmakers should return to the Capitol every September.

Since 2015, the General Assembly has met for a special session eight times. The most recent was in August, when Gov. Bill Lee called lawmakers to Nashville to pass bills related to public safety after the Covenant School shooting.

More: Tennessee lawmakers look forward to January after dissatisfying special session

“So we would come into session like we did last year in 2023, have our traditional session, pass the budget and adjourn whenever we get done with our work,” explained Hawk. “And then we would have come in for a September session on the Tuesday following Labor Day.”

Hawk has been proposing the additional session for nearly a decade.

He said he thought up the idea for adding a second session each year after the Supreme Court affirmed that same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry in 2015. That ruling caused outrage, with some constituents telling lawmakers to “fix” that decision, Hawk said.

“We never called a special session, we didn’t convene to have that discussion and the fervor on that particular issue had waned by the time we came back in January,” said Hawk.

Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis) responded, saying that this type of outrage isn’t an appropriate basis for legislation “it comes from a place that I do not think we should ever legislate from which is an attempt to hurt and harm communities that are already oppressed.”

Rep. Tim Leatherwood (R-Arlington) also doesn’t like the idea of a September session.

“I was here from 1992 to 2000 we only had one special session on income tax, and it didn’t last very long. We’ve had a lot these last five years,” said Leatherwood. “Maybe we needed them, maybe we didn’t. I don’t know how effective they were.”

Leatherwood thought the fact that Hawk brought up how the fervor around the Supreme Court decision died down pointed to the fact that lawmakers, “don’t necessarily want to convene every time there’s a hot topic.”

The bill passed the House State Government Committee on an 13 to 8 vote, and now heads to the Finance, Ways, and Means Committee.

Hawk acknowledged, however, that it may not make it much further.

“I understand what the outcome is going to be in finance but it’s an important discussion for us to have,” said Hawk.