Governor Bill Lee appointed eight new members to the Tennessee State University (TSU) board of trustees on Thursday moments after signing legislation to vacate and reconstitute the entire board.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill prohibiting local governments from limiting the ability of law enforcement agencies to conduct routine traffic stops on Thursday.
The bill, SB 2572/HB 1931, was sponsored by State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) and State Representative John Gillespie (R-Memphis).
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Tuesday afternoon on the Matt Murphy Show, broadcast weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on SuperTalk 99.7 WTN, host Murphy interviewed Tori Venable, executive director of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee, about AFP’s support for Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice bill currently under consideration in The Tennessee General Assembly. During the interview, Venable criticized the reporting of Phil Williams in Monday evening’s broadcast on NewsChannel 5, which featured an interview with State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill), as well as a recording of a phone call between Williams and Venable that was obtained without Venable’s consent.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said it’s “pathetic” that advocates of Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice voucher program are not being given a voice through local news outlets across the Volunteer State.
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Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) said he is “much happier” with the Senate’s version of Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice bill compared to the House’s version, which includes additional incentives not particularly related to school choice.
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Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) traveled to a migrant camp in Mexico on Friday where he claimed that there is “no invasion” of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, as chair of the Republican Governors Association (RGA), responded to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday by saying conservative-led states are a “steady reminder that America’s best days are still ahead.”
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Tennessee State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) said he voted present on the State Senate’s version of Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice bill this week in the education committee because he said he believed there needed to be “more discussion” on the bill before it advanced out of committee.
“I was present, not voting, because I felt like we needed more discussion in the education committee,” Hensley said on Thursday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
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Tennessee U.S. Representatives John Rose (R-TN-06) and Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) have announced which guests will accompany them to President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union Address on Thursday.
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U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R–TN-05) and U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) have announced which guests will accompany them to President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union Address on Thursday.
Hagerty’s guest will be Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, according to a report by The Tennessean.
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Tennessee State Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) said he expects his bill prohibiting the displaying of certain flags on or in a public school, including LGBTQ pride flags, to soon pass the Senate and be signed into law by Governor Bill Lee.
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Tennessee schools saw an 18.4% increase in inflation-adjusted per student funding between 2002 and 2020, according to a new report.
Spending on employee benefits increased by 56.5% over the same period, according to Reason Foundation’s Education Spending Across 50 States report.
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After several years of rapidly increasing spending and tax collections, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has proposed a budget that would spend nearly $10 billion less next year.
That includes $52.6 billion in spending with $25.4 billion from the state and $19.8 billion from federal funds.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed into law a bill that protects the religious convictions of people approached to solemnize or officiate a marriage.
“A person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage if the person has an objection to solemnizing the marriage based on the person’s conscience or religious beliefs,” reads the new law which took effect on Wednesday.
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Tennessee State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka), who chairs the Education Instruction Subcommittee, said Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice bill, known as the Education Freedom Scholarship Act, will likely be revealed next week.
Cepicky said there was a meeting on Wednesday for the committee chairs and caucus members to go over the bill’s language, making tweaks to ensure the bill will “function properly” and is “constitutional.”
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School choice activist Corey A. DeAngelis joined Wednesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss a rally he, Robby Starbuck, and Americans for Prosperity (AFP) held in Nashville supporting Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice plan, known as the Education Freedom Scholarship Act.
On Tuesday, DeAngelis, Starbuck, AFP, and other school choice advocates held a Rally for School Choice & Parents’ Rights at the state Capitol in support of the governor’s school choice plan.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee joined a coalition of 12 other governors in traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday to participate in a border security briefing held by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
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All-star panelist Clint Brewer joined Tuesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy where he discussed the reasoning behind Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s exclusion from a letter sent by Republican governors to President Joe Biden in regards to his administration’s “mandates” electric vehicle (EVs) mandates.
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Tennessee State Representative Susan Lynn (R-Mount Juliet) joined Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the General Assembly’s legislative session this year, specifically concerning its approach to Governor Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee will deliver his sixth State of the State Address to members of the General Assembly and Tennesseans on Monday, February 5, his office announced this week.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Commissioner Stuart McWhorter recently approved $36.6 million in grants that will be distributed across 78 communities in the Volunteer State.
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All 11 members of the Tennessee congressional delegation sent a letter to President Joe Biden requesting the “swift approval” of Governor Bill Lee’s request for a major disaster declaration due to severe storms that devastated communities across Middle Tennessee over the weekend.
On December 9, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes ripped through Middle Tennessee. The storms caused six fatalities and dozens of injuries, produced significant damage to nearly 1,900 homes, and destroyed over 500 homes, according to initial reports.
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Six candidates will be considered by the Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments to fill the Tennessee Supreme Court vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of the Honorable Roger A. Page.
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Tennessee U.S. Representatives John Rose (R-TN-06) and Mark Green (R-TN-07) met with community members and surveyed some of the damage left behind after a series of tornadoes tore through Middle Tennessee over the weekend.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee was elected to serve as the next chair of the Republican Governors Association (RGA).
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Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee (AFP-TN) and the Beacon Center of Tennessee released statements applauding Governor Bill Lee’s announcement of his administration’s legislative proposal to establish universal school choice in the Volunteer State.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and First Lady Maria Lee announced that the state’s annual official Christmas events, including Christmas at the Capitol and “Heaven and Nature Sing” tours of the Tennessee Residence, will begin next week.
As part of the First Lady’s Tennessee Serves initiative, the Lees are inviting guests to bring requested items to the state’s Christmas events in support of five nonprofit organizations including Creative Aging Memphis, Birthright of Memphis, Jonathan’s Path, Dismas House, and Sevier County Food Ministries, according to a press release by Lee’s office.
