State Senator Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) has introduced a bill that would, if enacted into law, restrict people who haven’t lived in Tennessee for a certain period from running for Congress.
Specifically, the bill prohibits someone from accepting a nomination as a candidate for U.S. senator or as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives unless he or she voted in the state’s three previous elections.
Niceley told The Tennessee Star on Thursday that he has an amendment that will rewrite the measure, SB 2616.
“Everybody likes this bill, but we decided we would change it to a three-year residency. The Tennessee Constitution says you have to live in Tennessee for seven years to be governor. You have to live here five years to be a judge or a district attorney. You have to live here three years to run for the state Senate or the state House. If you want to run as an elector for the president’s race you have to be qualified to run for state representative, so that makes three years,” Niceley said.
“We thought that since everything else is based on three years residency, five years residency, and seven years residency, we have a bill that says you can’t run in a primary. You can run in the general as an independent. We can’t stop you from running in the general. That’s federal. But the primary is left up to the states. We can control the primaries. The new amendment, which will rewrite the bill, will just say that you can’t run in a primary in Tennessee unless you have lived here for three years.”
Niceley said Republican legislators abolished several taxes — and that prompted people from California, Texas, Florida, Texas, and other states to relocate to Tennessee.
“Everybody wants to live here now,” Niceley said.
“As we have more and more people move in, we thought, ‘Well, it’s time to have a residency requirement.’ Most of us didn’t know that there wasn’t one.”
The Star asked Niceley if this bill is designed to keep out carpetbaggers.
“Well, that is what a lot of people call it. Carpetbaggers came from the North. I guess this bill will keep people from coming from the North and from the South too. I don’t use that carpetbagger word too much,” Niceley said.
“We have a lot of good people moving in here. They just need to live here long enough to learn how to pronounce the names of our counties. It’s a simple short bill, to the point, and it’s hard to argue with.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star and The Georgia Star News. Follow Chris on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, and GETTR. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Tennessee House Floor” by Ichabod. CC BY-SA 3.0.
[…] after the bill was introduced, it was amended to its current version, which is now making its way through the legislative […]
My husband and I relocated to TENNESSEE because it’s the only state in the union that rhymes with FREE. We came from ‘COMMUNIST CUOMO COUNTRY’ some know it as NEW YORK! We are eager to learn all of the counties and how to pronounce them correctly. This state welcomed us with open arms and for the first time in my life, I feel at home. There is no fear of speaking my mind – In CCC everything that we said was wrong- probably because it had become a socialist/communist state. We got tired of living in a sanctuary state where almost 60% of our taxes went to pay for everybody else. Tennesseans are PROUD PATRIOTS who respect the law, the country, each other and LOVE our flag. You can find our cars in any parking lot- they are the ones with the AMERICAN FLAG. Residency should be a requirement! Those that are not of the same mindset as TENNESSEE, won’t be able to exist here for 3 years if they can’t bully and harass like we endured in NEW YORK.
My goodness what a novel idea – learn something about Tennessee, Tennesseans and Tennessee culture before going to the head of the elite class. Heck, make it 7 years not 3.
I am in total agreement with this new proposal. Morgan astonished me with her complete tone deaf arrogance regarding her needing to run to “lead we hillbillies” or something. I am shocked she has a newborn and is wanting to leave the newborn to run for 5thD.
This is something that should have been done 25 years ago, but better late than never.
“We have a lot of good people moving in here. They just need to live here long enough to learn how to pronounce the names of our counties.”
I’ve even noticed this in the newer local weather personalities (no, they aren’t meteorologists). As a native Tennessean, it drives me up the wall to hear some of these mispronunciations.
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Good legislative intent for the protection of Tennessee citizens and bad news for the arrogant ego driven, we are dumb they are smart carpetbagger move ins. So far the arrogance of Starbuck and Ortagus are amazing, especially her with a new born, she and Starbuck are disgusting. Starbuck comes across as a slick used car salesman, my apologies to used car sales people. All mouth and money on Starbucks part. Thanks Williamson County for another rich and famous wannabe. Ortagus , I do not have the words, I do but they would not make print. I bet they cannot pronounce the names of the counties. I never felt this way before but if they cannot become a Tennessean first, they can GO BACK TO THE HELL WHERE THEY CAME FROM and do not come back, Carpetbaggers!!