Tag: Representative Bruce Griffey

Bill Proposes Voter Poll on Legalization, Decriminalization of Medical or Recreational Marijuana in Tennessee

Corinne Murdock

Tennesseans may have the option to weigh in on the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana: medical, recreational, or both. State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) introduced bill HB 1634 on Wednesday to include a voter opinion poll on the subject within the November 2022 ballot.

The poll would ask voters if Tennessee should legalize medical marijuana, decriminalize possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, and legalize and regulate commercial sales of recreational marijuana.

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General Assembly Passes Tennessee Election Integrity Act Requiring Ballot Watermarking

Corinne Murdock

After Senate passage yesterday, the House passed the “Tennessee Election Integrity Act” requiring watermarking on paper absentee ballots. Local election commissions would be required to create unique watermarks for paper absentee ballots. Additionally, election officials must write the word “rejected” and the reason for rejection across the face of a rejected ballot.

Only one individual voted against the bill – State Representative Jason Powell (D-Nashville). Powell didn’t give an explanation on the House floor hearing as to why he voted against the act. As The Tennessee Star reported on Monday, the bill received unanimous and bipartisan support in the House.

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General Assembly Considering ‘Tennessee Election Integrity Act’ to Regulate Outside Funding for Election Officials, Require Official Watermarking for Absentee Ballots

Corinne Murdock

Big Tech and Corporate America may face more difficulty funding the elections process under the “Tennessee Election Integrity Act.” In part, the act would require funding from nongovernmental entities to be approved by the Tennessee General Assembly if in session, or the Governor, House and Senate Speaker, Secretary of State, Comptroller of Treasury, and the General Assembly Treasurer. Additionally, an amendment to the act announced on Tuesday would make it more difficult to produce fraudulent absentee ballots.

In short, the amendment to the bill would require non-electronic absentee ballots to be watermarked by local election commissions. That way, county election officials could verify the validity of the ballots upon receipt. Ballots without the watermark would be discarded.

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Bill Proposes Mandating Stricter Guidance with State Curriculum Standards, Limits to LGBT Material

Corinne Murdock

The General Assembly is considering a bill to enforce stricter adherence to state curriculum standards, effectively limiting LGBT instructional materials. The bill was introduced by State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) last month. State Senator Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) submitted the companion bill shortly after.

Although the House Education Instruction Subcommittee was scheduled to review the bill on Tuesday, it was rolled back to next week. Griffey told The Tennessee Star that changes will be made to the bill to refocus it on stricter adherence to enforcing current state standards – not just LGBT material in classrooms. 

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Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn Gave $8 Million Contract to Company That Employs Her Husband

Corinne Murdock

Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn’s husband works for the company that benefited from an $8.06 million reading initiative contract.

Apparently, Commissioner Schwinn keeps it all in the family. As The Tennessee Star reported last fall, sources claimed that Schwinn imported former colleagues from Texas when she assumed her role within TDOE. They also claimed that they were subjected to hiring freezes and pressure to slash budgets, though Schwinn had no problem with maintaining the six-figure salaries for her imports.

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Tennessee Lawmaker Seeks to Eliminate Illegal Alien Employment in Tennessee

Corinne Murdock

In order to curtail illegal alien employment, employers with six or more employees may be required to verify their workers’ eligibility. Current law only requires that level of verification for employers with over 50 employees. The proposed bill would also remove the immunity for employers who rely on forms of verification other than E-Verify, the federal electronic employment verification service. The legislation includes a sole exemption for farmers. 

State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) introduced the legislation earlier this month. Its companion bill in the Senate, introduced by State Senator John Stevens (R-Huntington), was referred to the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee last week. The legislation mirrors Griffey’s similar bill from last year, which was passed by the House but died in the Senate. 

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Tennessee General Assembly Moves on Bill Protecting Girls in Sports, Challenging Biden’s Executive Order

Corinne Murdock

Once again, Tennessee’s General Assembly has taken up a bill ensuring biological sex is a factor in youth sports. Although the bill would apply to both genders, its preamble identified girls as the motivator for drafting the legislation. It referenced the general biological differences between the genders in competition, as well as noted the impact on female athletes when it comes to college recruiting and scholarship opportunities.

“[I]t is unfortunate for some girls that those dreams, goals, and opportunities for participation, recruitment, and scholarships can be directly and negatively affected by new school policies permitting boys who are male in every biological respect to compete in girls’ athletic competitions if they claim a female gender identity,” stated the bill. 

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Bills Requiring Legislative Input for Refugee Resettlement Advance in Tennessee State House

Laura Baigert

Two separate bills that stipulate that the input of either the state or local legislative body is required with regard to the resettlement of refugees have moved through the House State Committee.

In other words, both proposed pieces of legislation prohibit Tennessee’s governor from acting alone in making decisions regarding refugee resettlement.

The proposals came about as the result of a series of events that occurred in late 2019.

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State Rep. Bruce Griffey’s Says His Bill to Tax Out-of-Country Wire Transfers Will Solve State’s COVID-19 Revenue Shortfall

Laura Baigert

State Representative Bruce Griffey sponsored a bill that he says will solve Tennessee’s revenue shortfall caused by the shutdown associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a May 19 letter to the editor (embedded below), Griffey offers, “How To Solve Tennessee’s COVID 19 (a.k.a. Chinese virus) Budget Problem.”

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State Rep. Bruce Griffey Requests AG Opinion on Constitutionality of Governor Lee’s COVID-19 Executive Orders

Laura Baigert

In a five-page letter to the state’s attorney general dated May 12, state Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) requested a legal opinion as to the constitutionality and authority of Governor Bill Lee in issuing executive orders in response to COVID-19.