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The move to expand Tennessee’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program statewide is expected to have a very powerful ally in the General Assembly’s next session, sources told The Tennessee Star.
State Representative Bryan Richey (R-Maryville) said Governor Bill Lee is planning a press conference on Tuesday to discuss a bill to expand ESA beyond Metro Nashville, Memphis, and Hamilton County into all of Tennessee’s 95 counties.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee spent more than $117,000 of taxpayer funds over a six-day economic development trip earlier this year, The Tennessean reported.
The group went to Paris and Bologna, Italy while promoting the Paris Air Show with a group that included six state employees, two of their wives and two members of the governor’s security detail, the newspaper reported.
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Tennessee’s Department of Economic & Community Development asked for $78 million for its FastTrack business incentive program next budget year.
The Fasttrack program received $92 million in 2022, $432 million in 2023 and $110 million in 2024.
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A Virginia-based nonprofit group called Do Not Harm filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, attempting to block a mandate that every government regulatory board has at least one member who is a racial minority.
The Pacific Legal Foundation filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Nashville after a Tennessee resident and Do Not Harm member has not been placed on the Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners because he was not a racial minority.
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The Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee published results of its poll this week revealing how registered Tennessee voters would vote in the 2024 presidential and senate races.
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Tennessee demonstrated its commitment to championing the rights of women and girls by becoming the second state in the U.S. to pass legislation inspired by the Women’s Bill of Rights (WBOR). The bill, introduced by state representative Gina Bulso and state senator Kerry Roberts , helped close a loophole in the Tennessee Accommodation for All Children Act of 2021, which failed to add “sex” as a defined term for statutory construction purposes.
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Governor Bill Lee recently announced he authorized the deployment of another unit of Tennessee National Guard troops to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
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A solidarity rally held in Nashville to mourn the lives lost in Israel drew a crowd of approximately 700 people, with attendants including Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, Metro Nashville council members, and state lawmakers.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has announced another staff change to his legislative leadership team one month after announcing his appointments of a new policy director, press secretary, and senior advisor.
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The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition (TNFFC) applauded Governor Bill Lee for signing an anti-human trafficking bill into law on Friday.
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Tennessee’s special session finished Tuesday with an expense of $351,476 to bring lawmakers to the capital for six days of the session on public safety and four bills passed.
Each day, it cost the state $58,576 in stipends and mileage for lawmakers, according to numbers provided by Office of Legislative Administration Director Connie Ridley.
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Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon released a statement on Thursday in support of Governor Bill Lee’s call for a special session in the General Assembly, set to convene on Monday.
“As Mayor of Knoxville, public safety is my top priority. I support the Governor’s call for a Special Session to consider legislative measures to make our communities safer,” Kincannon’s statement said. “While there are many perspectives on how to accomplish these goals, the conversation must continue to include all parts of our state and all communities.”
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Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett recently announced a shakeup to his staff, including a new Chief of Staff and Policy Assistant.
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The Tennessee Firearms Association executive director told the Influence Watch podcast he is shocked that Volunteer State’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee called a special election, so he could exploit the Covenant School shooting to pass so-called red flag laws.
“In March of this year, there was a school shooting at a place called Covenant School in Nashville, where three adults and three children were killed by a 28-year-old female who reportedly had been a student at the school in her past,” said John Harris, a Nashville attorney, who founded the TFA in 1995.
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Months ago, while the Legislature was still in its regular session, Governor Lee asked them to enact his Red Flag law which was his immediate, some might say knee-jerk – response to the Covenant School murders. The Legislature rejected that request, deferred almost all remaining 2nd Amendment legislation to 2024 and instead adjourned. Before most of them could get home, Governor Lee announced that he was going to call them back into a special legislative session to consider and pass his Red Flag proposal.
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The Tennessee House Republican Caucus responded to Governor Bill Lee’s official special session proclamation for the Tennessee General Assembly to convene at 4 p.m. on Monday, August 21.
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Governor Bill Lee has issued a proclamation calling for a special legislative session to take up gun-control measures, including a controversial “red flag” bill that many of his GOP allies in the Republican-controlled Tennessee General Assembly say is a non-starter.
The long-expected proclamation was apparently leaked to the liberal Tennessee Lookout late Thursday afternoon before it’s official release.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee recently announced multiple transitions to his leadership team, including his appointments of a new policy director, press secretary, and senior advisor.
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The Tennessee Republican State Executive Committee passed a resolution on Saturday that calls on Governor Bill Lee to forgo calling the Tennessee General Assembly for a special session addressing “public safety,” according to a report by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
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GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy held a press conference at the Davidson County Courthouse on Wednesday to call for releasing the Covenant School shooter’s manifesto.
“I’m here as a father and as an American. We can’t fix the past, but we can prevent tragedies in the future, and the only way to do it is to learn from those mistakes of the past,” Ramaswamy said. “When an airplane crashes, we recover the black box for a reason – we never want to make that same mistake twice. We have a tradition in this country as law enforcement to do the same thing when there’s a mass shooting…We have to learn from tragedy to prevent it in the future.”
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In a constitutional republic with a so-called conservative Governor in a “red state” like Tennessee, few would expect that the Governor would be conspiring with gun control advocates and conducting “secret” meetings away from the capitol in order to craft a gun control package, including his demand that Tennessee enact a Red Flag law, to be revealed perhaps only once “his” Special Session is called? Well, if you are a Second Amendment advocate who has watched this particular Governor and several in the Republican legislative caucus over the last 13 years, you might be one to expect exactly that kind of shenanigans.
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The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition (TNFFC) Board of Directors met with Governor Bill Lee on Monday and discussed multiple issues facing the Volunteer State, including the upcoming special legislative session next month.
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The Board of Directors of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp (NCVC) has released a statement in support of Governor Bill Lee’s decision to call a special legislative session next month.
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