Tennessee Republicans are moving toward exercising another lever to control Nashville’s government, advancing a measure that would take away nearly all mayoral appointments to Nashville’s Airport Authority Board.
The Senate Transportation and Safety Committee voted Wednesday to send the proposal, SB 1326/HB 1176, to the Senate floor. Companion legislation has not yet been brought up for consideration in the state House of Representatives.
The latest version of the bill leans a tad more in the city’s favor than first proposed, but still shifts power to the state. Currently the mayor of Nashville makes 100% of the appointments to the Metro Nashville Airport Authority’s board of directors. In the latest Senate proposal, the mayor would select only two. Meanwhile, the state would get six, split among the governor and House and Senate leaders, who are all Republicans.
The original proposal would have prevented Nashville from having any votes on the board.
This comes after the state approved legislation capping Nashville’s Metro Council at 20 members, half its current size, and ahead of another bill, still under consideration, that would strip the city of a special tax used to fund the Music City Center. The city has said it will sue to stop cuts to the Metro Council.
The measures are widely seen as retaliation for a number of political disputes between the city and Tennessee Republicans, including the Metro Council’s decision to reject a bid for the 2024 Republican National Convention.
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