A lot of what WPLN News covers during the Tennessee legislative session are bills — the things that change state law. But resolutions sometimes get overlooked. When the General Assembly met last year, more than 1,400 passed. And while resolutions don’t carry the weight of law, they matter to lawmakers.
Almost every time the Senate and House meet on the floor more than 20 resolutions are passed. They might honor a wedding anniversary, a football’s team winning season or the death of a first responder. Those usually pass unanimously without any discussion.
But, there’s another type that fuels heavy debate. Rep. Dennis Powers, R-Jacksboro, sponsored one this session.
“HJR 652 is urging Congress to complete our southern border wall,” Powers said. “Over 2 million illegals came in last year in over 150 countries.”
His numbers are a little off, but apprehensions were at a record high last year. Powers’ resolution passed out of the House on a party-line vote.
The resolution won’t impact decisions at the federal level. But MTSU Political Science Professor Sekou Franklin explains the strategy behind it.
“Even though the resolution may have no substantive impact — I mean it’s not like a law, but it’s an ideological cue or signpost where lawmakers stand on a particular issue,” Franklin said.
And in a year when lawmakers are running for re-election, they can tell voters they are addressing illegal immigration. Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, says this is how politics work.
“I always tell people that, during an election year, you’re going to see the election year politics,” Parkinson said. “But, in some cases, people are putting forth stuff to play to their base.”
Rep. Powers appears to be playing to his Republican base in Campbell County. More than 80% of voters there voted in 2020 for former President Donald Trump, who made completing the southern border wall a pillar of his campaign.
And it appears to be on its way to passage. Powers’ resolution to build a wall will go before the Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee on Tuesday.
But not everyone can get resolutions passed. When Democratic Rep. Parkinson sponsored one that would recognize racism as a public health threat, it met a much different fate.
“It passed all the way to Calendar and Rules. And then when it got to Calendar and Rules, without any warning, they referred it back to the Health Committee,” Parkinson said.
It eventually was sent to summer study, a legislative limbo where most bills go to die.
Franklin, the political science professor, says, even if resolutions don’t change laws, they can still influence voters.
“These resolutions can matter in terms of shifting the political culture.”
Correction: This story originally gave the wrong number of resolutions passed in 2021 by the Tennessee General Assembly. More than 1,400 were passed, not 3,900.
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