In a press release about his inquiry, Griffey explained, “When I ran for office, I ran on a platform of small government, limited government – a campaign platform I intend to honor. Moreover, when I took my oath of office, I swore to not only support the Tennessee Constitution but also to not consent to any act or thing that shall have a tendency to lessen or abridge the rights and privileges of the people of this state as declared by the Constitution of this State. I intend to uphold my oath of office, and defend the Constitutional rights of Tennesseans and protect them from government over-reach.

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State Representatives Martin Daniel and Bruce Griffey Urged Governor Bill Lee to Reopen Tennessee

Laura Baigert

At least two State Representatives, Martin Daniel (R-Knoxville) and Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) wrote formal letters to Governor Bill Lee, urging him to reopen Tennessee immediately.

Representative Daniel, who will have served three terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives, announced last month that he will not seek reelection in 2020.  Representative Griffey is currently serving his first term.

The Representatives wrote their letters based on the input of their constituents and in response to last week’s extension of Governor Lee’s stay-at-home order through April 30.

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‘Fund The Wall’ Bill Fails in State House Subcommittee By 6-1 Vote

Laura Baigert
Bruce Griffey

The bill to impose a fee on monetary transfers from Tennessee to outside the U.S. and its territories failed in the House Banking and Investment Subcommittee by a vote of 6 to 1. House Bill 0562 sponsored by Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) received national attention when his effort caught the attention of talk show host Laura Ingraham of Fox News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle, who tweeted about Griffey’s bill and then had him appear on a segment of her television program. The fees imposed on the monetary transfers would be reserved to help with President Trump’s efforts in securing the southern border between the U.S. and Mexico as well as providing additional funding to law enforcement for the costs associated with capturing and detaining illegal aliens within Tennessee. As previously reported by The Tennessee Star, the costs of illegal aliens in the state was estimated at $793 million in 2017 by the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Representative Griffey’s fund the border wall bill is one in a series of bills dealing with illegal immigration in the state. By roll call vote requested by the bill’s sponsor, Representative Timothy Hill (R-Blountville) voted in favor of the measure, while Representatives Yusuf…

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State Representative Bruce Griffey Takes On Several Illegal Immigration Issues

Laura Baigert

Before even being sworn into his first term in office, Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) has been calling for measures to decrease illegal immigration to Tennessee which began with a call for a Resolution supporting President Trump in ending “birth right” citizenship, as reported by The Tennessee Star. In addition to his proposed Resolution HJR 0047, Griffey has sponsored several bills dealing with issues related to illegal immigrants currently within the state of Tennessee. As The Star reported, in HB 0562 and companion Senate Bill SB 1504, Representative Griffey and Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) want to impose a fee on the transfer of money to outside the United States and its territories, with the goal of helping fund Trump’s proposed border wall. Fees that are not used for southern border protection will go to local sheriff departments for the jails that hold illegals for ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs). The fee, applying only to those who could not produce a Tennessee driver’s license or similar, by default applies only to illegal aliens. The House bill is scheduled to be heard March 12 in the Banking & Investments Subcommittee of the House Commerce Committee. A report by Fox 17 WZTV covered four…

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Bill Introduced By State Representative Bruce Griffey and Senator Joey Hensley to Help Fund Trump’s Border Wall Catches Attention of Laura Ingraham

Laura Baigert

The day after State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) filed a bill intended to help fund President Trump’s wall on the southern border, conservative radio and talk show host Laura Ingraham tweeted about it. Griffey’s bill HB 0562, which is being sponsored in the State Senate by Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) as SB 1504, is “calling for the imposition of fees on the transfer of any money from Tennessee to Mexico and calling for the fees generated to be set aside to fund the border wall proposed by Trump,” according to a statement issued Thursday about the bill. The news prompted a tweet by Laura Ingraham, “YES: Tennessee lawmaker introduces bill he says will help fund Trump’s border wall,” and included a link to a story in The Tennessean with the same title. If the bill is passed into law, all qualifying transactions after January 1, 2020, would be subject to a $10 per transaction fee plus 10 percent on amounts over $500. Those licensed in the business of money transmissions, referred to as the licensee, can keep a half percent as compensation for accounting and remitting the fee to the state’s Department of Revenue. The Department of Revenue will retain one…

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State Representative Bruce Griffey Makes Official Statement On Congressman Steve Cohen’s Boycott of State of The Union Address

Laura Baigert

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee — On Tuesday, newly-elected State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) made an official statement to The Tennessee Star in response to Democrat U.S. Representative Steve Cohen’s (TN-09) boycott of President Trump’s State of the Union address scheduled for that evening. As reported by several news outlets on Monday, Cohen was the third Democrat to make such an announcement, telling The Hill, “I will not attend the State of the Union once again this year.” Cohen continued, “I’ll come to the House Chamber for the State of the Union the next time I can hear from a president who will tell the truth about the State of the Union.” In response to Cohen’s boycott announcement, Griffey told The Star, “I’m thrilled, elated, excited and happy for all Tennesseans, because I think Steve Cohen would be an embarrassment to Tennessee.” Not only did he boycott President Trump’s State of the Union address last year, but in November 2017 Cohen filed articles of impeachment against President Trump. Griffey is a strong supporter of President Donald Trump. His conclusion about Cohen, “He’s an embarrassment currently for Tennesseans.” — Laura Baigert is a senior reporter with The Tennessee Star.        …

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